ATTENTION SHOPPERS!
According to Save A Tree, it takes one 15‑to-20-year‑old
tree to make enough Paper for only
700 grocery bags.
BACKGROUND.
We take it for granted that every time we go shopping, a
store clerk will put our purchases in a bag. But do we really need the billions
of bags we use annually?
PAPER OR PLASTIC?
Plastic shopping bags are often more convenient than paper but they're not degradable (even the "biodegradable" plastic bags
never completely disappear‑they just break up into little pieces), and
all plastic is made from petroleum, a nonrenewable
resource.
Plastic bags often wind up in the ocean and kill marine
animals that get tangled up in them or swallow them.
The ink used on plastic bags may contain cadmium, a toxic
heavy metal. So when printed plastic bags are incinerated, heavy metals may be
spewed into the air.
Paper Bags are reusable and
biodegradable, but don!t come ecologically cheap, either. Supermarket
bags, for example, are often made
from virgin paper because, manufacturers say, heavy loads require the long
fibers in virgin pulp.
Check the printing on a supermarket
shopping bag‑‑it might say "recyclable," but it rarely
says "recycled." I
SIMPLE THINGS TO DO
Paper or plastic? Think twice before taking any bag if your
purchase is small. If every American shopper took just one less bag each month,
we could save hundreds of millions of bags every year.
Even better, bring a cloth bag when you shop. For $9, you
can order a large washable canvas shopping bag with "Save A Tree" on
the side. Save A Tree, P.O. Box 862, Berkeley, CA 94701.
For grocery shopping, use string bags. They're easy to carry
and fold up conveniently. You get 4 grocery~sized bags for $16.95, from Seventh
Generation, Colchester, VT 05446