I love Leaf Rapids!
Today marks the first day a Canadian municipality has implemented a ban on polyethylene bags. The town of Leaf Rapids Manitoba is following suit of many Asian countries, Ireland and the metropolis of San Francisco whereby selling or distributing plastic bags is illegal. After witnessing the effects of law in Bangladesh, I asked myself ‘if a developing country with a population of 500 million people can effectively function without plastic bags, why can’t Canada??’ I heard about the town of Leaf Rapids this morning on The Current and as all good reporters do, the host had a rebuttal from the plastics industry. It was a weak counter argument saying almost all plastic shopping bags are recycled. I would like to call B.S. as I have a garbage bag full of plastic shopping bags (from my grocery store trips where I forget my reusable bags) that I have been unsuccessful in finding somewhere to recycle. CBC News has a good online article about plastic bag bans which you can read here, but just in case you don’t follow the link, I wanted to insert an exert into my post that I found quite amusing:
“A cow found dead in the streets of New Delhi recently had some 35,000 plastic bags in its digestive system, according to Indian media reports. Cows are viewed as sacred animals by most Hindus.”
PS I don't find bovine death funny, but after seeing many, many cows eating out of garbage bins in India, the above statement didn't surprise me. The number or bags did surprise me. Poor cow!
PSS Even though Bangladesh has no plastic bag garbage, it is still a developing country therefore has a lot of litter, especially in the cities.
posted by Vailgirl @ 1:48 p.m.
7 comments
7 Comments:
It is a good thing to ban the bags, I have only heard one other argument against the ban. Apparently in the US where there had been bans, people would buy garbage bags to haul their food home if they had forgotten their reusable bags. The problem with this is that most garbage bags are not made of recycled plastics like the shopping bags are. Anywho, I bought cloth bags a few months ago, I just have to try and remember to bring them into the store with me!
maybe a remedy to that would be to have reusable bags available for people to purchase if they forget their bags. I don't think people know that you can still ask for paper bags at the till.
As for recycling grocery bags, I know Safeway in MJ has a recycling bin for them. I would think all Safeways would be the same. Personally, I just throw them in with my plastics when I recycle.
You can recycle your bags in Saskatoon . . . I think it's the food bank that takes them, but obviously they "recycle" them by using them as is again.
I heard yesterday that San Francisco (I think) has joined in the ban.
San Franscisco was the first major city in North America to do so. I think the Library also accepts bags and I have bean meaning to take my stock by. My problem is both the library and food bank are pretty far out the way for the average busy Saskatonian. Who has time to run all over the city recycling their different items. Sarcan should take everything if they recycle!
Sobey's does have a reusable bag you can buy near the checkout, but it is $2 and I would own about 10 of them if I bought one every time I forgot my reusable bags. I don't need that many reuseable shopping bags. However I am finding it easier to remember my reusable bags the more I use them. I need to remember to bring my reusable bags to the drug store and mall when I go since the majority of plastic bags I have are from those shopping excursions.
It's all about re-teaching yourself. We must constantly remind ourselves until we get into the new habit of bringing along cloth bags. Why not leave them in the trunk of your car, so they are always at hand. Or, if you travel by bus, bike, etc., keep one in your back-pack, or better yet, just use your back-pack.
As far as recycling, I refuse to let inconvenience be a stumbling block. Sarcan has bins located at several sites around the city where you can recycle everything at one location.
We have it lucky in Moose Jaw and Regina, as we have access to a service provided by Crown Shred Recylcers, which for only $12/month will pick up your recylables every two weeks (bin provided). I am sure if you look, there must be a similar service available in Saskatoon.
Found one
http://www.curbsiderecycling.ca/index_main.html
I often forget my shopping bags when they are right beside me on the passenger seat. Even when I remember I often forget the bag of produce bags to reuse. Sarcan will not recycle plastic bags -- I have tried. Curbside recycling is included in my rent, however does not do a lot of good when I usually am not here on weekends to put it out. Maybe I was spoiled living in municipalties before moving to Saskatoon where recycling did not require such an effort. But if the township of 'Middlesex-Centre' can get their act together and make recycling easy for the average person, I don't understand why the same can't be done in the metropolis of Saskatoon. Maybe having nowhere to put your garbage except in the great lakes is more of an insentive for Ontario cities to employ better recycling programs ...
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