Bad Plastic Bags

Posted by: Morgan Clendaniel
on May 8, 2007 at 5:10 am

Another GOOD video, this time warning you about danger of über-evil plastic bags. Don’t use them. And, apparently, don’t use paper bags either. Use shopping carts, or hire a sherpa, or, most conveniently, just use a canvas bag.

Filed under: Blog : GOOD Blog
Categories: Environment

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Message:: Check this GOOD piece on "Bad Plastic Bags"

DISCUSSION: 3 Comments

- Posted by: gvanr
- on May 9, 2007 at 1:44 am
I saw the plastic bag video on the site today. It discussed the downside of plastic shoppiong bags and pointed out that paper bags used more energy etc. – concluding that canvass totes were the answer.

Unfortunately no analysis of the impact of totes was made available.

The question of shopping bags has been debated in Australia for years – I recognised the turtle photo – it was taken at the Melbourne Zoo – and no, it was not a shopping bag in his mouth.

Canvass / cotton bags use a lot of resources to manufacture, and there is an impact associated with their re-use.

I worked out that if all Australian shoppers were to use them for grocery shopping, there would be an additional 5000 tons of material transported in those shoppers’ cars. If people left them in the car so as not to forget them, this amount of material would be transported on every trip taken in the vehicles.

Think of the extra fuel required!

I use my plastic shopping bags as bin liners, for gym gear, and when I take the dog for a walk. If I did not get them at the store I would need to buy them.

As long as you don’t litter them, I think they are low impact and very useful.

Gerard, Sydney, Australia
- Posted by: goodlingo
- on May 16, 2007 at 12:43 pm
The real downside of plastic bags is where they end up, whether one litters or not. Check out these stories: Seattle Times

LA Times

Orion Magazine

especially the latter half of the Orion piece.

Everything’s a trade-off, of course, but even if we carry 2 lbs of cotton totes in our cars permanently (and that’s a lot of totes), the extra fuel required is little more than the amount required to carry a person wearing hiking boots vs. a person wearing moccasins–a choice we never think about.

cheers

Lise, Virginia, US
- Posted by: WeeKnighT
- on July 9, 2007 at 8:01 pm
LOVED that Orion Magazine article, goodlingo, it’s very encouraging.
Works for me. We have to use something, there are over 5 billion of us. Sounds to me like we have found the holy grail of material to buy time. Imagine if it was paper and all that dye and chemicals leeching into the environment. Or worse, use something that takes much more energy to make. I’m satisfied that plastic is the only thing that makes 10 billion people living in comfort a possibility. The “throwaway society” it has encouraged can certainly be adjusted, but I see 0 alternatives to plastic that are less harmful.
As for shopping bags, the ideal is undyed reusable PLASTIC bag, as anything else takes too much energy to make, and the cloth only wins if you NEVER lose a single bag and never wash it.