Doing My Part...

WHAT USED TO LOOK LIKE THIS....

NOW LOOKS LIKE THIS...

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After some inspiration from friends like Sari, Rachel & others as well as features on the Today Show and other news programs, I have been trying to do my part in the "Go GREEN" movement. I purchased these great bags about 2 months ago for $1.99 each at Pier One (you can find them all over in various sizes and for various price points, some even fold up teeny tiny and fit in your purse!) They are awesome! I keep them in my car and use them each time I go to the store (any store...grocery store, Target, Ross, Deseret Book). It is so great to politely decline a plastic bag for the use of one of my much cuter, bigger, more efficient re-usable bags! Each bag will fit about 2 1/2 times more than a regular plastic bag, they can be washed in the washing machine and most grocery stores now offer a 5 cent discount per reusable bag! That adds up fast and pretty soon... your bags are paid for! (see the facts, below)

Okay...you all know that I am by no means a crazy tree hugging environmentalist, however, as socially responsible adults...we could all do our part, right?

Here are some interesting facts that I found about plastic bags...

Consumption

• Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions (yes, billions)end up as litter each year.
• It only takes 4 grocery trips for an average family to accumulate 60 plastic shopping bags.
• According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.
• According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually, most of which eventually end up in landfills. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)

Impact

• Plastic bags suffocate, disable and kill thousands of marine mammals and sea birds worldwide each year. When the animal dies and decays, the plastic bag is free again to repeat the deadly cycle.
• Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.
• As part of Clean Up Australia Day, in one day nearly 500,000 plastic bags were collected.
  Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats, and even bags. According to the BBC, one group harvests 30,000 per month.
• According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags have gone "from being rare in the late 80s and early 90s to being almost everywhere from Spitsbergen 78° North [latitude] to Falklands 51° South [latitude].
• Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.
  

Each high quality reusable shopping bag used has the potential to eliminate hundreds, if not thousands, of plastic bags over its lifetime.

Renew...Reuse...Recycle!