CA Plastic Bag Ban

brianlux
brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,846
in A Moving Train
California passed a bill to ban the plastic bag and now millions of dollars are being pumped into efforts to repeal the plastic-bag ban. I can totally understand this. I mean, really, who wants to go to all that trouble to have to carry those burdensome cloth bags around? And really, aren't the oceans even more beautiful with all that colorful plastic floating around on it? As for those turtles and fish and sea birds that choke on the bags, well hey, man-up critters, it's Darwinism at it's best. Survive the plastic or adios amigos!

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Millions-poured-into-effort-to-bag-the-5895777.php
"It's a sad and beautiful world"
-Roberto Benigni

«1

Comments

  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    If those manufacturers want to waste (ha!) their money, so be it. It should (would?) come down to the voters - those not swayed,

    The three local markets I frequent haven't offered plastic since it was banned, although one of them now has recycled/recyclable ones. We've done fine with paper so far.

    Still (and I've said it before), our condo rules require trash to be in plastic bags. So, we go through a fair amount of them on a weekly basis.

    Even Steven?
  • oceaninmyeyes
    oceaninmyeyes Posts: 4,646
    Hey brianlux -- For his IB Exhibition project (the end project in 5th grade) my son worked on this problem. Our small city in the middle of Colorado (about as far from the ocean as you can get) just recently voted to ban plastic bags here too. I took my son to a city open house about the proposal before the law was passed and he wrote a letter to the city council members and made a short stop action video of the problem. He was shocked a bit by the numbers of people who stood up at that meeting and complained about the proposal. I think his awareness of the problem started about 3 years when I saw a video, that I think was put out by Pearl Jam Activism's facebook page, about the albatrosses on Midway Atoll. I shared it with my son and it became a source of ideas for quite a few school projects. midwayfilm.com/ 2000 miles from anywhere and these baby albatross are being fed all of our plastic junk because their parents pluck out of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, mistaking it for food. The babies subsequently die and artist Chris Jordan is making a documentary about the sad situation. Some good info can be found at oneworldoneocean.com/initiatives/PlasticsBreakdown image
    And the sun it may be shining . . . but there's an ocean in my eyes
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,846
    oceaninmyeyes said:

    Hey brianlux -- For his IB Exhibition project (the end project in 5th grade) my son worked on this problem. Our small city in the middle of Colorado (about as far from the ocean as you can get) just recently voted to ban plastic bags here too. I took my son to a city open house about the proposal before the law was passed and he wrote a letter to the city council members and made a short stop action video of the problem. He was shocked a bit by the numbers of people who stood up at that meeting and complained about the proposal. I think his awareness of the problem started about 3 years when I saw a video, that I think was put out by Pearl Jam Activism's facebook page, about the albatrosses on Midway Atoll. I shared it with my son and it became a source of ideas for quite a few school projects. midwayfilm.com/ 2000 miles from anywhere and these baby albatross are being fed all of our plastic junk because their parents pluck out of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, mistaking it for food. The babies subsequently die and artist Chris Jordan is making a documentary about the sad situation. Some good info can be found at oneworldoneocean.com/initiatives/PlasticsBreakdown image

    Wonderful! Thanks for the info and Kudos to your son! =D>
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • rr165892
    rr165892 Posts: 5,697
    I have probably 60 of those cloth bags from our local supermarkets and health food stores.Plus about a dozen LuLu Lemon bags my wife contributes hangin around in the garage.I keep forgetting to take them and I have to buy 3 more every visit.I can't stand those plastic bags.You can't load enough goodies in them and the cloth bags you can stack to the top.Oh yeah,and that enviormental thing.
    What gets me is here in coastal South Florida our Eco system is the life blood of everything.You can't harm the Mangrove plants,Lights have to be controlled by the beaches due to our huge Sea Turtle population and Boating rules protect the endangered manatees.You would think some pin head would decide to do a bag ban here,but nothing yet.Sometimes we are so far behind common sense legislation it's disturbing.(like medical Mary Jane). Good for Cali
  • rr165892
    rr165892 Posts: 5,697
    Made me think of this horrible nonsense.It could be a thread all its own.

    http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/what-is-the-great-pacific-ocean-garbage-patch
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,846
    rr165892 said:

    Made me think of this horrible nonsense.It could be a thread all its own.

    http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/translating-uncle-sam/stories/what-is-the-great-pacific-ocean-garbage-patch

    Oh man! It's just insane to think of all that crap floating out in the ocean. I hope some of the ideas out there to clean it up eventually work.

    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    We just took a few deep hits of Carlin, among them The Arrogance of Mankind.

    Sort of fits here.

    (and I miss George)
  • stuckinline
    stuckinline Posts: 3,407
    rr165892 said:

    I have probably 60 of those cloth bags from our local supermarkets and health food stores.Plus about a dozen LuLu Lemon bags my wife contributes hangin around in the garage.I keep forgetting to take them and I have to buy 3 more every visit.I can't stand those plastic bags.You can't load enough goodies in them and the cloth bags you can stack to the top.Oh yeah,and that enviormental thing.
    What gets me is here in coastal South Florida our Eco system is the life blood of everything.You can't harm the Mangrove plants,Lights have to be controlled by the beaches due to our huge Sea Turtle population and Boating rules protect the endangered manatees.You would think some pin head would decide to do a bag ban here,but nothing yet.Sometimes we are so far behind common sense legislation it's disturbing.(like medical Mary Jane). Good for Cali

    I keep my cloth bags in my car, so I always have them when I shop.
  • Smellyman
    Smellyman Asia Posts: 4,528
    good. the whole world should ban platic bags.

    Only ironic thing is putting your 5000 plastic items in your canvas bag.
  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    Smellyman said:

    good. the whole world should ban platic bags.

    Only ironic thing is putting your 5000 plastic items in your canvas bag.

    Makes me nuts, the plastic wrappers of some things - even the doodad that's supposed to cut those wrappers...secured in heavy plastic.

    I ordered some stuff from Amazon recently. One of them was an incense holder, no larger than 2 x 12 inches. The thing came in a box four times its size and stuffed with "puffed" plastic.

    Our cats love it, but what a waste.


  • PJfanwillneverleave1
    PJfanwillneverleave1 Posts: 12,885
    There is no plastic bag ban where I live because you just put it with your recyclables. Why is this so hard to understand in some lands?
  • rr165892
    rr165892 Posts: 5,697
    hedonist said:

    Smellyman said:

    good. the whole world should ban platic bags.

    Only ironic thing is putting your 5000 plastic items in your canvas bag.

    Makes me nuts, the plastic wrappers of some things - even the doodad that's supposed to cut those wrappers...secured in heavy plastic.

    I ordered some stuff from Amazon recently. One of them was an incense holder, no larger than 2 x 12 inches. The thing came in a box four times its size and stuffed with "puffed" plastic.

    Our cats love it, but what a waste.


    Are u talking about that hard molded plastic that u need a scissor to cut?
    I always cut myself on that shit.I hate that form of packaging.
  • callen
    callen Posts: 6,388
    Smellyman said:

    good. the whole world should ban platic bags.

    Only ironic thing is putting your 5000 plastic items in your canvas bag.

    Right. And all the disposable cleaning products like swiffers and pads you throw away after using.
    10-18-2000 Houston, 04-06-2003 Houston, 6-25-2003 Toronto, 10-8-2004 Kissimmee, 9-4-2005 Calgary, 12-3-05 Sao Paulo, 7-2-2006 Denver, 7-22-06 Gorge, 7-23-2006 Gorge, 9-13-2006 Bern, 6-22-2008 DC, 6-24-2008 MSG, 6-25-2008 MSG
  • callen
    callen Posts: 6,388
    PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

    There is no plastic bag ban where I live because you just put it with your recyclables. Why is this so hard to understand in some lands?

    Likely small percentage get recycled.
    10-18-2000 Houston, 04-06-2003 Houston, 6-25-2003 Toronto, 10-8-2004 Kissimmee, 9-4-2005 Calgary, 12-3-05 Sao Paulo, 7-2-2006 Denver, 7-22-06 Gorge, 7-23-2006 Gorge, 9-13-2006 Bern, 6-22-2008 DC, 6-24-2008 MSG, 6-25-2008 MSG
  • PJfanwillneverleave1
    PJfanwillneverleave1 Posts: 12,885
    callen said:

    PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

    There is no plastic bag ban where I live because you just put it with your recyclables. Why is this so hard to understand in some lands?

    Likely small percentage get recycled.
    No 100%
    In fact the disposal company is very aggressive in collecting our plastic bags and encourages that we put our paper in plastic bags for curbside collection. Many of our grocery stores have a bin for collecting plastic shopping bags.

    Our waste facility offers free tours and shows how garbage is sorted and recycled.
    Any plastic shopping bag that arrives at the facility is recycled (including the black garbage bag)

    If we don't separate our plastics/paper compost properly we get a rejection sticker on collection day and it is left at our curb until you resort it for next collection day (2 wks later).
  • hedonist
    hedonist Posts: 24,524
    rr165892 said:

    hedonist said:

    Smellyman said:

    good. the whole world should ban platic bags.

    Only ironic thing is putting your 5000 plastic items in your canvas bag.

    Makes me nuts, the plastic wrappers of some things - even the doodad that's supposed to cut those wrappers...secured in heavy plastic.

    I ordered some stuff from Amazon recently. One of them was an incense holder, no larger than 2 x 12 inches. The thing came in a box four times its size and stuffed with "puffed" plastic.

    Our cats love it, but what a waste.


    Are u talking about that hard molded plastic that u need a scissor to cut?
    I always cut myself on that shit.I hate that form of packaging.
    Yes, that. Like when I get razor cartridges - must it be swathed in that crap?

    And PJFan, that sounds like a pretty good system. I like the concept of touring facilities, too.

  • oftenreading
    oftenreading Victoria, BC Posts: 12,856
    PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

    callen said:

    PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

    There is no plastic bag ban where I live because you just put it with your recyclables. Why is this so hard to understand in some lands?

    Likely small percentage get recycled.
    No 100%
    In fact the disposal company is very aggressive in collecting our plastic bags and encourages that we put our paper in plastic bags for curbside collection. Many of our grocery stores have a bin for collecting plastic shopping bags.

    Our waste facility offers free tours and shows how garbage is sorted and recycled.
    Any plastic shopping bag that arrives at the facility is recycled (including the black garbage bag)

    If we don't separate our plastics/paper compost properly we get a rejection sticker on collection day and it is left at our curb until you resort it for next collection day (2 wks later).
    All that is very useful, and far better than throwing them in the garbage, but it is better not to produce the plastic bags in the first place rather than waste the electricity and natural resources to produce them for what is likely one 20 minute trip from the store to your house, then into the recycling bin. Some plastic packaging is necessary, but most is simply marketing crap.
    my small self... like a book amongst the many on a shelf
  • callen
    callen Posts: 6,388
    PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

    callen said:

    PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

    There is no plastic bag ban where I live because you just put it with your recyclables. Why is this so hard to understand in some lands?

    Likely small percentage get recycled.
    No 100%
    In fact the disposal company is very aggressive in collecting our plastic bags and encourages that we put our paper in plastic bags for curbside collection. Many of our grocery stores have a bin for collecting plastic shopping bags.

    Our waste facility offers free tours and shows how garbage is sorted and recycled.
    Any plastic shopping bag that arrives at the facility is recycled (including the black garbage bag)

    If we don't separate our plastics/paper compost properly we get a rejection sticker on collection day and it is left at our curb until you resort it for next collection day (2 wks later).
    Sure 100% that reach bins get recycled but doubt majority of bags get there. Could be wrong.
    10-18-2000 Houston, 04-06-2003 Houston, 6-25-2003 Toronto, 10-8-2004 Kissimmee, 9-4-2005 Calgary, 12-3-05 Sao Paulo, 7-2-2006 Denver, 7-22-06 Gorge, 7-23-2006 Gorge, 9-13-2006 Bern, 6-22-2008 DC, 6-24-2008 MSG, 6-25-2008 MSG
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,846
    Recycling is to a healthy environment what water is to good nutrition: an essential, but only the most basic beginnings.

    Recycling as much as we can is great and it's easy and I'm all for it- I'm kind of a fanatic about doing it in fact. But more important is understanding that around August of each year, we humans have used what the earth can provide one year- recycled or otherwise- and that the other 4 months of what we consume in resources comes out of what we won't have down the road.

    The ban on plastic bags also comes under the heading of "important but relatively minor steps in the right direction". Let's do it, and then go way beyond that in conservation efforts.
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • deadendp
    deadendp Northeast Ohio Posts: 10,434
    PJfanwillneverleave1 wrote: »
    There is no plastic bag ban where I live because you just put it with your recyclables. Why is this so hard to understand in some lands?
    Our city will NOT take plastic bags in the recycling. I reuse them when I have them and if I don't need a bag, I ask that my purchases be left without. They used to take them, but won't anymore. I have no idea why. They also used to recycle aerosol cans and I'm not exactly when they stopped that. I've lobbed a few in thinking that it was okay. Oops.
    2014: Cincinnati
    2016: Lexington and Wrigley 1

Categories