Doing the Green Thing

Let’s starting thinking GREEN. You have heard the question all too often, “Paper or Plastic?” Thanks to Matt Lauer and his report on the TODAY program let me share with you the real cost of using paper or plastic.

First, consider the plastic bag: there are 1 million plastic bags manufactured every minute in America … 1 MILLION-PER MINUTE! We dispose of over 100,000,000,000 – that is ONE HUNDRED BILLION – plastic bags each year. Further, only 5% of the plastic bags get recycled each year AND the recycling process requires energy, water, etc. Another sobering thought, it takes 12 Million barrels of oil to produce the 100 Billion plastic bags manufactured each year.

Secondly, paper – it takes 14,000,000 trees – 14 MILLION – to produce the 10,000,000,000 – that is 10 BILLION – paper bags that we use each year.
Your grandmother, or possibly even your mother, took a cloth or mesh bag(s) with her went she went out shopping, because “paper or plastic” wasn’t an option. I doubt that any of you are old enough to remember when the shopkeeper would wrap your purchases in a cheese cloth or gunny sake or burlap … which was all recycled into play clothes, curtains, or something else which could be used around the home. I haven’t witnessed that either, but I’ve watched enough old westerns where this was a general practice. What I do remember is that when I went shopping with my mother I would witness many individuals who shopped at SHELLS CITY in Miami (a local giant shopping center in Miami in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s – and by the way, it was as large or larger than the modern Wal-Mart Super Store) who used their own wire shopping cart.

Another sobering thought shared by Matt Lauer was that if every household in America would use just one (1) reusable cloth bag each year we could save enough oil to power 50,000 cars per year.

As to the question concerning biodegradable qualities of paper and plastic the jury is not unanimous concerning length. It all depends on the thickness of the bag and the elements to which the plastic is exposed. The “normal” time period for the bag to breakdown is 100 to 1,000 years – but could take longer if the bag is thicker and/or isn’t exposed to the oxygen and the Sun. Paper really isn’t much different. It takes the exposure to certain elements (oxygen and Sunlight) for paper to breakdown. If buried in a landfill … guess what … paper can stay around for a long, long time too!

Confession is good for the soul. I have the reusable grocery bags, but I don’t always remember to put them in the car. Therefore, if I end up purchasing more than I can physically carry I usually end up with several plastic bags. BUT, I was feeling pretty good because I always recycle my bags (all plastic bags regardless of where I got the bag or how thick it is) and yet, because of Mr. Lauer’s report, I am rethinking that because of the amount of energy required to recycle. Won’t you join me in trying to be more conscious about our use of paper or plastic?

Quote for today: "When faith is absent life collapses under the pressure of a challenge." from a church sign