[Chat] Call City Hall...Urge City Council to Ban Blue Bags:

Sat Jul 19 08:03:44 EDT 2008

I like Andrew's comments (see his note below Joe's).

 I am not sure banning bags is the answer - seeing as the paper industry may 
not be able to meet the needs of customer's in a "green way" either.  I 
actually used several of Giant's sturdy reuseable bags last night and was 
able to fit all of my groceries into two of them - savinag at least 10 of 
the plasic ones.  Both fit in the back of my SMART car along with a lot of 
sruff friom another store - alas in plastic bags, but everything fit with 
room to spare.  Giant gave me 5 cents credit for each of the reusable bags 
that I brought (three) and did not take off the extra nickel when I ended up 
only using two.   The bags cost less than $1.00 and have sturdy shoulder and 
hand straps.

As for the plastic bags - I use many for disposing of cat litter and I 
recycle the rest at the grocery store or Walmart.  Good quality ones get 
reused as totes and last for many years.  good for carrying shoes in 
suticases.

Please Reply To All My E-Mail Addresses !

Sincerely,

W. Brad Schlegel
Block Captain - EGLSCA
1552 Oakridge Road
Baltimore, MD 21218-2228
william.schlegel at us.army.mil and brad.schlegel at irs.gov and 
Schlegelw at mi.army.mil

443-703-9502 - H
410-962-9506 - W and Voice Mail

----- Original Message ----- 
From: JOSEPH STEWART
To: guilfordbindery at hotmail.com ; BETTERWAVERLY21218 at I-Neighbors.org ; 
CHARLESVILLAGE21218 at I-Neighbors.org ; 
EdnorGardensLakeside21218 at I-Neighbors.org ; wavebell21218 at I-Neighbors.org ; 
GreaterHomewoodHBN at yahoogroups.com ; WIA at yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2008 11:37 AM
Subject: [WIA] Call City Hall...Urge City Council to Ban Blue Bags:

City Council Bill 08-0060 will be reviewed in the next few days and is a
critical opportunity to remove one of the worst physical pollution
offenders from our streams and Bay. This bill proposes to ban the use of
plastic bags by large retail supermarkets in Baltimore City.

We strongly encourage each and every one of you to contact your City
Council Representative and voice your support for this bill. Below are
some statistics for you to consider and add to your talking points:

380 billion plastic shopping bags are used in the U.S. annually.

Only 0.6% of the plastic bags are recycled, but about 100 billion
plastic bags are thrown away by Americans.

It takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to degrade.

Among the dangerous chemicals contained in plastic bags are lead,
cadmium, mercury, and the carcinogen diethylhexyl phthalate.

According to the Worldwatch Institute, it takes 430,000 gallons of oil
to produce 100 million plastic bags.

The World Watch Institute estimates that plastic bags cost U.S.
retailers $4 billion annually. Retailers in turn pass the cost of the
'free' plastic bags on to consumers in the form of higher product
prices.

An estimated 100,000 birds, marine mammals, and sea turtles die from
eating plastic bags every year. The animals either choke on the bags or
suffer from intestinal blockages.

The passage of this bill would be a huge step towards our goal of clean
and healthy waterways in our city and a thriving Chesapeake Bay. Please
contact your City Council Representative TODAY and encourage them to
support Bill 08-0060! Even a 30-second phone call or a one-line email
can make a huge difference. Make your voice heard!

City Council Representatives in the Herring Run Watershed:
(Not sure which district you live in? See the City Council Map)

Council President
Stehpanie Rawlings-Blake
CouncilPresident at baltimorecity.gov
410-396-4804

1st District
James Kraft
James.Kraft at baltimorecity.gov
410-396-4821

2nd District
Nick D'Adamo, Jr.
Nicholas.D'Adamo at baltimorecity.gov
410-396-4808

3rd District
Robert Curran
Robert.Curran at baltimorecity.gov
410-396-4812

4th District
Bill Henry
Bill.Henry at baltimorecity.gov
410-396-4830

12th District
Bernard Young
Bernard.Young at baltimorecity.gov
410-396-4811

13th District
Warren Branch
Warren.Branch at baltimorecity.gov
410-396-4829

14th District
Mary Pat Clarke
MaryPat.Clarke at baltimorecity.gov
410-396-4814

 This is true yes, but trees are renewable - oil is NOT.

The comment is true I believe but I hardly trust a comment from the 
"chemical industry" to be looking out for long term sustainability.

  a.. What they neglect to point out is that estimates also say that 
American may throw away 84 BILLION bags - never mind what they are 
recycling.
  b.. While the wonderful letter points out the increase in recycling only 
0.6% are recycled
  c.. That means 13,533,333 MILLION TONS (that's 13 million, million) are 
NOT recycled.
  d.. It takes over a 1000 years for plastic bags to break down ecologically

( http://media.wholefoodsmarket.com/pr/wf/sw/pr_12-19-07.aspx  - Not that I 
think this gang is the most warm and cuddly folk either, btw)

So the arguments -- because plastic is cheaper, more people are recycling, 
and production makes less greenhouse gases -- obscure that dumping them is 
still a HUGE problem (and likely increasing no doubt), that the longterm 
environment effects are disastrous, and that viable solutions to renewable 
and resusable products developement  is ultimately, and longterm, the better 
ecologically viable, solution.

For example,  reusing the same bag again and again reduces either plastic or 
paper

  a.. Using you own (reusable) bag has the potential to eliminate 1000 bags 
(plastic of paper)

Now I've consciously tried to stop taking bags period whenever I can - this 
is actually quite hard behavior to change at first, but hardly impossible!

So next time you go to the counter and buy a few things just think for a 
moment ... Just how long will these objects you're about to get at the 
store, from across the counter, travel in the bag you are using to get to 
your home? 10 minutes? A half hour? Sure many objects will need a bag, but 
two or three things probably don't.

Could you do without that bag?

How worth it is it to waste that bag you're going to get. How well can you 
justify "Well, I'm going to recycle it" for a 10 minute usage?

So, just try to carry them in your hand, put them in your knapsack, place 
them on our car seat etc. and then get home and put them away. One less bag. 
Simple. Again, this is a little hard, because I think we're in the habit, we're 
kind of programmed, to taking the bag and the people on the other side are 
in the habit of putting things in bags for us. But it's almost absurd if you 
stop and think about it.

A.T.

On 6/27/08 12:00 AM, "BETTERWAVERLY21218 automatic digest system" 
<LISTSERV at I-NEIGHBORS.ORG> wrote:

  I just read a letter to the editor in the Sun Paper which says that 
"plastic
  bags require 70 percent less energy to manufacture and create 50 percent
  less greenhouse gases than paper bags".

  http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/letters/bal-ed.le.letters25j5jun25,0,4835036.story

  Recycling bags is a bigger trend

  June 25, 2008

  Clark Semmes' column "Time to ban stores from giving away plastic bags"
  (Commentary, June 10) called for Baltimore to follow China's lead in 
banning
  distribution of free plastic bags.

  Mr. Semmes misses the real trend happening right here in the United 
States:
  More people are recycling plastic bags than ever before.

  Plastic bags require 70 percent less energy to manufacture and create 50
  percent less greenhouse gases than paper bags.

  Today, more Americans are recycling plastic bags and film than ever. In 
the
  United States, plastic bag and film recycling increased by 24 percent in
  2006, reaching a record high of 812 million pounds.