Give our Planet a Gift by Using Reusable Shopping Bags

BYOB stands for bring your own shopping bag! Astime for the bags - made using about 12 million
we kick off the new year of 2010,, it is crazybarrels of oil each year in the United States - is
how much shopping we historically do here inabout 12 minutes. In addition to the hundreds of
America and world-wide and the trends areyears it can take for a plastic bag to decompose
increasing. Whether it be frequent trips to thein a landfill, the bags also force downtime when
grocery store as we keep our kitchen's stockedfed into traditional recycling equipment. Typically,
for wonderful meals and tasty treats or thosethe bags get wound into conveyor belts or gears
sometimes dreaded, yet skillful "6 bags on eachand must be cut out by hand.
arm" walks through the packed local mall, it allTen US cities have banned plastic bags so far,
adds up to so much unnecessary waste. One offive within the past year. Even Mexico City
the most blatant examples of this waste isenacted a ban on plastic shopping bags, which
disposable shopping bags.went into effect in August. The city of 20 million
An estimated 100 billion plastic shopping bags arenow faces the realities of effective enforcement,
consumed each year in the USA, according to thewhich is not easy when the Mexico City Chamber
Wall-Street Journal. Most plastic bags end up inof Commerce estimates there are 35,000
landfills and the rest often end up in rivers, ponds,vendors in Mexico City's downtown area alone.
lakes, streams or in the sea, where animals canBans on plastic bags aren't the only effective way
ingest or become entangled in them. Householdto reduce harmful waste caused by disposable
waste, shopping bags included, increases by morebags. PlasTaxes, which tax consumers at the
than 25% on average in November andregister for using plastic bags when shopping,
December. Considering how many shopping bagswere first introduced by the Irish. John Roach of
are consumed and wasted at this time of year,National Geographic reported last year on the
the time is now to spread the word about theworldwide momentum that's been building since
positive benefits of eco-friendly reusable shoppingIreland instituted a PlasTax in 2003. The Irish
bags to influence our families, friends andshowed they could reduce plastic bag
communities.consumption by 90% or more. Momentum is
Adopting a BYOB strategy in our individualgrowing across the world, particularly in America.
shopping habits is a simple way to do just that. IfFrom Washington, DC to Edmonds, WA to North
we can raise awareness at this time, the positivePole, AK, communities and governments are
impact for the environment is incalculable for 2010spurring an international trend to reduce the
and well into the future. Several cities haveharmful environmental effects of disposable
already made gradual but significant progress inshopping bags. Even major retail stores like
promoting the use of eco-friendly non wovenTarget and CVS are taking action by enacting
reusable grocery bags in recent years. Motivatingdiscounts at the register for customers who
consumers with plastic and paper bag bans,choose to BYOB or just carry-out their items
discounts at the register for reusable bag usagewithout a bag.
and tax motivations are a few to speak of.For the naysayers, it's convenient to ignore
Right here in America, the San Jose City Councilrecent momentum in reducing disposable bag
recently passed one of the nation's strictest banswaste. But to some, the wide-spread adoption of
on plastic and paper shopping bags. This is a bigeco-friendly reusable bags is inevitable. Look at
victory for the Bay Area, which has one millionthe way smoking is becoming taboo in America.
plastic bags per year accumulating in and along theIndoor smoking bans have caught on like wild fire.
San Francisco Bay. San Jose becomes the latestIn the same way, who is to say the use of
bay area city to enact some type of ban ondisposable bags won't become taboo at some
disposable shopping bags; others include Sanpoint in the near future? The use of eco friendly
Francisco and Palo Alto. Tracy Seipel of the Sanreusable grocery bags is definitely gaining steam.
Jose Mercury News reported that it was actuallyOur individual choices to bring our reusable bags
ONE man who really jump-started the ban,when shopping can go a lot farther than we think.
another great example of the power of oneThat's what BYOB is all about, setting a proactive
person. Here's a an excerpt:example for others to set a trend that will help
While visiting his sister-in-law in Taipei, Kansen Chu,our planet, it's valuable finite resources and secure
elected to San Jose city council in 2007, wentits animals' habitats.
grocery shopping and was surprised to getOf course, plastic and paper bags should be
charged for plastic grocery bags. The next day,recycled and it's important to remember most
he brought his own cloth bags back to the store.large retailers including Albertsons and Wal-Mart will
"I guess the question," said Chu, "was, Why notrecycle plastic bags for you. That being said, a
San Jose?" He began a conversation with theBYOB shopping strategy can make your life so
city's environmental services staff, which latermuch easier because there is no longer a need to
moved to council committee discussions.accumulate that cupboard full of plastic bags or
Save the Bay's 4th annual report on the mostfigure out what and when to do something about
garbage-strewn sites in the region furtherit. Keeping a few reusable bags in your car or
demonstrates the need for bringing your ownbackpack is a good way to ensure you have
shopping bags. The 50-year-old environmentalthem when needed. So give back to our planet
advocacy group focused on 10 specific bay-areaby remembering to BYOB! Whether it be at a
sites where almost 15,000 plastic bags wereconvenience store, the mall, or while grocery
retrieved in one day last year in their report.shopping, we can make a difference for the
Here's an excerpt of an article in the Sanenvironment and help raise awareness one
Francisco Chronicle by Kelly Zito.transaction at a time. Through the fight to
According to (Save the Bay's) research,eliminate disposable shopping bag waste, we are
Californians use about 19 billion plastic bags eachgiving a gift to our Planet, the finest gift of all,
year, 3.8 million in the Bay Area. The average usesustainability and reusage.