Friday, January 30, 2009

Kick the Bag Habit

by Amy Alton, Communications Associate

The San Francisco Weekly published this article a few weeks ago about plastic bags and whether or not banning their usage is the proper way to clean up the environment and end global warming. As the debate between paper versus plastic heats up, it seemed appropriate to share with you Save The Bay's stance on the matter: BYORB—Bring Your Own Reusable Bag.

Californians use an estimated 19 billion plastic bags per year, but only five percent of these are recycled. While some plastic bags sit in landfills for thousands of years, many find their way to our Bay where they often entangle, choke and even kill wildlife. In fact, an astounding fifteen thousand plastic bags were pulled out of the Bay by volunteers in just one day last year.

Paper bags aren't really the answer either. That's why Save The Bay is asking you to join us in supporting a single-use bag fee by signing our petition and helping your community make the switch to re-useable grocery bags, keeping both plastic and paper bags out of the Bay. And while you are shopping, please remember to bring your own bags!

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