Posts filed under 'Living without plastic'
October 25th, 2009
I’ve heard of charging customers for using plastic bags to discourage their use, but thanks to Holli Connell on Twitter, I’ve learned that Target will start paying me for using my reusables!
According to this USA TODAY story, starting Nov. 1, you can earn 5 cents per bag used. That’s not a huge incentive, but who needs one to go to the place where you stop for hair spray and leave with a cart’s worth of stuff.
Will it work?
A pilot test in 100 Target stores earlier this year resulted in a hefty 58% reduction in plastic bags used, says Shawn Gensch, vice president of marketing. “The best-case scenario is that we’ll have 100% success and every consumer will use a reusable bag.”
August 20th, 2009
The Seattle effort to cut down on paper and plastic grocery bags was shot down this week by the shoppers (err, voters).
From The Times:
The city hoped the 20-cent charge would encourage Seattle consumers to stop using throwaway shopping bags and instead take their purchases home in recycled bags or reusable totes, reducing waste.
Supporters of the charge pinned the loss on a heavily funded opponent that outspent them 15-to-1, but they said the campaign had laid the grass-roots foundation for future efforts.
“Big money can come in and run deceptive scare campaigns, but in the end, people who care will defeat the people who scare,” said Green Bag Campaign spokesman Brady Montz.
Most of the anti-fee campaign’s $1.4 million came from the Virginia-based American Chemistry Council. Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission staff said that group’s $500,000 contribution in mid-July was the largest for a local ballot measure in recent history.
“I think the results confirm what the coalition has said from the beginning, that it was a costly and unnecessary tax,” said Adam Parmer, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop the Seattle Bag Tax. “I think you saw Seattle voters saying that this was not the right approach to protecting our environment.”
July 29th, 2009
I wrote in June about Aveda’s special recycling program to collect plastic bottle caps.
In addition to Weis-Morris, ZelaEuro Salon, 3855 N. Perryville Road in Rockford collects the caps, and you can get a punch card for discounts when you participate. I learned this by coincidence because I really went to that strip mall to pick up pizza but needed eye shadow. If your salon participates, let me know.
One thing I noticed on Aveda’s site this time around is that schools can get involved and adults can print out coloring pages for kids.
July 28th, 2009
Either bring one reusable bag from y our car when you run into a store for a quick errand or just carry it out with the receipt so you don’t look like a common thief.
I’ve nagged about this before, but I can’t believe how hard this habit is to break for cashiers and shoppers.
Looks like a suburban Chicago county is on the recycle-your-bags bandwagon.
Roughly 70 grocery stores, drugstores and other retailers in Lake County are participating in a six-month pilot program set up by the task force to encourage customers to recycle plastic bags - and use fewer of them in the first place.
Jewel-Osco, Lowe’s, Sunset Foods, Walgreens, Butera, CVS, JCPenney, PetSmart and Piggly Wiggly are among the companies that will put a special container near their front doors to collect used plastic bags.
The experiment is to last from June through the end of the year, with collections being weighed to gauge the effect on the environment. The idea is to present evidence that it’s working to the state legislature in the hopes of growing the program.
July 13th, 2009
I’ve seen a lot of chuckles about the fact that fewer people would drink bottled water if they knew where it came from (like labeling saying it came from a municipal tap, like some do).
Now I see that an Australian town, Bundanoon, is banning bottled water to help save the planet … and their own water reservoir:
The BBC’s Nick Bryant in Sydney says locals have promised not to set upon visitors if they ignore the ban, but they will be encouraged to fill a reusable container from water fountains in the main street.
The reusable bottles will bear the slogan “Bundy on Tap.”
Watch the AP video below (someone says “bubbler;” yes!).
July 8th, 2009
Judi Kernica of Loves Park crochets almost every day. And almost all the time, she uses strips of plastic bags instead of yarn.
Kernica got the idea watching “The Carol Duvall Show” more than four years ago when her youngest child was just a baby — it was something she could do and still keep an eye on her.
She said the idea dates back to the 1960s when people regularly saved bread bags.
Today, she makes rugs, purses, tote bags and car seat mats. Once she even made a mat to go under a neighbor’s camper awning.
“I have no idea how many (things) I’ve made. I’ve given a lot of them away as gifts. I’ve done a couple of craft shows.” She is now selling her wares at the Midtown Farmers Market from 3 to 8 p.m. Fridays at 222 Seventh St., Rockford.
So how does she do it?
She cuts up the plastic bags, puts them into a comforter bag and ties the strips as she goes along. She has no idea how many bags it takes to make any particular product, though she gets supplies from friends, her mom and a neighbor. “I think it’s better that way if I don’t keep track; it would boggle the mind.”
She does donate the scraps for recycling (broken pieces and handles) — usually a grocery-cart full by the time she drops them off.
Kernica has been crocheting for two decades but never learned how to read patterns, so everything has been learned and tweaked along the way. She proudly talks about a tote bag she stuffed and took to the beach. “The sand fell out the bottom!”
She added: “I’ve been amazed at what I fit in those things, and I’ve never broken one.” Her husband jokes that he could swing a bowling ball around in one.
Well, that’s probably not practical. But this is: You can put the bags in the washer (not the dryer). And the more they get used, the softer they feel.
If you want to do this yourself, she suggests Googling “crocheted plastic.”
June 23rd, 2009
Susan Schumacher at Machesney Park Elementary saw my May post on Capri Sun’s program for recycling juice pouches and e-mailed to let me know the Machesney Pilots 4-H Club participates, collecting about 100 per week.
That’s awesome! Anyone else?
June 17th, 2009
… that the company recycles most caps — not just Aveda’s — in the Recycle Caps program.
Because apparently most caps don’t get recycled and end up in landfills or as litter that can harm birds on beaches, for example.
Hmm. I have to do more research. Like which salons accept them. And do our recycling companies cut the caps off or actually recycle them?
Anyone?
UPDATE: Weis-Morris Day Spa in Rockford participates in the program! Still trying to find out more…
June 3rd, 2009
A Go Greenie sent along this Tribune story…
With a headline like this — “Eco-friendly shopping bags: Are they making you sick?” — it’s hard to resist reading.
Consider the source…
An alarming 15-page paper, published on the Web site for Canada’s Environment and Plastics Industry Council, concluded that reusable grocery bags are “a breeding ground for bacteria and pose a public health risk” because of high counts of yeast, molds and bacteria.
The potential hazards include “food poisoning … bacterial boils, allergic reactions, triggering of asthma attacks, and ear infections,” according to the paper. Plastic shopping bags, on the other hand, may be bad for the environment, but they’re “more hygienic than reusables,” EPIC said.
You can’t see, but I’m rolling my eyes. Goodness.
May 14th, 2009
In case you missed it. Or the earlier post.
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