It's the only planet we have folks!

Here’s a wonderful story from http://www.smh.com.au/

A class of 11- and 12-year-olds in Australia is leading a push to make the Royal National Park towns free of plastic bags, the first time a school has instigated such a ban.



The Bundeena Public School year 6 campaign - "No plastic packing for Port Hacking" - started with an environmental education project. The snorkelling students were disgusted at the number of plastic bags they found floating in the waterway.

The 28 students followed this with a litter survey, letterboxed homes and yesterday called a public meeting to build support for a possible phase-out of bags by September 1.

The students are challenging other schools in the Sutherland Shire to follow suit. Nationally, about eight towns and suburbs have ditched plastic bags altogether and many others are planning to do so.

Charlotte Bawden, 12, said: "It's the whale season right now and some whales have been found with plastic bags in their stomachs. It's hurting the animals. The turtles think the plastic bags are jellyfish and they eat them."

Bundeena and nearby Maianbar are surrounded by national park, Port Hacking and the Pacific Ocean.

Hayden McLaggan, 11, said the students were keen whale watchers - they saw five humpbacks yesterday morning - and wanted to protect the mammals from man-made threats such as plastic bags.

Planet Ark project manager Doug McLean said: "This is the first town where the children have led the way."

The National Parks and Wildlife Service has just banned plastic bags and brought in $200 fines at a rock-fishing site at Wattamolla in the national park.

Bundeena and Maianbar, with a dozen shops and a combined population of 3000, are similar in size to the Tasmanian tourist town of Coles Bay, which was the first town to ban plastic bags.

Some Bundeena cafes have already stopped supplying plastic bags. The owner of The Fish Exchange, Bruni Ullrich, sells calico bags for $1.10. "People love it after it sinks in," she said.

Warren Mason, a partner in the largest retailer, IGA Bundeena, said it was a "wonderful idea in theory" but would require a re-education program for consumers to change old habits.

"There are people who buy a two-litre bottle of milk, which has a handle, and they still want it put in a plastic bag," he said.

It’s a sad thing that most smaller Australian stores don’t know how affordable reusable cloth bags can be. I hope some of them check out our prices at http://www.badlani.com/bags

The Australians are leading the world in a voluntary switch away from plastic bags, but the results are clearly not enough.

According to figures from this year's Clean Up Australia campaign, retail sectors other than supermarkets have only reduced their plastic bag use by between 10 and 15 per cent over the past couple of years, and the number of plastic bags in the litter stream is rising rather than falling.

Figures showed that while major supermarkets had achieved a near 27 per cent reduction in the number of plastic bags issued in the past year, other stores had been slow to follow.

IBISWorld general manager Jason Baker said the problem was that in many cases the significant costs involved outweighed the benefits for the companies, despite what might be best for the environment as a whole.

"Until companies, and therefore consumers, are forced to pay the 'full cost' of producing polluting energy or other products - including paying for the cleaning up and avoidance of air and water pollution, or recycling and disposal services - they won't be encouraged to develop 'clean' alternatives, such as wind power or effluent-free farms," Mr Baker said.



In contrast consumption of plastic bags in Ireland dropped 90% within a year of imposing a 12 cent tax on plastic bags.

The problem is very serious and taxation appears to be the most productive way to go.

Clean Up Australia says men are the weaker sex when it comes to saying "no" to plastic bags.

A national Newspoll conducted by the environmental organisation shows 50 per cent of women are likely to refuse a plastic bag, but just one-in-three men say 'no'.

A third of men surveyed say they prefer to use plastic bags over reusable bags, compared to just one-in-five women.

Everyone’s been telling me this for years. That we’re the dumber sex.



But could it be that we are just more insecure?

No woman’s feminine identity is threatened by being seen carrying a cloth bag for her groceries. Are men concerned that they’d look like wimps carrying a cloth bag? Most cloth shopping bags are designed to look like the kind of totes women carry.

A corporate client (a male) who regularly orders giveaway bags for the trade shows he attends on behalf of his company gave me some insight into this.

Most totes, he mentioned, look too feminine, and male visitors to trade shows feel awkward carrying them.

We worked with him to design a jute + cotton tote with longer handles that men could sling over their shoulders without getting this feeling.

He wrote in after the show telling us that the design was a big hit, and preferred by everyone (males particularly, but women included) to the bags other exhibitors were handing out.

It was particularly gratifying, he added, that most folks catching flights out after the show, had his bags slung over their shoulders at the airport also.

At Norquest, we work hard to find the most appropriate solution to our clients’ needs and enjoy putting in the effort to customize solutions for their needs. See the vast selection we have on show at http://badlani.com/bags and if you don’t see something that appeals, brief us and we’ll work towards creating a bag for your specific needs.

Sensitivity to such issues can go a long way in encouraging everyone to reduce plastic bag usage. Younger people would prefer backpacks. We have a great line of very economical backpacks too.

Who said all shopping bags need to be cut from the same cloth?

Our laws are some of the most progressive in the world, but enforcement is zilch.

We have strict laws against production, storage, use, sale and distribution of polythene bags.

Himachal Pradesh, a state that earns much of its revenues because of its scenic beauty, was the first to implement it. In theory.

In theory you can be fined upto a lakh of Rupees (US$ 2000) or be sent to jail for upto 7 years.

In practice, no one has ever paid that fine leave alone spend time in the cooler.



Most Indian citizens are completely unaware of the law and you see plastic bags flying around everywhere.

The Indian cow, considered sacred and an object of worship, is one of the worst victims. 95 per cent of urban India’s stray cattle are suffering from various ailments due to hazardous materials inside their abdomen. 90 per cent are plastic bags.

We ship reusable cotton bags every day of the week to the whole world from our website http://www.badlani.com/bags but we have no buyers in India.

A story in today’s Indian Express talks about how 95 per cent of urban India’s stray cattle are suffering from various ailments due to hazardous materials inside their abdomen.

90 per cent of that was plastic bags.



This, while a website about Hinduism says “The cow has almost become a symbol of Hinduism…in India, the cow is believed to be a symbol of the earth - because it gives so much yet asks nothing in return. Because of its great economic importance, it makes good sense to protect the cow”

In theory, of course.

We’re a country of very high minded and noble intentions. Our actions completely contradict all that.

We sell reusable cloth bags every day of the week to customers all over the world from http://www.badlani.com/bags, but we have no customers in India.

Tragic, isn’t it?

http://www.mbdc.com has a totally inspiring concept on their website. This is what it says.

“MBDC is articulating and putting into practice a new design paradigm; what Time calls "a unified philosophy that—in demonstrable and practical ways—is changing the design of the world."

Instead of designing cradle-to-grave products, dumped in landfills at the end of their 'life,' MBDC transforms industry by creating products for cradle-to-cradle cycles, whose materials are perpetually circulated in closed loops. Maintaining materials in closed loops maximizes material value without damaging ecosystems”.

We’re doing our modest bit on this front too. Scroll down to see the weblog titled “Turning junk into beauty while helping people” where we’ve attempted to precisely this.

What we’re doing, of course, is going to the grave and turning it into a cradle.

The whole story is at http://www.badlani.com/recycle

But we’re not at all sure on how to take it to its potential and looking for help and advice, so please do share your thoughts…

Sponsorship from Landmark Narromine, a real estate company is helping the Narromine Shire Council rid their community of plastic bags.

Narromine Shire Council is encouraging all residents to take advantage of the current 'Plastic Bag Swap Op' where calico bags are given free to residents when they bring in 20 plastic bags to the Narromine Council Chambers, Tomingley BP or the Trangie Library.

"There have been more than 16,000 bags bought in since the swap program started, which is a great result," Miss Cartwright said.

You know what that means in terms of sponsorship money? 16000 divided by 20 is 800 cotton bags. That would (or ought to) have cost them maybe $ 2 each.

Look at the image payoff. The sponsor looks like a very responsible corporate citizen and deservedly earns goodwill and trust.

Earning the gratitude of any entire city and all the attendant publicity that comes with it for under $ 2000? Ever heard of such a thing?

Those 800 bags will be taken out for shopping trips maybe 300 times each. That’s 2,40,000 eyeballs for such a small cost.

Much better bang for your corporate buck than sponsoring something gimmicky, wouldn’t you say?

Write to us today and we’ll work out a cost-effective program for your company. See the attractive and economical bags at http://www.badlani.com/bags

Barbara Wallraff tells us in the The Atlantic Monthly that this is what the Irish call fugitive plastic bags that fly around and snag everywhere. Completely fitting.



Lee Buenaventura, of Wellesley, Massachusetts, felt nearly the same way, but she suggested giving the term a "tweak" to Americanize it: witches' britches.

Other interesting American terms: Urban Tumbleweed, Shoppers' Kites; Sheilah Zimpel, of Raleigh, North Carolina, wrote, "Here in the South we call that white trash."

A whole new lexicon is emerging to describe this blight. I’ll soon add some non-American terms that are being used.

What words would you use to describe things that are killing animals and marine life, poisoning your food, compromising the masculinity of unborn boys or being just plain ugly? All contributions welcome.

The reusable bags we offer at http://www.badlani.com/bags are attractive, affordable and a whole lot healthier for our planet and for our lives.