foodie65

Jerry, I believe Dutchess County will soon be following Ulster

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

Not quite....otherwise Trump would not be threatening Iran over stopping oil tankers.
Besides it is not just the USA that contribute to the excess use of plastics....even countries that use little are now having our 'recycle'd' plastic waste exported (dumped) on them.

Shale gas oil is an industry that only has one use - Plastic.....it is too dirty to burn! A refinery in Scotland is talking about doubling its capacity to make plastic at virtually no extra cost by using it.....Just when everyone else wants to reduce plastic.

China has started to refuse taking US and UK waste....it is getting bad press about its own Carbon footprint and see's this as a sensible reduction policy.

We need the boffins to come up with a new use for existing plastics as well as a believable recycling system.....maybe like India where PEOPLE make money by collecting it rather than Civic authorities 'saying they are'.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Mixed feelings.

Here they charge 10 cents for a regular grocery bag (~7x12x16"). I thought that sounded a bit high so I looked up paper bags. I didn't do an extensive search but I found a site that would sell me 1000 bags for about $100. The grocery probably buys them in million lots so they might pay 5 cents but there's more infrastructure needed to handle the larger volume that the bags take up.

I do miss the plastic bags because we used them for lining trash containers. Handy to collect the trash because the bags have handles. When there's garbage (including food scraps) involved the paper bags are useless because they have no wet strength. So now we have to buy plastic bags to line our trash bins.

The best thing they could do is to come up with a good degradable plastic bag. Biodegradable bags decompose in response to getting wet and having air available. The problem is that they may degrade before you're done using them. Photodegradable plastic is sometimes used but it has to be exposed to light so if it gets buried it stays intact.

And prohibiting the use of plastic bags is a drop in the bucket. Everything is still plastic wrapped, even durable items that don't really need to be. It's more of a security protocol than a necessity. Your phone or other electronic thing has a plastic film placed over it to protect it from scratches until you start to use it. And many things are still made from plastic. Those things last longer than the bags, but they still contribute to the plastic trash loading.

In this area the plastic ban is a local initiative, so I can still get plastic bags if I pick the right store to go to. And of course I can still buy a case of plastic bags, around $35 for a case of 1000.

A lot of farms use plastic film on the ground for weed control. You put it down in the spring and plant through it. It does work really well, but it's a one-time use thing. You have to pull it up in the fall because you need to put down a cover crop for the soil health. Since what you pull up is covered in dirt, it's not recyclable. Biodegradable plastic was used a lot but you had to buy the right stuff so it didn't break up before you got the crop off. Photodegradable plastic was sometimes used but the plastid is held down by burying the edge, so at the end of the season the top would break up and blow away onto someone else's field, leaving you with little strips of plastic in the ground. We just used regular plastic and pulled it all up and it went to the trash. I tried to minimize the use of plastic to things that were hard to weed but some farms grew everything on plastic. Probably still do.

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

I would favor doing away with the plastic bags - as I mentioned previously - they are in the ditches and fields and are a hazard to wildlife... When we were visiting CA, the ditches and fields were free from the evil plastic bags - it was enjoyable to view the countryside without the eyesore - and it's a benefit to the wildlife...

We just put the stuff back in the cart and take it to the car and use either the collapsible containers or the collapsible insulated containers. We do have some cloth grocery bags for odds and ends... We got ours at work during a environmental day for a couple of $$ each...

We also have a compost pile - all food scraps (no bones) go to that - all that is recyclable is - paper/plastics/glass/metals... Granted, there are some plastics and paper they don't want for recycle, but that is an extremely small percentage... so we are left with a small trash output of stuff that we can't recycle...

Recycling the plastic grocery bags - our Walmart has a recycle box for used plastic grocery bags - and I'm noticing them in more Walmart stores as we travel the country (we overnight in the parking lots with our camper when they allow it). So - grab your plastic bags and next time you go to Walmart, take them along and donate to the recycle bin

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Well, we have done it to ourselves. We have never been responsible. We are a disposable society. We go through paper like it is water. We never have saved those infernal plastic bags. When have we really made a conscious effort to recycle? When was the last time we had saved anything from your morning breakfast? Imagine, you are going to work. You stop in a corner store. Grab breakfast. Perhaps, you have an egg sandwich and coffee. You know the sandwich is going to be wrapped up in aluminum foil. The styrofoam cup keeps your coffee super hot. It is all kept together in a paper bag with a plastic bag holding your breakfast and newspaper together. You are jostled back and forth. Then you get to work. Quietly you have your breakfast at the desk. Everyone else in the office hears and smells you trying to eat. After you have "snarked down" your breakfast, where to you put the aluminum foil, the crinkled napkins, the empty styrofoam cup and the paper bag that the coffee leaked through. Where does that plastic bag end up? Sure it goes straight into the garbage can. All of it. Lunch time comes. You "gotta" grab something to eat. Run down to the corner store. Order a chicken salad sandwich and buy a can of soda. Get back to your desk. Unwrap your sandwich. Oh look, some of it "spilled" out of the toasted roll and onto the paper over wrap. No worries. You have a little plastic package with a knife, fork, spoon, flimsy napkin, and a packet of salt and pepper. Tear it open. Sprinkle the salt and pepper onto your salad. You finish all of the salad with the fork. All the while, you sip your ice cold soda from the aluminum can. You have finished your lunch. Wipe your mouth with that tiny paper napkin. Where does the garbage go? Everything is "balled" up and thrown on top of your garbage from breakfast. You have finished working and you head home. Your spouse has asked you to pick up a gallon of milk, carton of eggs, some lemons, some chicken breasts, a bottle of wine and a loaf of bread. Let everything be placed in a translucent plastic bag. You come in the door and you sit down for the lemon chicken dinner you have prepared. Everything is served up on the paper plates with plastic utensils and transparent plastic "make-believe" cups to enjoy your Pinot Grigio. Then, you open the plastic over wrap from the memory cards or the boom microphone you also bought. You forgot to tell your spouse that you put the purchase on your plastic credit card. Where do you put your garbage afterwards? Right into the kitchen refuse can. Including that hard plastic overwrap. The plastic tray and the plastic wrap end up in the garbage. You sit down and watch another episode of Star Trek on the plastic 49 inch color television!
You head off to sleep with your head resting comfortably on your down pillow. Nod off to sleep. Darn! The plastic alarm clock wakes you up thirty minutes early. You run downstairs. Grab a bowl of cereal and a hot cup of coffee before work. You're "gonna" do breakfast differently than yesterday. Where does the garbage go? Right on top of last night's garbage. All of it! The plastic bowl, the styrofoam cup and the plastic spoon rest comfortably there. Include the carton from the milk and eggs. Climb aboard your bus to the work. You smile and giggle to yourself as you look at the other commuters. They are trying to eat their egg sandwiches and drink their hot coffee jostling back and forth like you did the day before sans the work desk. Shake your head slightly. Your stop happens along and you jump off the bus. And the cycle continues. You don't even take your car to work anymore. You figure you'll save on gasoline and avoid the frustrating traffic.
Why am I so elaborate? We have created this set of events for ourselves. And now, we complain! We, as a society are in a desperate rush to do everything yesterday. Boy, Oh Boy, are we stupid?!! We will never learn.Nope. Not now or ever. In fact, we have ruined this spinning ball of rock and water for children.
We have never learned to separate the aluminum, plastic and paper from everything else.
Well, for the used plastic bags I keep them in a cabinet by the sink. Darn! It is stuffed full of these infernal things. I use one or two when I take my dogs for a walk. I'll keep one "balled" up in my camera bag. I might have one stuffed into my coat, just in case! We have done this mess to ourselves. Now, we complain and want everyone to listen to us cry and join in our Pity Party. Try carrying the reusable cloth bag. Maybe a paper bag folded up somewhere to be reused as well.
Perhaps we should have three garbage cans in our cramped kitchen to separate everything and throw it all away.
Darn! I have to stop texting on my plastic cellular phone and finish my quick lunch and get back to work.
That song, "Corporate America", by the music band Boston playing out of your plastic transistor radio in the corner starts to make some sense.

Happy Shooting!

bigalw Loc: Essex - UK

I believe any of our shops in the UK can charge £0.10 per bag ONLY IF the store (collective) has more than 250 personnel, so how does that work, what difference does it make how many staff they have as to whether they you charge £0.10 or not ?????????

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

I'm not sure why. I hope some of our friends from the United Kingdom can tell us why.

DAN Phillips Loc: Graysville, GA

Yep, plastic will be here when the dinosaurs come home!

starlifter Loc: Towson, MD

That's a great start. But what really irks me are those plastic water bottles. I pull them out of the stream next to my house all the time after a good rain. Not soda bottles or ice tea bottles but water bottles. And i've lost count of the number that float buy I can't reach. They should charge for the too.

Sendai5355 Loc: On the banks of the Pedernales River, Texas

Here the local equivalent of a Wal-Mart Super Store does its part for the environment by not using plastic bags on the 4th of each month. What about all the Pampers that go into the landfills? In the 70's we used cloth diapers.

DIRTY HARRY Loc: Hartland, Michigan

I am not.. They've been "sold out" several times.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Sounds like a really regressive tax.
The big guy can recoup his/her costs.
The little guy has to eat it.

Dannj

I was bemoaning the use of paper straws in a change restaurant with the server who said:
“Save a turtle, kill a tree”.
I’ve been using re-useable cloth bags for the supermarket shopping and keep a few in the car for unplanned stops. Picking up one or two items from the drug store, I just carry them out in my hands.

edwdickinson Loc: Ardmore PA

Now people have book covers again.:)