More on Plastic Bags, and other garbage
Leaf Rapids, Man. became the first municipality in Canada to ban plastic bags. Some municipalities around the world have done the same. Will your community be next?
I am all for banning plastic products that can take dozens of years (100′s ?) to degrade in land fills, but what are the alternatives? Canvas bags? What if I am out for a walk and realize that I need to pick a few things up, but I forgot to bring my canvas bag?
One option that I like is the recyclable plastic bag. I read somewhere that they can make fake plastic bags out of material derived from corn. I also read that in Ireland, they brought in a tax on plastic bags and use of plastic bags went from 1.2 billion to 30 million in just one year.
Then there was the story about taxing throw away coffee cups. Where I live (near Toronto, Canada) the Tim Horton’s coffee cups are everywhere, as in litter. Some people want to add a 25 cent tax to help pay for the clean up.
One last point. What about batteries? The stuff that is inside them! All going to landfills. I for one (and I am definitely on the “green” side of the fence, although not a zealot) have no idea how I should recycle them. I think that cities need to make it more convenient. If I have to drive 1/2 way across the city to deliver a dozen batteries, and watch the junk my car spews out during that trip, what good did that do the environment?