Paper or plastic? Don’t tell Al Gore, but we usually opt for plastic – and they are neatly stored inside a pop-a-bag dispenser (http://goo.gl/LmhX66) beneath our Airstream kitchen counter. The pop-a-bag dispenser is a brilliant solution for all those loose plastic grocery bags drifting around your kitchen like a scene from American Beauty.
It wasn’t a film, but rather a book (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) that taught us the towel is the most useful item in the universe. But a close second to the towel might be the bag. When you think about it, plastic bags are remarkable feats of engineering, since they are thin, lightweight, and strong. And plastic bags are 100% recyclable, right? So at first glance, all seems to be good.
Store your plastic bags in one convenient place. (Click the pic for more info.)
Like many RV campers, we use plastic shopping bags for a variety of purposes. For example, they serve as garbage bags. They carry food. Sometimes in rainy weather, we use plastic bags as waterproof protection for camera gear. They hold sweaty workout clothes. They pick up dog poop. In some situations, plastic bags make for an unpretentious alternative to a Louis Vitton purse. (This goes over better in Paris, Texas than Paris, France.)
But alas! Sadly, all is not well in the world for plastic bag aficionados. There’s a movement afoot to outlaw the humble plastic grocery bag. Laws banning the bags have already been passed in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, and North Carolina. If you think this is craziness, stay tuned. A plastic bag ban (or tax) may soon be coming to your town.
Once you start neatly storing your plastic bags in one place, you’ll be a happier camper! (Click the pic for more info.)
What’s the problem? Critics assert that plastic grocery bags are bad for the environment. They are slow to break down in landfills (it just takes a few centuries). Sometimes animals choke on ’em (note to any wildlife reading this article: please don’t eat plastic bags).
Some plastic bags find their way to the oceans, where they will drift for centuries before being recovered by alien archaeologists in the year 2834.
If all of that wasn’t bad enough, plastic bags are made with petroleum – so they increase our dependence on the black stuff (and I don’t mean Guinness).
The prosecution rests. Is there any defense for plastic bags? Are they that much worse than paper and cloth?
Well, some studies show that plastic bags are environmentally superior to paper because they require less energy and far less water to produce and they take up less space in landfills.
Plastic bags compress so easily, you can fit about 10,000 in these storage dispensers. (Actually they hold 25 – it just seems like 10,000.)
What about cloth? In LA, city officials are giving away reusable cloth bags (presumably paid for by taxpayers) to residents to help them prepare for the big ban.
While reusable cloth bags may seem a perfect solution, consider that bacteria like E. coli and fecal coliform will thrive in reusable cloth bags. Yes, your reusable cloth food bag could become a bacteria factory. Good luck hauling home apples in the same bag you used for raw chicken.
So you need to wash reusable bags – with hot water. And detergent. Yes, washing uses both water and electricity or natural gas for heat. Plus you will need to use some kind of detergent. Hmmmm. No one ever bothered washing a plastic bag with detergent and hot water. When you consider the overall environmental impact of the cloth bags, the answers are not so obvious.
It’s kind of like buying a new hybrid “to help the environment,” when the better solution would be to recycle an older car with a traditional internal combustion engine. The environmental impact of a new Prius is far worse than simply driving an old 1996 Accord.
YES! Due to popular demand, Pop-a-Bag is available in striking Arctic White. (Click the pic for more info.)
Also consider that cloth bags don’t work so well for tasks like picking up dog poop. So people will likely end up buying more plastic bags or mittens since they don’t have the option to recycle their grocery bags. With these bans in place, plastic won’t suddenly cease to exist; the bags simply won’t be available in grocery stores.
So what about the plastic grocery bag bans? Although I like using plastic bags, I can certainly see the critics’ point. We have about 300 million people in the United States who collectively toss about 100 billion bags per year. While some of the bags may be recycled, a large percentage are not. This is a shame.
I’m still unconvinced that outright bans are the best solution. While no one is claiming plastic bags are wonderful for the environment, the alternatives are not so clear cut. The true perfect solution would be for plastic bags to be recycled. They are kind of like aluminum cans in their potential to be recycled. Of course, they are even more versatile than aluminum cans. (Ever tried to pick up dog poop with an aluminum can? It ain’t easy, let me tell you.)
Any way you look at it, if you already have plastic bags, it makes sense to reuse and recycle them. That’s why we keep ours inside that little pop-a-bag storage thingy. It’s a great product.