Tuesday 23 June 2009

Change The World Wednesdays - The Challenge

Tuesday 23 June 2009
On the 'Reduce Footprints' Blog site they have issued this challenge;

For the entire week (yep, the whole week), refuse plastic bags at the store or anywhere else where they are offered. One whole week ... 7 days ... no plastic bags. OR ... If you're already "plastic bag free" ... then, within the next 7 days write a detailed post (or email, letter, etc.) on why plastic bags are bad for the environment.

Well, being already 'plastic bag free' as I am, it is my duty to take up the second part of this challenge. I am going to take the bulk of this text from the 'Turtle Bag' website. They are just one of the brands of reusable shopping bag that we stock in 'Rose and Dylan' (http://www.roseanddylan.co.uk/), but their web site seemed to sum it up in the most appropriate way for me;

"The plastic bag is highly over specified for the job for which it was designed. Required to serve us for the hour or two it takes us to get our shopping home, instead it is expected that the bags will last for hundreds of years. The hazards of the plastic bag do not stop with the turtles. (who get caught and die in the discarded plastic bags floating in the oceans) Plastics never fully degrade; plastic bags eventually turn into plastic “dust” which can still be ingested by filter feeding marine animals. Plastic is highly toxic, and toxins in filter feeders are passed up the food chain to the fish and ultimately human consumers.
Until now, no studies were conducted on filter-feeding organisms such as jellies, whose feeding mechanisms do not permit them to distinguish between tiny fragments of plastic debris and plankton, and no studies to assess potential effects on these filter-feeders. It is now known that plastic fragments heavily impact these creatures. When broken into smaller pieces, these tiny plastic fragments accumulate non-water soluble toxicants such as PCB's, and pesticides such as DDT.
Plastic polymers, or tiny plastic resin pellets act as sponges for these chemicals and other persistent organic pollutants, concentrating such poisons up to one million times higher than their concentration in the water as free floating subs. These toxic particles move up the food chain form the small invertebrates and then to fish and then return to us on our plate!"

As Turtle Bag so eloquently put it 'what goes around comes around'. Now here's the 'A Thought from Katrina' moment;

Everybody, think before you leave the house to go shopping - remember - credit cards, shopping list, shopping bag! If you think you're likely to forget, invest in a Fizbag

http://www.fizbag.com/

We stock them in our shop too - they come with a handy keyring fob type clip on them so you can attach it to your keys, or handbag zip or belt hook, or whatever! That way you will always have your shopping bag on you!

My personal favourite is this one, the Envirosax range

http://www.envirosax.com/

They are huge! They come in funky designs, and you simply fold them up and clip them to make them small again - no fiddling with a pouchy type thing. Also they are available in gift sets of five, which I think is a lovely pressie!

We sell many other types of reusable bag in our shop, and they are all well received by the environmentally conscious people of Letchworth. It must be said though that the most popular by far has to the 'I heart' range by Bag It Don't Bin It

http://www.bagitdontbinit.com/news/heart-on-your-bag_08-12-05.html

We had a small amount of these printed with 'I heart LGC', stuck them in the shop window and watched them fly! We had to reorder quick smart!

Aside from all the bags we sell, I must point you to this link for a string bag you can make yourself. Being a craft fan and a craft fanatic too, this does really appeal.




Maybe I'll have a go at it this week. I'll let you know how I get on with it. Go on, you too...









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3 comments:

Unknown said...

Fabulous post ... and I adore the bags you've recommended. Another Reduce Footprints' reader talked about reusable bags as a real fashion statement ... I think the ones you sell would definitely enhance any "bag" wardrobe!

Thank you for taking on the challenge and passing the word. I truly believe that if we all pull together, we can make a real difference! Hope you'll stop by tomorrow ... we'll be starting another challenge and I think this one is going to be a little harder.

BTW ... thank you for following my blog ... I'm following yours too and I'll add you to my blog roll.

Take care ... and thanks, again!

Small Footprints
http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Hi! Thanks for joining my webring and following my site. I'm now following you as well. I totally agree with your idea about challenging people to not use plastic bags for a week. Once you do it for a while, you realize that you really don't need them at all.

Thanks again for the follow,

Kim

Canvas Bags said...

I'm now following you as well. I totally agree with your idea about challenging people to not use plastic bags for a week.

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