Ban Plastic Bags
| Mission: | To encourage everyone to stop using plastic bags. |
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| Founder: |
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| Description: | Data released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency shows that somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year.
Less than 1% of bags are recycled. It cost more to recycle a bag than to produce a new one. “There's harsh economics behind bag recycling: It costs $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for $32†A study in 1975, showed oceangoing vessels together dumped 8 million pounds of plastic annually. The real reason that the world's landfills weren't overflowing with plastic was because most of it ended up in an ocean-fill Plastic bags account for over 10 percent of the debris washed up on the U.S. coastline Plastic bags photodegrade:Over time they break down into smaller, more toxic petro-polymers which eventually contaminate soils and waterways. As a consequence microscopic particles can enter the food chain. The effect on wildlife can be catastrophic. Birds become terminally entangled. Nearly 200 different species of sea life including whales, dolphins, seals and turtles die due to plastic bags. They die after ingesting plastic bags which they mistake for food. |
| Details: | If we use a cloth bag, we can save 6 bags a week. That's 22,176 bags in an average life time. If just 1 out of 5 people in our country did this we would save 1,330,560,000,000 bags over our life time. Bangladesh has banned plastic bags China has banned free plastic bags Ireland took the lead in Europe, taxing plastic bags in 2002 and have now reduced plastic bag consumption by 90%. In 2005 Rwanda banned plastic bags. Israel, Canada, western India, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Taiwan, and Singapore  have also banned or are moving toward banning the plastic bag. On March 27th 2007, San Francisco becomes first U.S. city to ban plastic bags. Oakland and Boston are considering a ban Plastic shopping bags are made from polyethylene: a thermoplastic made from oil... Reducing plastic bags will decrease foreign oil dependency, China will save 37 million barrels of oil each year due to their ban of free plastic bags. It is possible... So NO to Plastic! |
| Tags: | waste pollution plastic bags |
| Impact: |
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News & Discussions
Seeking Chemical Culprits for Those Deformities By: Joan Melcher Print The term "endocrine disruptor" had not been co... |
Throwing out the throwaway economy Posted 9:48 AM on 21 Aug 2009 by Lester Brown Photo: E... |
Study says plastic decomposes at sea Aug 19th, 2009 | WASHINGTON -- Environmentalists have long denounced plastic as ... |
Sierrans Help Keep Calgary Clean The Sierra Calgary Green Team lent a helping hand for the City of Calgary&rsqu... |
Researchers have conducted the first global analysis of the health and productivity of ocean plants, as revealed by a un... |
Videos

From Midway Island to the Gulf of Mexico, the birds are calling us to shift our relationship with the planet and ourselves. How can we pierce the protective walls of our hearts and open them up......
Connected to: Ban Plastic Bags Earth Day Every Day Coastal Plastic watch

HealtheBay | 14 August 2010 Help stop our 19 billion bag-a--year habit in California and put an end to plastic pollution. Tell your Senator to support the AB 1998 at......
Connected to: Water Impacts Emperilled Ecosystems Pop Culture Campaigns Urban Recycling Ban Plastic Bags Direct Action Coastal Plastic watch Fired Up Media Endangered Species

Plastic, a petroleum derivative - from production and distribution to pollution and consumption - set to Queen's Who Wants To Live Forever. Our PLASTIC problem is our OIL problem. It all comes......
Connected to: Ban Plastic Bags

Imagine every person on earth had 100 pounds of plastic. Thats how much new plastic will be manufactured in 2010. Sadly, much of that will end up in the ocean within a massive area dubbed the Pacific......
Connected to: Water Impacts Ban Plastic Bags Coastal Plastic watch

Year 6 at Middle Row Primary School add their voice to the many who are calling for urgent action to tackle climate change....
Connected to: Limiting E-Waste: Technology Recycling Ban Plastic Bags Eco Documentary Festival Earth Day Every Day

Author Colin Beavan spoke to Harry Smith about his new documentary and book "No-Impact Man" based on a one year experiment to live life with his family with as little environmental impact as possible....
Connected to: Organic Farming Greenhouse Gases Household Power Saving Tips Pop Culture Campaigns Urban Recycling Composting Green Gardening Buying Green Ban Plastic Bags Green Innovation Pedal Power Repower America Green Marketing & Messaging Fired Up Media URBAN GARDENS

Litter abounds in many of the country's undeclared beaches, with especially low marks going to the coasts at Palmachim in the center of Israel. Israel's open undeclared beaches span some 130......
Connected to: Water Impacts Ban Plastic Bags Coastal Plastic watch

Rocketboom Field Correspondent Ruud Elmendorp reports on a local, Nairobi, Kenya-based effort to recycle plastic bags into fencing poles. ...
Connected to: Urban Recycling Ban Plastic Bags Green Innovation Coastal Plastic watch

A few quick things you can do while traveling to keep it green. Any other suggestions? Leave a comment! ...
Connected to: Household Power Saving Tips Buying Green Ban Plastic Bags Earth Day Every Day

Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai argues that a community-based approach may succeed in reducing waste while also curbing the spread of malaria. She explains that mosquitoes often breed in pools formed......
Connected to: Urban Recycling Ban Plastic Bags Earth Day Every Day Coastal Plastic watch





