Monday, August 04, 2008

Bring your own bag!

From an email subscription from 1/2 Price Books, comes the following green tip. If we really want to reduce our dependence on oil, we need to look beyond just what cars consume. Our everyday shopping and living habits consume quite a bit!

GREEN TIP No. 010
It’s good to b(eco)me carried away.
Paper or plastic? How about neither. Both plastic and paper bags are less desirable for the environment, not to mention, not as strong nor as functional as reusable carriers. Keep a tote bag in your car to lug groceries and books to and fro.
BARE FACTS & STATS: it takes as much petroleum to make 14 plastic bags as it does to drive a car one mile. Paper bags use even more petroleum. Plastic bags are made from nonrenewable petroleum resources that require the use of toxic chemicals during production and processing. Few facilities collect and recycle them, and most plastic bags end up as litter or in landfills. Plastics production accounts for 14% of toxic air emissions in the United States. The 10 billion brown paper grocery bags used in supermarkets annually require virgin pulp to give them strength to hold heavy groceries, cutting down millions of trees for the creation of bags. Learn more at
b(eco)megreen.info

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