It has been estimated that Americans use 84 billion plastic shopping bags per year. What do you do with those plastic bags you carry your purchases in once you get home? Do you have a box or storage bin for the bags so they can be reused? Or do you file the bags away in the trashcan? By discarding the bags, you are adding to the vast amount of refuse in America’s landfills, and that is an awful lot of trash that doesn’t need to be there.
In New York City, a law has been passed regulating the recycling of plastic bags shoppers use. Retailers will soon have to make customers aware of the recycling measures stores have in place and consumers will have to be diligent in placing used plastic bags in recycle bins in these stores.
The plastic bags can still be used for trash and scooping up animal waste, according to an article in The New York Times, but perhaps New Yorkers ought to find a new way to clean up after their domesticated pets. On its Public Utilities Web site, Seattle recommends scooping up pet waste and flushing it down the toilet, using it in one’s garden instead of commercial fertilizer or burying it in one’s yard to allow the waste to decompose slowly.
While many New Yorkers do not have the acreage to have a garden or even yard enough to spread their pets’ waste – one shudders to think of thousands of people in Central Park digging holes to add dog-generated fertilizer – these city dwellers can make use of their restrooms and flush away Fido’s business, sans plastic bag. Though one may wince at the thought of rinsed-out plastic bags being returned for recycling, it is a far-better solution than adding more trash to the pile.
Why do New Yorkers even need to rely on plastic bags at all? Storing these bags tightens the fit in the already cramped (let’s say "snug") apartments. There are reusable canvas tote bags available for carrying groceries home. One can buy such totes for around $1 at the local grocery store and use the bags time and time again.
Or, to help the world on a grander scale, a tote bag can be purchased with proceeds benefiting the U.N. World Food Programme’s FEED Project.
Lauren Bush, a former fashion model and niece of President Bush, launched the FEED Project after her time as a student spokesperson for the WFP.
Now an honorary spokesperson for the WFP, Lauren Bush created a tote bag that can be used for groceries and other purchases with proceeds that benefit school meal programs in countries that desperately need to feed young citizens. While the $59.95 price tag may be a bit steep, the money can help feed one child for an entire year.
So go get a tote bag (or two) and help keep our planet a bit less cluttered. At the least, fewer dolphins and other sea creatures will be kept from choking. At the most, you could nourish a child.
