It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's a Plastic Bag..?

"Aspen, Colorado," Chris Matta Via Flickr

      When Aspen shoppers exit CityMarket, clerks ask, “Paper or plastic?” This past year, the big environmental question in Colorado and at the CityMarket is whether to ban plastic or not?  Want to know what I think? Ban plastic!

 "Bag Monster Invades Jones Beach State Park," Bag Monster Via Flickr

Here are the facts about plastic bags. “In the United States alone, an estimated 12 million barrels of oil is used annually to make the plastic bags that Americans consume” (“Bag Poiltics”). Plastic bags are made out of a nonrenewable resource, Polyethylene. They do not biodegrade but "photodegrade- breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food chain" (Sierra Club). 

Further, out of all the plastic bags that are being reused only “1-2% of [the] plastic bags in the USA end up getting recycled” (“Dangers of Plastic Bags”). If bags are not recycled, they take up space in our landfills and “take up [to] 1,000 years to decompose” (Sierra Club).  In Aspen, Carbondale, and Basalt, 1-2% of the plastic bags are being recycled by conscious consumers. They reuse their bags as garbage can liners, doggie poop bags, and second time usage grocery bags. The remaining 98% plastic bags contribute to the deterioration of our ecosystems and play a part in clogging our pipes and drains that lead to our rivers and oceans. 

If 1-2% of bags are being reused properly, why ban the bag? Why is this such an environmental concern and continuously debated in large tourist cities? Why is this such a hot topic? It is about educating the public about the effects of plastic bags overall.  So, should charging a measly twenty cents for a paper bag be taken as a big deal or as an educational perspective?

For the three small towns of Aspen, Carbondale, and Basalt that rely on tourism as their income, it is a major deal.  It is the talk of the town because the ban on the bag affects their daily lifestyle. Think about it this way like one Carbondale resident did as he wrote to the editor of The Aspen Times.  What would you say leaving your water running for 2 minutes is equivalent to on your water and electricity bill? Maybe fifty cents added to your water bill or seventy-five cents added to your electricity bill but how about 9 plastic bags? Or setting your water heater to 140 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 120? There went 10 plastic bags.  What about leaving your computer on after you leave work? It doesn’t really hurt your electricity bill but only adds a couple extra dollars to your company’s electricity bill.  But have you thought of 25+ plastic bags you sent to the ocean? Leave your computer on all weekend…BAM! 200 plastic bags! So now you know what it feels like to waste that many plastic bags in your daily life.  But what does the effect of not using plastic bags feel like? Better yet, what is even a plastic bag? Just a bunch of natural gases mixed together that forms this thick or thin slimy coat with handles that can carry and transport items in it.

"Bag Monster Emerging from under sink," Bag Monster Via Flickr

So what about those plastic bags underneath your sink, making you feel guilty now? You can’t go and recycle them! You can’t use them all at one time! Do you even know what you have under your sink or in your kitchen drawers? And you thought the boogie monster  was scary? You couldn’t be so wrong! How about the bag monster living in your drawer? It continues to grow every trip you take to the store. Bigger and bigger and bigger! So, do you still want to given plastic bags at checkout?

Let’s face it darn it! How much bigger are you going to let that monster grow? Granted using plastic bags are very nice and convenient for a one time use and other secondary creative uses. For example, household garbage liners, lunch bags, laundry bags, and even doogie poop bags. Shoot, they even cost less than paper to produce! So why are the bags considered so bad and monstrous for people in our green-minded environment? Can anything good come about by placing a ban on them and a fee on using paper bags?

Currently, the Town Council in Aspen placed a twenty-cent fee on the use of paper bags. “The grocers will be allowed to keep 25% of the fee or up to $1,000 per month.  The remainder will go into a fund administered by the City” (Plastic Bag Report). Ashley Cantell, a staff representative of the Environmental Health Department in Aspen, said “‘the fees from this ordinance may only be used to implement the new law and for the City’s Waste Reduction Program’” (Plastic Bag Report). These fees will help educate the people and tourists who enter the Roaring Fork Valley and help restore beauty to the Roaring Fork Valley River.  So why not ban the bags so every community, city and state nationwide can help preserve Mother Nature? 

 Have you ever witnessed a plastic bag in its natural habitat? Every wonder what the life of plastic bag consists of? People at Heal the Bay made this mockumentary for those of us who don't know.

 

"The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary," Heal The Bay, Via YouTube

    It is sad to say that the plastic bag has a longer lasting life than the human being.  We need to ban the bag and help save the climate and educate the public about the harmful affects of this toxic bag. So voice your concerns about the plastic bag plague and join the "bagwagon" on confronting this crisis! It will not go away, but continue to grow and grow, just like the bag monster that you are trying to figure out how to get rid of! 

Take action now, after all the world is in the palm of your hands! 

"Holding the World in Your Hands," Debra Lynn Leavitt, Via Flickr

For more information on the ban against plastic bags in Colorado or to help your community join along with the ban movement, please visit the following sites:

Recycle Your Plastic Bag
Bag The Ban
Waste Free Roaring Fork
Plastic Bag Report
Bag It- The Movie

Sources:

“Aspen, Colorado Bans Plastic Bags.” Plasticbagbanreport.com. World Press, April 2012. Web. April 30, 

2012.

              “Bag Politics.” Bagitmovie.com. N.P, N.D. Web. April 30, 2012.

“The Problem with Plastic Bags.” Sierraclub.org. Sierra Club, May/June 2009. Web. April 30,2012.