BRING YOUR OWN BAG!
Green Girl encourages you to SHOP DIFFERENTLY by bringing reusable bags when shopping. When I started my company, Green Girl, in 2009, my desire was to encourage women to make the world a better place. By making the right choices in your daily actions, you can make a difference! The simply small act of bringing your own bag when shopping will help make a huge difference for our Earth. Social attitudes are evolving and there is a widespread desire for change. The change begins with you!
Everyday, plastic bags are handed out for free at supermarket checkouts and never used again. Bag bans and taxes are a hot topic across the United States, where more and more communities are debating whether to put them in place. Though such measures are common at the community level ( here in California: San Francisco, Carmel, Malibu and Long Beach all banned plastic bags) a handful of states have also tried to ban bags-most notably, Washington, D.C. and Oregon.
The Washington, D.C., tax which went into effect last year, imposed a 5-cent charge on plastic and paper shopping bags. According to official estimates, the city’s 600,000 residents were using 22.5 million bags per month before the tax went into place. Afterwards, that number dropped to 4.6 million per month-an 80 percent drop that also brought the city $2.75 million in revenue for the year, a sum dedicated to river cleanup.
A similar strategy was used in Ireland, where authorities began charging consumers .15 euro (about 2o cents) per bag in March 2002. The charge could not be absorbed by stores, and had to appear on the customer’s receipt as a separate item. Proceeds went to support a special fund for environmental causes.
The impact was remarkable–and immediate. Within a few months, Irish shoppers went from using plastic bags at a rate of 328 per person per year to just 21.
The bag charge changed consumer behavior, and also shifted store practices. Irish officials estimate the bag charge has resulted in the use of a billion fewer bags each year, and a recent survey showed the fee had overwhelming public support.
Bag taxes and bag bans are simple and they work. Such legislation is needed to prevent marine debris (an estimated 60% to 80% of all marine debris is plastic) , save money, and reduce our dependence on non-renewable resources. It’s an important issue and you can make a difference by choosing to bring your own bags when shopping.
Fifteen or 20 cents may not seem like a lot, but having to buy a bag is enough to make people think. Charging for bags puts the question in front of you. It’s no longer automatic-you have to make a choice.
In January, Italy banned single-use plastic bags entirely. The country had been one of Europe’s heaviest consumers, representing a quarter of Europe’s total. Eva Alessi, head of sustainability for Italy’s World Wildlife Fund says the ban–passed without a vote by the Italian Environment Ministry–was unpopular with retailers and consumers alike when it went into place on January 1.
Just a few months later, plastic bags have largely disappeared from Italy’s stores–and from its streets. Instead, shoppers are bring their own bags. “Consumer opinions are changing,” Alessi says. “They’re learning to step lightly on the planet.”
Here at Green Girl we encourage you to bring your own bags when shopping. We offer a variety of fashionable, reusable bags for you to purchase on our website. http://www.greengirlworld.com
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