Bags of bags...

I just read that it costs San Francisco $4,000 to process (collect, compact, bundle, store, etc.) a ton of old plastic bags, but they can only get $32 to sell that same ton. And I wonder who is buying such a product.  From my years as recycling coordinator in Charlottesville, I know that plastic bottle recycling (milk jugs, water bottles, etc.) is hard enough, that is, costs much more than what little revenue might be generated from selling the 'product.'  And that 'closed loop' recycling - that is, turning old milk jugs into new ones - is quite rare.  Making them into park benches or vinyl carpeting is more common, though the market for these items is pretty limited, and therefore the used container market is also.  At least that was the case in the nineties, but I have seen nothing since to indicate any significant changes.  When was the last time I bought something made of recycled plastic?  And I'm the sort who actively looks for it when I do shop, which is, admittedly, a rare occurrence.

I also read that many of the compacted bag shipments are going to places like India or China with their much laxer, if any, environmental regulations.  Then the bags are incinerated (hopefully, at least, to generate electricity).  I have never heard of 'bag to bag' recycling.  Even from an energy analysis, I can imagine that to wash, sort, shred, melt, and create new bags from old, would be much more intensive than using new resins.  Which are, essentially, already 'by-products' of the fossil fuels we use mainly for energy production.  To a certain extent, making plastics from such 'by-products' is a sort of 'recycling' already.  The main problem comes from the trash produced.  (Well, a case could be made that the bio-toxicity of plastics and their many chemical additives, is an even greater problem, but that would be for another blogger.  Or hey, how about a scientist!  Or a journalist!  Remember them?)

I have for decades tried to do 'the right thing.'  I usually take a cloth bag with some used plastic bags inside for produce to the store with me.  But occasionally I forget, of course.  And in that case, sometimes I'll put my groceries in paper bags, which I then reuse for collecting paper to recycle.  Or sometimes just give in to the plastic bag juggernaut.  Even while limiting and reusing, however, somehow I still amass what seems like huge quantities of film plastic. Partly from forgetting to follow through on the good habits listed above, and partly from all the things that come packaged in bags, or bubble wrap, or other flimsy plastic.  If I were a tad bit more OCD, I suppose I could do a self audit, and track just exactly where all this comes from.

Now the less compulsively eco-fanatic among you might not see much of a problem here, and I respect that perspective.  As long as we reduce what we can, and make sure it's properly landfilled, what's the big deal?  Well, as the sixties adage goes, 'if you're not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.'  This has always spoken directly to me.  And has kind of come to replace or complement the Catholic guilt, or the 'original sin' that I was born into.

Albatross chick

You may have heard of the 'great pacific garbage patch', a floating mass of trash (mostly comprised of plastic).  Some estimate it's twice the size the state of Texas.  (For more information about this modern day tragedy, go here http://greatpacificgarbagepatch.info/  You'll find links to other sites with more info.  For a quick glimpse, look at where our plastics (not just bags) all too often end up (you can look to the right now).

Which is all much ado about something.  And just exactly what to do about plastic seems clear: stop making it.  (As in the famous 'one word' of advice given to Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) in The Graduate, the future still may be in plastics, but I think if we don't change course soon, not in the propitious way it was understood in the movie.)  For you and me, to stop making it means to stop using it.  Just how to stop is the challenge.  So far, given the multitude of differing plastics, and even the economic and energy costs involved, recycling is really a smoke and mirror side show.  Don't be fooled. However, if you find a pair of shoes, say, which are made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic, and you like them, they feel good, etc., by all means buy them.  But then wear them out as you traverse the planet (or your little corner of it), while attempting to avoid 'one-way', or single use plastics, whenever possible.  Whereas recycling is not really viable, we can do much to reduce, and reuse whenever possible.

In the meantime, I will continue to dutifully take my bags of films back to the store to 'recycle.'  I know it's bogus, but I think it's worth the effort to show that I, that we, are willing to do such a thing - and more - if it could possibly help the planet.

End of sermon, vade in pace ('go in peace' - not in plastic)...

Update:  Montgomery county (where we live) recently passed a regulation that levies a 'bag tax' of ten or twenty cents.  Some are of course outraged, but generally folks are either wealthy enough not to care, or conscientious enough to support it.  Or even realistic enough to note that the fee is really just a drop in the bucket, and not worth notice.  However, a couple 'scientists' recently came out with concerns about the potential adverse health impacts of reusing bags - which may have come into contact with meat or other germ infested vectors.  To these Ebenezer Scrooges I counter, simply, bag humbug!