Using Reusable Bags

Using Reusable Bags

K S VENKATARAMAN

In the last three decades, the plastic bags have captured not less than 80% of the grocery and convenience store market; the reasons are not difficult to seek. They are so cheap to produce, abundantly available and wieldy, water-proof and easy to store for long.

As a use and throw item plastic bags have nothing to equal them. They fit anywhere and suit any purpose. Above all, they can be discarded anywhere without any sense of loss! Whether it is the middle of ocean, river or lake, or public drain, they would fly, float or sink without getting destroyed!

It is really difficult to believe that every year, Americans throw away some 100 billion plastic bags after bringing something home in them; this is equivalent to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of oil! If we work out on this basis, the criminal assault on the world’s environment committed in all the countries of the world, we start reeling from the alarming realization.   

Is it really such an unmixed blessing, these plastic bags? Are they really so cheap and convenient? Do they mark a significant ‘find’ of our civilization? The answer is an emphatic ‘No’ for all these questions, according to Vincent Cobb, an entrepreneur in Chicago, Illinois. According to Cobb's calculations extrapolated from data released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2001 on U.S. plastic bag, sack, and wrap consumption, somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. Of those, millions end up in the litter stream outside of landfills — estimates range from less than one to three percent of the bags.

He has recently launched a Web site¹, to educate the public about what he terms the "true costs" associated with the spread of "free" bags. He sells reusable bags as a viable solution.²

He has used a remarkable quotation in his website:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world: indeed it's the only thing that ever has!"                                                  -- Margaret Meade

Plastic has proved to be the Frankenstein’s monster for the humankind. The problem has assumed such a serious proportion that the way out is very difficult to find. Particularly, the plastic bags have become a great threat to environment all over the world. It looks like a simple, innocuous, product of day-to-day use but its destructive potentials are beyond imagination.

But the fact remains that people have become accustomed to plastic bags so much that making them give up using them is very difficult task. However difficult it is, in the larger interests of environment we should accomplish it. The facts speak for themselves; statistics are abundantly available to substantiate the harmful nature of the use of plastic bags. In spite of all these things, unless a sustained campaign is carried on, people would not change what has become habitual for them.

This is an important area in which the global youth can take much initiative. They may form teams in any local area, say, villages, towns or districts and explain the harmful effects of using plastic materials, where better substitutes could be used. The knowledge of substitute goods and the details of their availability may be passed on to the general public. Vincent Cobb has presented his vision as follows:

We act as a grassroots organization enabling consumers to reduce, reuse and save™ - and feel good in the process. We accomplish this by:

1. Leadership and innovation: By neatly packaging the problems and offering strategic, pragmatic solutions to over consumption, we’ve been a major catalyst – helping inspire a reusables movement. While maintaining dedication to the triple bottom line, we’re constantly learning, growing and improving. Always asking tough questions and looking for smart answers.
2. Educating and raising awareness: Through our info sites (ReusableBags.com, ReusableBottles.com, EcoLunch.com & more), we provide news from around the world, deliver top facts about consumption and bust common myths & misperceptions.
3. Empowering people to take action and spread the word with sensible ideas and tools.
4. Enabling people to consume less with our family of "best of the best" reusables in many categories, so you can eliminate disposables from every part of your life - from bags and bottles to lunch, household items and beyond. Practical, innovative and high-quality, our offerings give consumers smart alternatives to use & toss items and the false promise of cheap reusables flooding the marketplace. As skeptical consumers ourselves, we only select items that meet our strict criteria for quality, style, performance, durability, value, safety & ecological impact.

We believe that by offering these four key elements that close the loop we can move mainstream society away from this bad habit. There is a better way.

If only the youth become involved, nothing is impossible.

Sources

1. http://Reusablebags.com
2. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags.html