Says who? The EPA, that's who!
Paper vs. plastic? I'm not going to get into that debate here because I'm going for a third option - neither!
I have received some emails touting the benefits of plastic over paper ... one in particular caught my attention - Plastic vs paper, specifically touting how superior plastic is over paper and how you are doing a FAVOR to the environment by using plastic.
Except that the site is sponsored by the Film and Bag Federation, whose mission statement is as follows:
Then I received this tidbit of information from the EPA's website:
A sturdy, reusable bag needs only be used 11 times to have a lower environmental impact than using 11 disposable plastic bags.
* In New York City alone, one less grocery bag per person per year would reduce waste by five million pounds and save $250,000 in disposal costs.
I don't know what fuzzy math the EPA is using, but with approximately 8 million people living in New York City, that would mean each plastic bag weighs 10 oz. Now that's one heavy duty plastic bag! (I suspect that they meant one bag per person per week for a year or something to that effect - 2000 plastic bags weigh 30 lbs, so five million pounds is 10 billion bags, or 42 bags per NYC resident, assuming 8 million NYC residents).
My point is at the end of the day, I am simply trying to use less in general and make decisions that are more environmentally responsible.
And to be careful not so much of what you read but who wrote it!
I have received some emails touting the benefits of plastic over paper ... one in particular caught my attention - Plastic vs paper, specifically touting how superior plastic is over paper and how you are doing a FAVOR to the environment by using plastic.
Except that the site is sponsored by the Film and Bag Federation, whose mission statement is as follows:
The Film and Bag Federation (FBF) is a business unit of the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI) that actively promotes the growth of the plastic film and bag industry.
Then I received this tidbit of information from the EPA's website:
A sturdy, reusable bag needs only be used 11 times to have a lower environmental impact than using 11 disposable plastic bags.
* In New York City alone, one less grocery bag per person per year would reduce waste by five million pounds and save $250,000 in disposal costs.
I don't know what fuzzy math the EPA is using, but with approximately 8 million people living in New York City, that would mean each plastic bag weighs 10 oz. Now that's one heavy duty plastic bag! (I suspect that they meant one bag per person per week for a year or something to that effect - 2000 plastic bags weigh 30 lbs, so five million pounds is 10 billion bags, or 42 bags per NYC resident, assuming 8 million NYC residents).
My point is at the end of the day, I am simply trying to use less in general and make decisions that are more environmentally responsible.
And to be careful not so much of what you read but who wrote it!
Posted at 10:25 AM on
Monday, July 03, 2006
|
Permalink to
Says who? The EPA, that's who! |
1 Comments |
