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