When we do our shopping we expect to pay for the products we take home. Surprisingly, we assume that the bags, for which the store owner paid, are free. Free disposable bags have become a service we take for granted. What we don't realize is that the bag actually comes with a price...
Every year we throw away 100 billion of plastic bags in the USA. An average person uses 425 plastic grocery bags per year. These numbers are concerning because:
- Plastic bags do not biodegrade
- Plastic bags endanger marine life and wild life in general
- Plastic bags shed chemical particles that are found in our food chain
- Plastic bags litter our beaches and the oceans
- Plastic bags have very few recycle options
- Plastic bags use fossil fuels for production and distribution
- Plastic bags disperse toxins and air pollution in incinerators
- Plastic bags cost money to clean up
- Plastic bags add to the volume and cost of our solid waste system
- Plastic bags cause clogging problems at recycle facilities
Can we replace our plastic bags with paper bags?
Regretfully, paper bags are not a good alternative. It costs 14 million trees to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags we use every year. It takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag and paper bags generate 70% more air pollutants than plastic bags.
To reduce the use of disposable bags, we want to encourage the use reusable bags. This is why we will propose our town boards of Mount Kisco and Bedford the same ordinance that has already been successfully adopted in Hastings, Armonk, Chappaqua, Millwood and Rye. It is an ordinance that bans the use of single use plastic grocery bags in groceries, convenience stores and in pharmacies. Paper bags will be still available at those same stores for a fee of 10 cents. Please help us to convince our town boards to make the right choice, and sign the petion.