You won't like me Ken but I've been using my own bags for about 15 years. I do admit that I make my own so I enjoy that and they are easily washable made from 100% cotton prints and I get organic canvas or denim weight for the linings. They wear like crazy and I get tons of compliments on them especially at Trader Joe's. I've even been asked if I sell them. Certainly not. I use one small cat food can a day. I keep the empties in a bag in a lower crisper in the fridge and then take that out once a week. I really should recycle them and I'm not doing that. **note to self** But I use all kinds of bags for that: empty pasta, frozen food, cereal, cracker, chip used lunch, bread bags. Etc. My town went plastic bag free. People seemed to adjust but some stores are still using the thin plastic bags like JoAnn Crafts.
Cat food cans are not recyclable here, so there's no alternative but to toss them in the trash, which ends up on a landfill, rather than the ocean. They are doing a thing with landfills now that I think is a very good idea. Actually, some places have been doing it for quite a while. When I lived in California, San Bernardino County had a landfill that was a fairly large mountain. While trash was being dumped in one portion of it, brush and even trees were growing on other portions of it, and it was attractive enough that people would camp there if they allowed it. There is a landfill just outside of Millinocket, and another one outside of Bangor, Maine that is similar. These are not as large so there aren't any trees on them, but the inactive sections are planted in grass, and the active section rotates, so that the mountain gets larger and larger. The one near Bangor is just off of the interstate and when the section near the highway is not in use, you would assume that it was large hill or a small mountain. The one outside of Millinocket is off the road, so I haven't seen it up close, although I can see the hill beginning to poke up above the trees. As for plastic bags, it certainly doesn't bother me if other people like making their own shopping bags or buying shopping bags. That might work very well for some people but I prefer the plastic grocery bags if I am buying a lot of stuff. When I am getting only a few bags, I'll ask for paper.
@Kitty Carmel About recycling: I often wonder, being a natural born skeptic, whether appropriate diligence is applied by those in charge of handling the collected materials to be recycled........how much is more easily disposed of in their own trash? Perhaps I should try not to think quite so "deeply"..... Frank
Anything @Ken Anderson is better than things going in the ocean. I can't say I don't produce trash because I do.
The focus should be on those who dump their garbage in the ocean. As I understand it, ships still dump garbage into the ocean and, not long ago, I read something that indicated that the US Navy still does that.
I had heard something like this. SHOULD BE COMPLETELY ILLEGAL!!!!! Again, I can only imagine there are alternate solutions. I have to wonder why this would be allowed.
I agree that ships should no longer dump non-degradables into the ocean, but the trash contributed by ships are a minuscule problem compared to the trash generated by cities and recreational areas (and probably small recreational boats as well. Plastics can be made easily out of cornstarch and other degradable substances; petroleum-based plastics should only be used where breakdown is not desired. Remember the days when we used glass bottles (refilled), and glass syringes? We were much greener then in many ways.
I wish we'd go back to the refillable glass bottles for things like milk, beer and pop, and water, although people weren't buying bottled water then, except for the large cooler containers. I far prefer the taste of drinks in glass, as opposed to plastic. If I am going to drink pop, I want it cold and, for some reason, things never seem to be cold enough in plastic. Even when there is ice forming in it, pop doesn't taste cold in plastic. We could get rid of a lot of plastic use if we were to go back to glass bottles.
I read back in the Clinton administration (so I don't know if it still holds) that we use more petroleum for plastics than we use for all forms of transportation combined. If we reduced our use of plastics, we would have fossil fuels to spare and could reduce production or export. I think plastics have applications where deterioration is a bad thing, such as sewer lines, caskets/coffins, septic tanks, etc. The underground stuff might have to weighted with something is areas with high water tables, etc., but perhaps other things could be made from the recycled plastics no existing. Glass can be recycled into sand....
It's insane how much plastic we use, yet they want to concentrate on the uses for which plastic makes sense, such as grocery bags. Even when it comes to things like toys, tools, and other things, rather than using wood or metal, everything is plastic now; and because it's plastic, it has to be replaced constantly, whereas older tools or toys were intended to last forever, and be handed down. Although the plastic itself may last practically forever, it's functional use is more limited. There are sensible uses for plastic, I'm sure, but nearly everything is plastic now.
@Ken Anderson Keeping in mind that huge numbers of new vehicles are built annually, consider that much of their wraparound fascia and trim is, guess what? Plastic. Even some body panels, and much of the interior. I was about to dispute @Don Alaska on the amount of petroleum used, but reconsidered after thinking about the cars. Frank
Not just cars, Frank. Think about the millions of plastic product healthcare providers use (and discard) every day. Most of the plumbing supplies and pipes, many aircraft parts, the insulation on all the electrical wires, etc., etc. etc. All the computers, tablets and cell phones....