Americans are noticing the harm plastic bags are doing

Published on October 22, 2005 By Rajiv Badlani In Business

Time was when we all worried about it, the Irish, the Scots, the South Africans, the Australians, us Indians… but the Americans didn’t. Everyone else’s worrying and all the clean-up action lost meaning because it’s the Americans who consume most of the stuff on earth, and use – and throw away the most plastic bags too. So, seeing this article in Newsday gave me great joy. That’s one thing I love about the Americans. Once they pick up a cause, they run with it with an energy and intensity that no one else on earth can match. If the Americans cotton on to this cause, we’re home free!

“We are drowning in plastic bags around here. They obviously reproduce exponentially in the closet at night. Take a look at a typical day in our household. Monday: Pick up a few things at a local farm stand - scallions, lettuce, green beans. That's three plastic bags, but since I have a tote bag I don't need a fourth bag for the other three. "Vanity Fair" arrives in the mail in a plastic casing. My husband comes back from the post office with a ton of mail in a plastic bag. Buy chicken at the supermarket, think about asking for paper but contemplate the chicken juices leaking all over the car, and, whoops, said chicken is in a plastic bag before I get my change. And the morning paper arrived in a plastic bag. Total for the day: seven. Saved: one. And goes the week. Plasticbagitis is an epidemic sweeping the world, and it's happening right here in my home. This is not a good thing. Spend a few minutes on line and you discover that this plastic-bag epidemic is not only totally terrible for the environment, but completely out of control. Thousands of turtles, birds and other marine animals are killed every year because they swallow the darn things, mistaking them for squid and jellyfish.... Sad, when solutions exist. Economical and attractive solutions: See the reusable bags at www.badlani.com/bags/ What do you think? Am I being practical here? Or do you believe that there's another solution? Read the rest of the article here More...

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