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April 27, 2005
Its your health. You decide how important that plastic bag is to you.
Most North Americans urinate plastics. Sperm counts are at a historic per capita low. Cancer is an epidemic.
Shouldn’t plastic bags be made to carry this mandatory warning?
There are no safe plastics; all plastics migrate toxins into whatever they contact at all times.
Tax the bags, say Californians Against Waste. And I completely agree. It works. Ireland taxed 'em just 12 cents and usage fell 90% in one year. How's that for effective?
There is a proposal to tax grocery shoppers of San Francisco 17 cents per bag.
Why 17 cents? Because that’s the cost citizens of San Francisco are already paying in general taxes for some of the costs of plastic-bag trash, such as cleaning up the litter and unclogging the waste system.
Northern Californians Against Plastic presented figures to show that if each of the 347,000+ households in San Francisco were to purchase a couple of cotton or canvas bags, over the approximate 10-year life of those bags the total amount saved -- compared to everyone using eight bags each week at 17 cents each -- by consumers would collectively be over $300 million.
And, the bag fee would mean revenue to fund programs for the poor such as free reusable natural-fiber bags. The Chronicle and the Commission on Environment (the San Francisco body putting the bag fee proposal to the Supervisors for an ordinance) have this new information.
You know what? Reusable cloth bags are the only sustainable answer. And they aren't as expensive as you thought. We, at Norquest can make lovely cloth bags available to shoppers at just 99 cents a bag (that’s just the tax they’d pay on 4 bags!). Just look at the reusable cloth bags we have on offer at www.badlani.com/bags/ - see how nice they look and then see how little they cost.
Do you agree? Or am I making too much of this issue?
09:05 Posted in Ecology , Shopping | Permalink | Email this
Comments
While I agree that plastic bags are a menace to society, and should be addressed accordingly, there are much much worse environmental problems that need to be addressed... Like Industry pollution... But yeah... good to see ya trying to "fight the good fight".
Posted by: elmysterio | April 27, 2005
Hey Elmysterio - can't argue with you. I think we need a lot of us focusing on various problems, suggesting viable solutions, pushing them.... and I suspect we'll make an impact. I love your blog. Great to come across someone wh thinks! Love you thoughts on how we could make our efforts more productive.
Posted by: Rajiv Badlani | April 28, 2005