Stumble It!
Digg This Blog!
Add us to Furl
Add us to Simpy
Add us to Reddit
Add us to Google
Add us to Sphinn
Add us to del.icio.us
Add us to ma.gnoliaParis plans to have a cleaner, greener 2007
Paris will ban plastic throwaway bags this year.
Sturdy, light, convenient - and best of all free - plastic bags hardly seem to be in the same pollution league as earth-warming carbon dioxide emissions or toxic waste.
But experts say these disposable bags account for 8,000 tons of waste generated in Paris each year, at a cost of more than $2 million. And burning plastic bags to dispose of them poses a health hazard.
While many are thrilled, not everyone is happy. Some customers still want the plastic bags.
Environmentalists like World Wildlife’s Orru say that mentality will change.
After getting used to a life without disposable bags, Orru says, people might start thinking twice about other throw-away products, like plastic bottles, non-renewable batteries, or kleenex. He believes life in Paris, and elsewhere, can be lived well using less.
Stumble it!Posted: January 3rd, 2007 under Environment.
Comments: 1
Comments
Comment from John Meshna
Time: February 19, 2007, 9:07 pm
France is a head of the curve on this one. Three cheers, or more as necessary.
In the US this would be unheard of right now. Our approach, starting with California and hopefully spreading from there, is to impose a per bag tax on all petroleum based bags to encourage the use of biodegradeable bags and alternatives products.
The tax represents the real cost of the bag. No longer can industry shift the cost of their products outside of themselves to the public venue. Traditonal plastic bags are not cheap when you take into consideration all the costs involved with damage to the environment and landfilling.
We have been selling bioBags made from corn for almost ten years now and the shopping bags are the slowest selling sector of that line, mostly because, regular poly bags prices are artificially low due to the cost shifting involved in the production, distribution and use of them. Now that all the costs are being reflected in these areas, the biodegradeable bags start to seem quite cost effective indeed. They’re made from renewable resources direct from the soil and they go back to the soil when they’re gone leaving no trace of themselves behind. What an idea!
Hats off to the French!
Write a comment