Michelle Moquin's "A day in the life of…"

I was just saying to Doug a few weeks ago that I think grocery stores should no longer have bags (plastic or paper) available at the counter when the cashier rings up your purchases. If someone forgets to bring a bag when they go shopping, there will be containers of used bags available for free, or they can buy a reusable eco friendly bag (some are so cool) that the store sells, so that they will have something to pack their goods in. I say bag the bag. We’re using too many trees and our world is littered with plastic bags.

Here’s The 10 Second Plastic Bag Lesson: I found this printed on the side of the box of the only plastic bags I use: BioBag, the certified biodegradable compostable plastic bag.

• Regular Polyethylene-based plastic bags can take over 100 years to degrade and are not compostable.
• Less than 2% of all plastic bags ever get recycled.
• Plastic bags litter our streets, backwoods and waterways.
• Studies indicate that 100,000 marine animals and 2 million birds die every year from ingesting and being caught up in plastic debris. (And we thought the BP spill was bad enough. Why isn’t this on the news everyday?!)
• Some manufacturers are blending additives to polyethylene to produce ‘degradable’ bags. Unfortunately this process fragments the bags into pieces of plastic debris that do not meet the ASTM D6400 standard for compostable plastic.

Now here are some facts about BioBag:

BioBag is proud to be the best selling brand of 100% biodegradable and certified compostable bags made from the material, Mater-Bi. We are also proud to be the first “bag from corn” to achieve national distribution of retail products through natural food stores across the country.

Recently, the city of San Francisco selected BioBag to promote their residential food waste collection program. The city is sending 100,000 rolls of BioBags to residents within the county to help educate consumers on the importance of diverting food and other biodegradable waste from entering landfills. San Francisco residents can now purchase additional supplies at over 100 outlets in the bay area. BioBag is proud to be a partner in this important effort.

We have listed below facts and data regarding BioBag products:

BioBags are designed to be composted and returned naturally back to the earth. If BioBags are placed in an “open” or “turned” landfill they will decompose at a rate similar to other biodegradable materials in the same setting. If BioBags are placed in an anaerobic (air-locked) landfill and deprived of oxygen and the existence of the micro-organisms that “eat” naturally biodegradable materials, their ability to decompose will be severely restricted. This is true of all biodegradable materials placed in this setting, including paper, yard waste and food waste.

As a consumer, you should be quite suspicious of any manufacturer making claims that their products will biodegrade quickly in an air-locked landfill.

Then the other day Doug e-mailed me to tell me that there’s a new law that Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning on signing that will ban plastic bags from being given away in grocery stores. Recycled paper bags will still be available but they will have to pay $.05 each – Hey I like that. It’s a good start and a long time coming if you ask me.

Here’s an article I found:

Remember how ten or twenty years ago, a trip to the grocery store always concluded with the same question: “Paper or plastic?” That question has largely been answered, as grocers now default to plastic about 80 percent of the time. Those plastic bags are cheap, convenient — and an environmental menace. At best, they mar the landscape, lending an aimless, trashy vibe to urban streets. Far more disturbingly, they clog our landfills, use up nonrenewable resources such as petroleum, and kill wildlife both on land and in water, according to the Earth Resource Foundation.

Some communities and even entire countries are attempting to kick the plastic bag habit by taxing them, encouraging citizens to switch to reusable shopping bags. The state of California may be next, according to the L.A. Times. Bill AB 1998 would take things a bit farther than a simple tax, however — it would enforce an outright ban. Customers who forget to bring reusable bags to the store would have the option to pay a minimum of 5 cents apiece for recycled paper bags.

The bill passed in the California State Assembly last Wednesday. If the Senate votes similarly, the new law would go into effect in 2012. Californians’ reactions are, perhaps predictably, mixed. Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called it “a great victory for our environment” and promised to sign it into law when it crosses his desk. Some of his Republican colleagues, however, worry that the new law creates undue financial burden during an already rough economy. “This is not the time to be putting a financial burden on families,” Assemblyman Ted Gaines, R-Granite Bay, told the L.A. Times.

Store-goers’ reactions vary as much as the politicians’ do. “It’s a hassle. I don’t want to carry my own bag all the time with me. I go into the store randomly, and I don’t like to pay extra for a bag,” said Sacramento shopper Brett Akacin when asked his opinion on the bill. But another Sacramento resident, Ashley Smith, expressed more openness to the idea because, as she put it, “It’s good to do things that are good for the environment.

Readers: When I read the first paragraph stating that 80% of the people who go grocery shopping opt for the plastic bag, my mouth dropped. But then I realized that most people unfortunately are still shopping at Safeway, Vons or whatever else is comparable in their town. And Plastic is the bag. Part of the reason I don’t shop those stores is mostly because they don’t carry the food I like, but I am appalled when I see plastic bag after plastic bag filled with food, being carried out. Don’t people realize or care about the amount of plastic that is being used?

I shop at Trader Joes, Whole Foods or Berkeley Bowl, and most people who shop there rarely take a paper bag; they are bringing their own reusable.  In fact I don’t even know if you can still get plastic at those stores. But I have to say, I am lucky that I live the Bay Area so I have access to grocery stores that care and make an effort to educate their patrons. I refuse to shop in stores that aren’t doing something sustainable. And even the ones I mentioned above, I feel can do more.

Still, I shop where I shop, and pay a little bit more. But I know it’s better for all. I don’t care how broke I am, I will skimp where I need to in other areas of my life, but I am not going to skimp when it comes to my health or the animals and the environment. And like the saying goes, “You can pay for it now or you can pay for it later at the doctor’s office.” I opt for now, knowing I am not only treating myself well, but my choices are better for the animals and the environment. I got a little off subject but I just had to throw that in.

So…back to banning the bag…

And then to read that some people think it is a hassle. “I don’t want to carry my bag all of the time.” Oh boo hoo -please, spare me the drama and laziness. Keep the bags in your trunk and carry one in when you go shopping. How difficult is that? Isn’t saving our environment worth a little hassle? Once you forget it a few times and you have to run back to your car, believe me you’ll learn quick enough. Just make it a habit like bringing your purse or your wallet. Easy and hassle-free.

What’dya say…Let’s bag the bag and ban it! You know I’m all for it…country wide. And if you live in California, ‘Arnie’ doesn’t need any urging to sign this ban. As stated in the article above, he’s in favor of it and promises to sign it. I think victory is in the bag. Pun intended. :)

Oh, my disclaimer: No, I am not getting any free Biobags (I wish!), nor any perks from any of the stores mentioned above. However, I do believe in these products, and I do love shopping at those grocery stores, so it is my pleasure to toot a bit about them.

*********

Zen Lill: My pleasure. I know you’re with me on this one.

Hey Norma and Harry: Thanks for voting!

Peacin’ out sans plastic…

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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