more effort to put on say NO to plastic bags!

Banish The Bags: The Mail launches a campaign to clean up the country ... and the planet

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A typical British family heads home laden with plastic bags packed full of the weekly supermarket shop...

Cut to the haunting image of a sea turtle, thousands of miles away, struggling through the deep ocean waters as discarded plastic bags wrap themselves around its flippers and body.

These majestic animals are dying in alarming numbers because they mistake the flimsy translucent bags - which could in theory come from British supermarkets - for jellyfish, a key element of their diet.

A British family on their weekly shop - but their bags could be killing our wildlife

A rare turtle swims through the ocean - but the plastic bag in its gut will kill it

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-519770/Banish-The-Bags-The-Mail-launches-campaign-clean-country---planet.html#ixzz1vhgo9HkX

Pelham Manor Debates Merits of Plastic Bag Ban

PELHAM MANOR, N.Y. – Plastic bags should be banned from the community and replaced with reusable papers bags, a Pelham Manor resident told the Pelham Manor Board of Trustees in a presentation Monday night. 

A ban would improve the environment in the village, Pelham Manor resident Sydney MacInnis said in a presentation to the board during public comment.

“Nonbiodegradable plastic bags are often discarded into the environment and end up polluting our waterways, clogging sewers, endangering marine life and causing unsightly litter,” said MacInnis. “These bags last hundreds of years in landfills and are potential sources of harmful chemicals when they break down.”

Produce and meat bags, garment bags and plastic bags of a particular dimension would be excluded from the ban.

Several places, including Rye and Los Angeles, have similar bans, MacInnis said. California is considering a statewide ban because it has been approved in 20 other communities. Hawaii has already approved a statewide ban. The ban was also discussed at the Pelham Board of Trustees meeting May 8. 

Mayor Jim O’Connor and the trustees supported moving forward with the discussion and gave their thoughts on the issue.  

Trustee Randy Sellier said his wife uses cloth bags while shopping at Trader Joe's and said that use will grow “with a nudge in the right direction.”

Trustee Neal Schwarzfeld said he told his daughter, who lives in a California community that has the ban in place, that the board would be discussing the issue and she was “horrified that we don’t have it.”

Paper bags may not be the solution because “paper uses more material and it can actually require more energy to produce and dispose of,” said Trustee Ray Vandenberg. They have a more “detrimental environmental impact than the plastic bags do,” he said, citing a 2007 study that he read.

MacInnis said paper bags “do have a heavy footprint” but sided with banning plastic.

“It’s almost like the paper right now is being used as an intermediary,” she said. “Will we be back here in a few years saying we need to revise it? I don’t know.”

O’Connor said he would “seek input from other constituents,” including Pelham Manor store owners, residents and members of local boards that have been presented or passed the ordinance. The matter will be discussed at a later meeting.

MacInnis said it was “great that the board is going to look at it.”

“It’s really wonderful because what this is doing first off is making people think,” she said. “That’s already what I’m hearing tonight, and that’s fantastic.”

Should plastic bags be banned?

Yes, because........

The Great Waste

Plastic bag production uses almost 10 percent of the world's annual oil supply. Only 3.5 percent of this number are recycled. This means that much of the planet's precious natural resources are being used to produce plastic bags that many of us maintain are unneccessary. The chemicals and compounds that go into making plastic bags could also be utilised in a far more effective manner. These two factors show that plastic bag production is a waste of resources, which could be being used in a far more effective way. Also there is alot of animals dieing about like 100,000 animals dieing each year by plastic bags.

One hour ago from LA

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

LA Plastic Bag Ban

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to vote today on whether to ban plastic bags and charge a fee on paper bags at grocery stores to clean up the environment, save taxpayers money on trash cleanup and promote sustainability.

Passage of the draft ordinance would make Los Angeles the largest city in the nation to ban plastic bags, according to the staff of Councilman Paul Koretz, who first proposed the ban.

The council is expected to approve a slightly watered-down version of the plan that Koretz first proposed and that the Energy and Environment Committee approved, which would have included a ban on paper bags.

However, Councilmen Jose Huizar and Eric Garcetti have proposed changes that would model the city's program after those in Long Beach, Calabasas, Santa Monica, unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County and Pasadena.

The proposal would include a six-month phaseout of plastic bags for large grocers, a yearlong phaseout for small grocers and a 10-cent fee for paper bags at all grocery stores one year after the ordinance is approved. Huizar and Garcetti's plan also calls for the Bureau of Sanitation to report back to the City Council after two years to discuss how the ban is going and whether to strengthen it.

Koretz supports the substitute plan, according to aide Paul Neuman.

``This moves the ball substantially forward,'' Neuman said. He said that if a plan ``leads to phasing out of all single-use bags, the details, to some extent, are not as crucial as taking that first big step.''

Neuman said the ban, if approved, would make the city a model for other large cities.

``It's also a message to Sacramento, and we need the state to pay very close attention to what the city hopefully approves'' today, Neuman added.

Koretz's office had received 12,983 emails in support of the ban and 1,005 emails in opposition as of Tuesday morning.

The ban is opposed by several plastic bag manufacturers and recycling companies. An executive from CrownPoly, a plastic bag maker based in Huntington Park, has said at previous hearings on the issue that the company would be forced to lay off up to 300 people if the ban goes forward.

Opponents of the ban also contend that a fee on paper bags amounts to a tax, which local governments are banned from imposing without voter approval under Proposition 26, approved by California voters in November 2010.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge recently sided with Los Angeles County, saying the fee does not amount to a tax. Attorney James Parrinello, who is representing Hilex Poly Co., LLC and other plaintiffs in the case said in a letter to City Attorney Carmen Trutanich that his clients have submitted the case to an appellate court.

The ban is supported by environmental groups, including Heal the Bay, which scheduled a rally before today's council vote.

Heal the Bay Coastal Resources Director Sarah Sikich said the ban is an important environmental step.

``The bags are only designed for single-use, but they get out into the environment and event make their way to streams, creeks and the ocean, and they never truly degrade,'' Sikich said, adding that the cost to taxpayers of cleaning up plastic bags from streets and parks is also harmful to the economy.

Los Angeles County Department of Public Works officials estimate its ban has lead to a 94 percent drop in the use of single-use bags at an estimated $5.72 annual cost to residents. 

Read more: http://www.kfiam640.com/pages/NEWS.html?article=10146905#ixzz1vhblG1dq

WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT PLASTIC POLLUTION

Plastic bags and bottles, like all forms of plastic, create significant environmental and 

economic burdens. They consume growing amounts of energy and other natural resources, 

degrading the environment in numerous ways.  In addition to using up fossil fuels and other 

resources, plastic products create litter, hurt marine life, and threaten the basis of life on 

earth.  We are producing over 25 million tons of plastics per year in the United States, a 

trivial fraction of which is getting recycled.  Here are some steps that you can take to reverse 

the tide of toxic, non-biodegradable pollution so that it will not overtake our planet. 

PERSONAL STEPS	COMMENTS
Put produce in paper, canvas, and other healthy-fibre	Take no plastic bags from the grocer’s shelf.
Refuse plastic bags at the check-out counter.	If a clerk throws your box of soap into a plastic bag, ask him or her to replace it in one of your bags.  Give the clerk a copy of “Why I Don’t Use Plastic Bags.”  Our experience has  been that they appreciate this information.
Don’t buy plastic sandwich bags.	Use wax paper bags, cloth napkins, or re-useable sandwich boxes (e.g., tiffins, described below).
Buy beverages in sustainable containers.	Use only glass bottles or cans.
Don’t open another plastic water bottle.  Take drinking water from the tap	Bottled water costs over 1000 times more per liter than water from your tap.  Buying our most essential nutrient, water, from corporations represents an abdication of community control of the commons.  If you have concerns about water safety, investigate a filter system such as Multi-Pure.  Better yet, work with your water district to develop stricter standards for water purity.
Buy fresh produce in Mother Nature’s wrappers (shell, rind, husk, etc.).	Pre-bagged produce not only uses wasteful packaging, but also tends to come from farther away, consuming more of our dwindling oil supplies in transport.
Give up Tupper Ware and related products	Tiffins (stainless steel food containers) are a long tradition in India.  They store food well, have longer lives than Tupper Ware and its look-alikes (you’ve probably seen the fading, corroding, and chipping that occurs to these plastic containers), are more hygienic, and have certain panache.
Make a habit of thinking about what comes with each thing that you buy	Look for and reward earth-friendly packaging choices. e.g.:   •  Buy greeting cards in paper boxes instead of clear plastic shells •  Ask your florist for flowers wrapped in paper, not clear film •  Use pens that re-fill instead of land-fill
Make a habit of thinking more in general.	Conscious consumption is not only good for the earth, it’s good for you.  “Mindfulness,” says Thich Nhat Hanh, “is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves.

Good environmental management is key

The answer to the problems associated with thin plastic bag use is not a ban, but better management. The 3Rs – reduce, reuse, and recycle – of solid waste management (SWM) also apply to plastic bags.
But only a few countries in Asia have sound SWM systems, even though all of them have regulations on solid waste. This is a result of a general misconception that managing is the same as regulating.

Managing plastic bags means knowing how to use and store them properly so that they can be reused many times, and knowing how they can be recycled when their useful life has come to an end.
Guidelines on how to use, maintain, reuse, recover, and recycle plastic bags are necessary, and recycling technologies for thin plastic bags are now widely available.

The guidelines should extend to the application of appropriate technologies for disposal when the materials have reached their ultimate limit for reuse and recycling.

Many materials need to be managed if they are not to harm the environment. Indeed, if not properly managed, paper can be a worse polluter than plastic bags; it occupies nine times as much space in landfills, and does not break down substantially faster than plastic.

OPINION: Don’t Ban Plastic Bags, Use Them Wisely

AsianScientist (May 22, 2012) – Cities in a number of Asian countries, including China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan, are currently on the warpath against plastic shopping bags.

The cities have passed local laws that ban such bags, on the basis that they clog sewers and drainage canals, cause street flooding, choke animals, and are responsible for other forms of environmental damage.
China and Taiwan, for example, impose heavy fines on violators. Other countries are appealing for a switch to the production and use of biodegradable bags.

But this misses the point. People do not object to using biodegradable bags, and consider them a welcome return to the traditional practice of using shopping baskets and bags made from locally available materials – such as jute, abaca, and cloth – that are less harmful to the environment.
What needs to be remembered is that plastic bags were made for a purpose, and that the main complaint is against the way that they are used – not their existence.

Times Addresses "I'm Not A Plastic Bag" Phenomena

"IF you are reading this anytime after dawn on Wednesday, you are probably too late to make a fashion statement and simultaneously keep the world safe from plastic bags." So begins the Times piece on Anya Hindmarch's "I'm Not A Plastic Bag," bags, 20,000 of which went on sale this morning at various Whole Foods locations. By all accounts, the bags are already sold out. Strangely enough, the Times saw fit to run this article in the Dining & Wine section instead of Sunday Styles, where it would have made much more sense, but nitpicking aside, it is an interesting look at how plastic bags are used in various countries. Not surprisingly, the US is lagging behind other nations in addressing the ecological problems that plastic bags present.

Made from polyethylene, a petroleum product, the bags may take as long as 500 years to degrade. Meantime they hang from trees, catch on power lines, float on oceans and lakes and clog storm drains, killing birds, fish, turtles and sea mammals unfortunate enough to ingest them or become entangled in them

so make our move today. replace plastic bag with other types of reusable bag. It's a small move for a much bigger change =)

Be Part of the Solution. Take the Pledge to Cut Plastic Bags Out of Your Life.

Solutions

Paper or Plastic?
In 1977, supermarkets began to offer plastic grocery bags as an alternative to paper bags. By 1996, four out of every five grocery bags used were plastic.

Paper

• 1 ton of bags = 17 trees

• 20% get recycled

• Ingredients: wood, petroleum and coal

• Could biodegrade in as little as a month, but due to poor landfill design actually biodegrade at about the same rate as plastic

• Each bag leads to 5.75 lbs of air pollution

• Generates five times as much solid waste as plastic

• Because of its heft and bulk, uses more fuel getting trucked to the store

• Its manufacturing process produces more than 50 times more water pollution than plastic

Plastic

• 1 ton of bags = 11 barrels of crude oil

• 1% get recycled
  

• Ingredients: natural gas and petroleum

• Decompose in 5 to 1,000 years

• Each bag results in almost 80% more air pollution than paper

• 40% less energy to manufacture and 91% less energy to recycle than paper

• Up to 4% of the world's plastic bags end up as free-floating litter

• Easily washes out to sea where it clogs in the stomachs of whales, turtles and other marine life

Plastic is everywhere and cutting it out of our lives completely would be a nearly impossible task. But, there are solutions to the plastic bag epidemic.

Themed Plastic Bag Crochet Bags

Plastic Bag Water Bottle Holder

Sick of holding your heavy water bottle while you go on hikes in the desert? With a water bottle backpack made from plastic bags, now you don't have to.

Bunga Ros Dari Plastik Beg

Hari Tanpa Beg Plastik dan 3R

Tahun lepas, 6 kumpulan pasaraya terbesar di Pulau Pinang telah mengagihkan 25.2 juta plastik sebulan atau secara purata sebanyak 2.1 juta sebulan.

Sebagai usaha untuk mentransformasikan Pulau Pinang sebagai negeri bertaraf antarabangsa yang lebih bersih, cerah dan hijau pelbagai usaha telah dijalankan termasuk bergerak sehaluan dengan 42 buah negara atau bandaraya lain seluruh dunia dengan menggalakkan orang ramai mengurangkan penggunaan beg plastik.

Sejak Pelancaran Program 'Hari Tanpa Beg Plastik' yang diadakan setiap Hari Isnin mulai 6hb Julai 2009 di pasaraya-pasaraya telah membolehkan Negeri Pulau Pinang berjimat lebih daripada 1 juta* beg plastik dalam masa 4 bulan.

Peniaga-peniaga hyper/supermarts, departmental stores, farmasi, fast food restaurants, Nasi Kandar chain stores, petrol kiosk stores dan convenience stores diwajibkan mengikuti peraturan yang ditetapkan oleh kerajaan tempatan dalam pembaharuan lesen.


2008, Enam kumpulan pasaraya utama di Negeri Pulau Pinang telah mengedar sejumlah 25.2 juta beg plastik setahun (atau 2.5 juta beg plastik sebulan).

Setiap rakyat Negeri Pulau Pinang dianggarkan menghasilkan sebanyak 1kg sampah sarap setiap hari.

Pada tahun 2007, MPPP dan MPSP telah membelanjakan kira-kira RM57.6 juta untuk pelupusan sisa pepejal.

Hampir 30 peratus daripada hasil yang diperolehi PBT terpaksa digunakan hanya untuk melupuskan sampah sarap.

Nasihat daripada Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang:

(1) Sediakan Beg Membeli-belah, Kurangkan Beg Plastik

(2) Jom, pisahkan sampah! Amalkan 3R: Kurangkan sampah(Reduce), Guna semula(Reuse) dan Kitar semula(Recycle).
*Data yang diberikan oleh 45 pasaraya dan peserta “Hari Tanpa Beg Plastik” .

-Bayaran 20 sen bagi setiap beg plastik pada "Hari Tanpa Beg Plastik" akan dimasukkan ke dalam Tabung Rakan Anti Kemiskinan.