Councilmember Ben Johnson Speaks on Tonight's Plastic Bag Issue (9/16/MON)

Posted:  16 Sep 13

Purpose

To provide a very helpful insight from Councilmember Ben Johnson, concerning the curtailment of plastic-bags usage in Pittsburg -- to be decided, tonight, at the City Council meeting (click here for meeting details).

This is a re-posting of Mr. Johnson's Facebook comment this morning.

========================

ASSOCIATION OF BAY AREA GOVERNMENTS (ABAG)
~~ CONCERNS FOR USE OF PLASTIC BAGS ~~

========================

To kick-off our efforts, ABAG is distributing reusable grocery bags to local government officials to raise awareness of the simple steps that we all can take. The bag donation was made possible by support from the Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

Why a reusable grocery bag?

The "bag from ABAG" [smile] is easy to use because of its small, handy size. It, or any other reusable bag, can be carried in a pocket, purse or briefcase.

Why is it so important to use reusable bags?

Think about the fact that Bay Area residents use between 331 million to 1.6 billion bags a year (estimates per person are between 42 and 227 plastic bags per year).

In the US, 30 billion plastic and 10 billion paper grocery bags are used per year requiring 14 million trees and 12 million barrels of oil.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that only 1% of plastic bags were recycled in 2000 nationwide, leaving 99% to break down into smaller and smaller toxic pieces that can be eaten by animals.

The manufacturing, delivery, and disposal of paper bags also have environmental impacts.

• According to the US EPA, paper bags generate 70 percent more air pollutants and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.
• This is because it takes four times as much energy to produce paper bags and 85 times as much energy is needed to recycle them.

Small, Easy Size

Opens to Full Size Bag

By just using reusable bags:

The Bay Area could save between 1,300,000 to 7,000,000 million gallons of crude oil per year.

We could also reduce the amount of global warming gases that are released during the production, transportation, and disposal of plastic AND paper bags.

So... Tread lightly on the earth and help erase your carbon footprint by using one less plastic bag at a time.

Spread the word - what can we do individually to promote best practices for reducing green house gas emissions. 

It is your choice to make a difference!