A simple solution can make a big difference.
In the case of DC and other cities, implementing a minimal grocery bag tax of $.05 can go a long way in cutting down on pollution. Unfortunately, efforts such as this are often negatively framed by the chemical industry in terms of race and class politics.
From WAMU...
So what's up with the photo?
It's an "intervention" called “A Cloud of Bags Visit the Prado” which occupied the area near The Prado Museum in Madrid for a period of about 4 hours. It included 80 such recycled baggies, which inflated with the aid of the wind.
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http://seattlebagtax.org/
The above is an informative site that provides Seattle bag tax information to the public in one place. It was designed to serve as a resource hub that enables individuals to develop a well-informed judgment on a plastic bag tax or ban.
Please visit and send the link to others interested in this issue. We’d also like to hear your thoughts which can be emailed to info@seattlebagtax.org and hope you take a few minutes to complete the survey located at the bottom of the navigation menu.
After judicious review of several published studies, it is clear that counties that have implemented a ban or tax show no indication of it saving landfill space, reducing the cost of solid waste disposal, or recovering the costs of regulation. For too long, interest groups have drawn upon the common conception of the plastic bag as a symbol of consumer waste in order to disguise the money making machine behind the tax. A case study in San Francisco has shown that after 2 years, a bag ban has likely caused more harm than good. Here is a well-written article of the city's current bag ban blues: http://www.sfweekly.com/2009-01-07/news/baggage/
***If you are concerned about plastic bags, here are some things you can do to limit your personal consumption of them ***
REDUCE: Plastic bags have sturdy handles and can be made strong enough to hold up to 25 to 44 lbs. of goods. Plastic bags are also waterproof (helpful in Washington weather). The plastics industry has successfully reduced the amount of waste generated from packaging consumer products and plastic milk jugs weigh 30% less than what they did 20 years ago.
REUSE: More than 80% of consumers reported that they save and reuse plastic bags. Common uses for resuing plastic bags include pet pickup, storage, trash bin liners, transport, lunch bags, protecting valuables from water, diaper disposal, moving, yard waste, holding recyclables, and donation to charities, schools, hospitals, food banks.
RECYCLE: Plastic recycling is beneficial because it decreases the amount of used plastics that end up in landfills and allows for fewer natural resourced being used to produce new plastic. Currently, the recovery of plastic recycling has been small (due to their light weight) but growing; 1.4 million tons or 3.9% of the plastics produced in 2003. In 2005, 1.65 million tons, or 5.7% of the 28.9 million tons of plastic generated was recovered. Recycling plastic bags has been available at most supermarkets since 1992 and there is a growing market for recycled plastic that did not exist a decade ago as recyclers make 15-20 cents per pound of collected bags.
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