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State and local governments across the nation have been focusing on plastic bags for years as they search for ways to protect the environment, curb global warming and reform a disposable-minded society. Americans use more than 90 billion plastic bags a year, and only a fraction get recycled" as reported from a
Washington Post article today.
That fraction is somewhere in the margin of 5-6% and what's even worse is that there's currently no profitable program in place to recycle these bags that will NEVER go away. The scale of this issue and its effects on our oceans was further highlighted on
New York Public Radio today. The article in the Post goes further into the issue by highlighting Virginia legislator's attempt to wrestle with statewide policy to ban plastic bags. "
The proposed ban did not originate with environmental groups. The discussion started last year, when cotton farmers in eastern Virginia discovered that bags floated into their equipment, damaging machines and diminishing the cotton's quality. They formed the Virginia Plastic Bag Coalition to look into the issue." Virginia legislators are now considering banning plastic bags at grocery stores and chain retailers because of their potential harm to the environment.
See for yourself it's happening all over the world, it's time for
Portland to Ban the Bag!