Nobody wants to be passŽ. You’ve ditched the shoulder pads and stilettos. The parachute pants and splatter painted T-shirt are long gone. Hopefully you don’t still think it’s OK to use disposable bags like they’re going out of style.Oh wait, they already are out of style.
Haven’t you seen the array of practical, cute, hip, funky and functional reusable bags so many people are sporting these days? Next time you go to the mall, pharmacy, grocery store or any other store, take a look at the bags folks are carrying. Are folks bringing their own bags to save sea turtles, or is it more of a fashion statement? No matter. The trendsetters know: reusable bags say you’re both “chic” and “ecosavvy.”
But the laggards who still entertain the “paper or plastic?” debate deserve more than just a ticket from the fashion police. They need a reality check because we’ve all seen it. The plastic bag caught in a wind eddy, swirling around in place in front of our house or favorite beach, finding eventual rest in the branches of a tree.
Where do they all come from and where do they all go? Surely nobody tosses them out of the car window. Yet despite efforts to put them in the trash, recycle or reuse them, they remain among the most menacing of urban escapees. Flying out of dumpsters, whizzing out of garbage trucks, and breaking away from landfills, they are fouling more than just our image.
They clog sewer drains and aren’t accepted in the blue recycling carts in San Francisco because they get tangled on the sorting machinery at the recycling facility. If the fact that plastic bags are difficult to recycle doesn’t motivate you to bring your own bags, there are other motivators.
The Pacific Gyre is a floating mass of plastic and bag debris the size of Texas and 300 feet deep. Around the planet, more than 100,000 marine animals die every year from plastic entanglement Ð and a good portion of the plastic that kills them is plastic bags.
Besides demonstrating your fashion sense and caring about marine life, bringing your own bag also helps fight global warming. Saying “no” to plastic bags reduces the amount of fossil fuels we use. Saying “no” to paper bags conserves the trees that help moderate the Earth’s climate.
So, start a habit you’ll be proud to flaunt: remember your own bags every time you shop.
The next time someone asks if you want a paper or plastic bag, proudly say, “Neither, I brought my own.” Because doing good also looks good.
Deanna Simon works as an outreach specialist with the SF Department of the Environment.
Westside San Francisco 