Manage Your Life
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Bag It: How to kick the plastic bag habit for good
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When polyethylene plastic bags hit the American supermarket about
forty years ago, shoppers eagerly embraced them.
A lot's changed in forty years.
Since then, we've
learned that the plastic garbage bags that are part of our everyday
life do not begin to break down for up to 100 years. Using one
means you're encapsulating your waste in a plastic wrapper that
will be around long after you aren't. Isn't that overkill
for a few sticky wrappers and chicken bones? Even worse: plastic
bags that go astray can kill marine wildlife like turtles, whales
and seabirds. Residents of Oakland and San Francisco were concerned
enough to ban plastic bags -- a movement that seems to be picking
up steam across the country.
That's why we were so intrigued by BioBags. These
bags are 100% biodegradable and 100% compostable. They begin to
break down in just 10 days. So they're perfect for composting
because you can conveniently toss the bag along with the lawn and
leaf rubbish. They're better for landfills because they break
down and save space. Made from cornstarch and other eco-friendly
ingredients, they also help reduce our reliance on foreign oil
supplies while giving American farmers a boost.
Buy BioBag biodegradable plastic trash bags here.
More ideas from Daily Grommet to reduce your ecological
footprint:
Related: save the earth, plastic bags, mark williams, lawn and leaf bags, landfill, garbage bags, eco-friendly gardening, dog waste bag, daily grommet, composting, compost, biodegradable bags, biobag
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Posted by Katie B Fri Aug 28, 2009 1:12pm PDT
Right now the only thing hindering me from using those bags is the price... $18.00 for a box of trash bags is bit steep, but I love the concept and would buy them if they were cheaper.... However, I have reduced the amount of plastic grocery bags I get by using the reusable ones that you can pick up near the check out aisles..
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Posted by BetsyE Fri Aug 28, 2009 1:21pm PDT
Problem A) plastic alternatives that are made using corn biproducts contribute to the burning of the rainforest (to make room for new corn fields), and the global food shortage (the price of food corn has risen steadilly as corn is used for non-food products, changing it from one of the most affordable staple foods to something that many in the second and third world are now struggling to buy). It also takes more than a gallon of gassoline to produce a gallon of ethanol...so that part about easing oil dependence is B.S.
Problem 2) Biodegradable products are an excellent sollution if people compost. But if they are thrown into landfills (which are sealed to prevent seepage in a manner that also prevents matterials from biodegrading in the way they ought to), they are just as bad as plastics.
Essentially, unless people consume less, waste less, and compost everything, biodegradable plastic substitues don't fix anything...they just ease consumer consciences as they continue to kill the planet.
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Posted by BetsyE Fri Aug 28, 2009 1:26pm PDT
...by "Problem 2" I definitely meant "Problem B"...
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Posted by Mary Sat Aug 29, 2009 9:36pm PDT
we really don't need to be subsidizing American corn anymore- corn is a big part of the problem.
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Posted by hunkmuffin4u Sat Aug 29, 2009 10:47pm PDT
Why not take the trash out, dup it out and wipe it clean w/ no bag at all? Oh, that would be too much work! Then pay for throw-away friendly bags!
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Posted by allee Sun Aug 30, 2009 1:53am PDT
I have re usable cotton or canvas bags for groceries. And use them all the time. I also have a small nylon material bag that rolls up tiny, and has a little pouch that clips onto my purse. SO no matter where I am I always have a bag with me. I dont know how many times I have stopped for milk or something small at a store and they try to give plastic. I pull out my little pouch, open up the bag and am good to go.
NO thanks to Plastic. Be prepared!!!! Carry your own!!!!
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Posted by Jules Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:29pm PDT
Jules from Daily Grommet here. I love all the suggestions for reduce, reusing etc. I lived in Ireland at the time when offering free plastic bags in stores was outlawed. (Shine is carrying a good post on that, above, BTW.) It was heaven. The Irish landscape was immediately improved. It was no big deal to adjust to carrying carry reusable bags, as Allee says.
But....that did not solve my home trash problem. I still needed something to line my bins, no matter how much I reduced and reused. I would love to be able to just put my trash in the bin, dump it and wash out the bin like hunkdaddy suggests. Maybe when I have fewer kids at home and more free time I will get there. But I just don't. Too much work and residual smell. So BioBags are my best solution. They are more pricey, as Katie B says, but I try to use less of them by virtue of the other actions. One caveat: they do not handle sharp objects and lots of pressure like plastic. You have to carry them outside supported underneath, to be safe. The poop bags are just fine, though.
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Posted by Jennifer Wed Sep 2, 2009 6:38am PDT
Historically, corn starches have been the primary vegetable source for bioplastics including BioBags. Currently only some older grades of materbi (the Novamont resin biobags are made from) are from corn. Corn is a fertilizer "needy" crop compared with many other crops. More recent mater bi resins are using no corn at all and instead are utilizing sunflower and canola. The long term goal is to utilize marginal crops like switchgrass.
As a precursor to this fertilizer question…it should be understood that BioBags help communities divert organic waste from landfills so it may be composted, which creates nutrient rich topsoils for farmers, thus reducing farmer dependence on petro fertilizers.
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