So, eco freaks have been trying to tell everybody about the problems with plastic for awhile now and before moving back to the high desert I was admittedly a bit slow on the subject. In my city life, plastic was a way of life. Oh, sure, I’ve always been a bit thrifty and hated waste, but moving out here to the ranch, where there is no curbside recycling, has taught me a few things about plastic. It’s ugly. It lasts forever. It’s toxic. Did I mention that it’s ugly?

Let’s get real, okay? Plastic is a serious problem. We’re not talking a little mess here, we’re talking mountains of waste, we’re talking more ugly than has any right to exist. And the price tag on this ugly?? The cost to our planet, our Mama Earth, is pretty steep. And we sold out cheap- a twinkie here, a bread bag there, a trip to the market.

garbage plastic recycle reuse precycle upcycle

According to various sources around the web:

  • There are an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags
    consumed worldwide each year.
  • That comes out to over one million per minute.
  • Billions end up as litter each year.
  • According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and
    wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year and,
  • According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. uses 100 billion
    plastic shopping bags a year.
  • Hundreds of thousands of marine mammals die every year from
    eating discarded plastic bags that they mistake for food.

    • bird plastic garbage

  • Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade. This means when in the sun, they break down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways as well as entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest the bits.
  • It also means that when the bags end up in the Land Fills, buried with other garbage and hidden from the sunlight, they don’t degrade.
  • According to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation, plastic bags are among the top 12 garbage items most often found in coastal cleanups.

    • recycled bags precycle reuse

    Here in Thorne’s World we:

  • Precycle; in other words we consider the packaging before we buy. Less plastic is always better here on Pair – O – Dykes Ranch, and none is optimal, although I admit we’re nowhere near zero plastic yet. For a serious lesson in plastic precycling, head on over to Fake Plastic Fish! This is one dedicated gal, and there is a lot of valuable information on her site. Feeling really frisky?
    Take Tess’ Trash Challenge.

    • We use reusable bags for our groceries, and I’m still working on convincing my bulk foods market to allow me to use cloth bags for the food products, but it’s an uphill battle out here in the boonies.

  • Recycle; Whenever we must use plastic shopping bags we save and return them to the store. Our local WinCo gives $.06 per bag credit on every shopping trip. We haven’t used bottled water in years, we like our yummy naturally tasty well water just fine. What plastic bottles we end up with from milk and the occasional juice or from our laundry products are recycled after we…
  • Reuse; If you’ve read my Green Gardening Tips, You know that plastic bottles become plant warmers and vinyl blinds become plant markers. Before eschewing plastic shopping bags I’m afraid we had amassed quite a collection of them since I simply refuse to send them to the land fill, so we also…
  • Upcycle; A few fun ways to turn plastic waste into sustainable art and practical items can be found here, and although plastic can be one of the more difficult waste products to turn into art, just have a look at what Jerry Ross Barrish and Aurora Robson can do with discarded plastic items!

    • San Francisco, (smarties that they are) has actually outlawed the use of plastic shopping bags in supermarkets and pharmacies.

    In Ireland an extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.

    Move over Ireland! Thanks to Congressman Jim Moran, a Northern Virginia Democrat, the “Plastic Bag Reduction Act of 2009″, an earth friendly piece of legislation if ever there were one, was introduced on Earth Day this year. Since voluntary eco awareness and responsibility are not the strong suit of a consumer driven society, this legislation would hit folks where they will actually feel it. Their wallets! The bill proposes a 5 Cent per bag charge to hopefully encourage reusable bag use. The legislation would allocate the funding generated to land and water conservation programs, to lower the national debt, and to cover the costs businesses to implement the program.

    So what can you do to reduce your
    dependence on those pesky toxic plastic single use shopping bags now, so you won’t get caught short and have to pay real cash money when this legislation goes through in 2010??

    Remember:

    PRECYCLE

    RECYCLE

    REUSE

    UPCYCLE

    turtle plastic bag waste pollution

    What do you do to reduce the amount of plastic you consume? How do you recycle or reuse it? Have you ever made any of the upcycled crafts at the link, or have projects of your own to share? Tell me about it, or leave the link to your own plastic post or
    tip in comments and I’ll visit and comment at your blog.

    Peace, out!