You mean these trees?
They adsorb carbon all right, that is, until they rot or burn.
Posted on 03/08/2007 2:08:18 PM PST by Cagey
SAN FRANCISCO -- Paper or plastic won't mean the same for shoppers in San Francisco if some city supervisors get their way.
A proposal up for consideration next week would prohibit large grocers from using regular plastic bags. Supporters of the ban say the bags eat up fossil fuels, litter the streets and choke wildlife.
The measure would require grocery stores to offer only bags made of recyclable paper, plastic that can be turned into compost, or sturdy cloth or plastic that can be reused.
The proposed ban has the support of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. But it's opposed by the California Grocers Association as potentially doing more damage to the environment.
President Peter Larkin said confused consumers would wind up mixing biodegradable bags with regular plastic bags in recycling bins, thereby contaminating recycled plastic.
Good question. The closest I saw wildlife being choked this past year was that deer running around with a pumpkin stuck on his head.
CO2 in the atmosphere amounts to someting like .03 percent.
Paper bags are harder to handle. I can carry four plastic bags packed with groceries with one hand. Try doing that with paper. And, every single one goes to the recycle plastic bag bin at my grocery store. What is so hard about plastic bag recycling?
That's pretty telling. Anything the increases government control of our lives smacks of leftism. There are more important issues to deal with than plastic grocery bags.
I use all those plastic grocery bags in my little wastepaper baskets around the house. Very convenient for bagging up the trash.
Well, an enviro-journalist takes one of the bags and wraps it around the animal's head. Then they get out their video camera and record how evil humanity's garbage is choking the wildlife. That literally happened in the 90's and several of them got caught at it. I think Marty Stoufer(sp?) was one of them. Don't see much of the "plastic six-pack containers choking wildlife" stories much anymore.
Each paper bag is larger. I hold three easily; it's probably about the same amount of food, if not more.
And, every single one goes to the recycle plastic bag bin at my grocery store.
We reuse our paper bags several times before they get recycled.
What is so hard about plastic bag recycling?
Separating the various plastics into chemically contiguous lots.
Life and living causes "pollution." And certain types of life (one of the most plentiful on earth) thrive on the so call pollution -- c02.
In New Mexico, dust devils are ranked by the number of Wal-Mart bags swirling around in them. 5 bags = an F5 dust devil.
During the summer I tie the white ones to low hanging branches in strategic spots in my yard. I don't like a lot of lights in the yard at night and the bags give me a bit of warning.
Imagine the look of horror on the faces of this new crop of protesters when they find out that the bubbles in soft drinks are CO2!
You mean these trees?
They adsorb carbon all right, that is, until they rot or burn.
The Horror. My Whole Foods only uses plastic bags in order to save the trees!! So I bought a stylist grocery carry bag decorated with the communist Frida Kahlo's image in rhinestones. Revenge is sweet.
It's an all around stupid idea. The reality of the situation is that both types of bags present ecological problems, recycling is a joke as most recycled goods take more energy than fresh harvest and creation, and most of the stuff you turn in for recyling winds up at the dump anyway. It's a law based on false assumptions to fix a crisis that doesn't exist and will do nothing more than add costs. Two of the reasons businesses like plastic bags is they condense better and are lighter, being able to ship more units in the same space and weight saves on shipping costs and fuel usage.
I have mixed feelings about this. I always ask for plastic bags at the grocery store because I re use them as trash bags around the house and in the car. But a friend of mine, after a trip to India, told me how areas of that country are littered with plastic bags. She said the trees and bushes are so full of plastic bags blowing in the wind that the scene is supernatural looking, especially at night.
The plastic bags my newspaper arrives in on rainy days is perfect for dog poo. It covers my entire arm. Of course, it was more satisfying, and fitting, before I cancelled my subscription to the Wash Post.
> That's pretty telling.
If you choose to believe so.
> Anything the increases government control of our lives
> smacks of leftism.
This doesn't increase government control of our lives. It's a regulation on commerce to restrict environmental degradation.
Seventeen years ago, Californians were churning out 3 lbs of garbage per day per person. Counties that were home to about half the population were projected to run out of landfill room within nine years.
Today, Californians are down to about 2 lbs each per day, and a third of that trash is staying out of the landfills by either being recycled or composted. As a result, running out of landfill space isn't projected to be a problem for at least the next 28 years.
I consider the government telling people they have to give up their land to make room for a landfill a far greater imposition than specifying recyclable or reusable grocery bags.
Don't you?
The funny part about that is the foam containers McD used weren't styrofoam and no CFCs (the supposed ozone layer killer, though the science on that is highly questionable) were produced or used in their manufacturing. The extra funny part is the plastic lined paper wrappers they replaced the foam boxes with takes 10 times as long to decompose in a landfill, thus this entire "ecologically friendly" change over was actually ecologically damaging.
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