Every Act Counts-Leaves Collection Using Biodegradable Bags

As winter is rapidly approaching we have yet another opportunity to make a difference and join the ongoing environmental revolution by opening our minds and thinking outside the box (or should we say -bag). Using biodegradable bags for the collection of leaves in the streets can help avoid the great use of plastic bags that are being used daily for that task and pollute our earth.

In East Hartford, citizens are already on board with the objective of saving the environment, and will shortly begin cleaning their streets from leaves using only biodegradable bags, forbidding the use of plastic bags for this purpose. This sets a wonderful example and provides a wake up call to the rest of us- why aren't we all making such a change?

Each of us can take part in this new movement, and start using biodegradable bags in every aspect of our lives, such as leaves collection. Companies like Friendly Bags Inc. are dedicated to making these biodegradable bags known, and to evoking consciousness to the difference that can be made. This big difference, caused by such a small action will astound us all. By applying such a new and easy change, we can take part in saving the Earth, keeping in mind that each and every one of us can contribute to the environmental effort... remember: every act counts!

Busy Week of Bans

After San Francisco became the first US city to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags - as in the ones we use when we go grocery shopping- seems like other counties are waking up to understand their real environmental hazards. Now the county of Maui is apparently heading for the same type of legislation, hopefully doing away with non-biodegradable bags as well. Still, the ban is not total but rather only for businesses selling more than $250,000 in gross annual sales. Store owners would have to provide their customers with other alternatives, such as paper bags, re-usable bags, and biodegradable bags, or they could offer their customers recyclable bags. The apparent proposal to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags does not state anything about not allowing owners to charge their customers for plastic bag alternatives, as probably many retailers are bound to do.

Also, as of last Thursday (26th of October, 2007) the Zanzibar government is banning all non-biodegradable plastic bags in a national effort to protect the environment. Zanzibar's Chief Minister, Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, said retailers will have to find alternatives to the now-banned plastic bags.... biodegradable plastic bags anyone?

Charging Consumers for Plastic Bag Alternatives...Smart Move?

The new trend in retail shopping is offering shoppers reusable bags. These bags, while retailing anywhere from $1.39 to $15, are supposed to make shoppers opt not to use the conventional plain-old plastic bags. Now, I’m no genius, but help me understand something: I’m supposed to pay the retail store more money so that the store can claim that it cares about the environment?! Hmm…seems like the store doesn’t REALLY care about the environment. I mean if it truly cared, wouldn’t THE STORE incur the extra cost?

This is my personal problem with this new trend of reusable bags, and I’m sure I am not the only one frustrated by this new upcoming trend. I can certainly understand stores that want to advertise their environmental awareness to their customers, but it seems kind of ironic to have to make them pay for it. I mean, it’s kind of like retailers charging their customers extra for merchandise that hasn’t been produced as a result of child-labor, and then claiming that their store is socially conscious about abolishing child-labor; “If you want the child-labor shoes it’ll cost you X but if you want the non-child-labor produced ones that’ll cost you 2X.” Does that seem like something that would “fly” with shoppers today?

I like the very different approach that the Swedish furniture giant IKEA employs; it charges its consumers an extra 5 cents per plastic bag, donating their proceeds to the American Forests conservation program. Some retailers, such as Whole Foods, discount their shoppers’ bill if they bring their own bags. I like both lines of thinking, because it caters to a win-win-win for all sides: consumer, store promotion, Earth.

Frankly, I don’t think charging for plastic bags will help, nor is it the right way to go. Fighting against is never good. Going along with is always good, only doing it in a manner which benefits all. Biodegradable plastic bags are exactly that solution. They allow the consumers to maintain their previous manner of shopping AND they are not harmful to the environment in any way. Since they are made from plant derivatives, they actually get devoured and feasted upon by microbes and micro-organisms, and in a reasonable time – around 1-2 years, versus the regular plastic bags which stay around for hundreds and even thousands of years.

Many businesses are gradually switching to biodegradable plastic bags, since they allow them to be perceived as eco-friendly and they are actually doing good to the environment.

Cool news from the UK:

Local Oxford Gardner Find Creative Way of Helping People Get Rid of Compostable Debris

Lewis Oakley, a local Oxford gardner in the UK has come up with an ingenious system of helping people dispose of their leaves, cut grass, twigs, and other compostable debris that is very characteristic this time of year. As many people tending to their gardens take care not to dispose of their garden waste in non-biodegradable plastic bags, they face no real alternative.

Oakley has come up with an ingenious container he makes out of sticks and tree-cuttings. The container is filled with the garden debris and can be composted easily with the garden waste itself!

Nice, elegant solution, imho.

Another interesting solution to this problem could be using biodegradable plastic bags. These biodegradable compost bags are compostable as well, and can be composted along with the garden debris. Seems like an even better solution than Oakley’s.

Their cost is very close to conventional plastic compost bags, and they are eco-friendly. Best of all, they are very convenient to use. Just like the regular plastic bags. Such bags can be found at my website: FriendlyBags.com , where you can learn more about these types of bags and their biodegradability..

Environmentally Safe Or Just Smart Strategic Branding?

The word out on the business streets is that ‘going green’ has become something of a trend. Businesses seem more environmentally conscious in their operations and seem to be appealing to the eco-conscious customers on the one hand, and causing those who are not to notice, on the other hand.

But ‘going green’ has its price, and no one can be really sure if businesses are doing their eco-bits because they are really earth-friendly or because it pads their bank accounts better. Seemingly there is no real contradiction, and such a position could mean win-win for both the business and the environment. However, with stories surfacing of businesses blatantly disregarding the environment they so boastfully proclaim they are protecting it is only the few select businesses that are truly environmentally friendly.

Take the case of “Im Not a Plastic Bag”. Though these bags claim they are the ultimate solution to the horrors plastic bags are creating in the world, they too have fallen claim to be “not so friendly” in their materials, production, and packaging. And though the bags run at costs of $15 and higher to the end consumer, “Im Not a Plastic Bag” bags are still (as this website claims) produced from non-eco-friendly materials, namely derivatives of non-biodegradable plastic, and dyed with non-eco-friendly dyes. Aside from the Fair Trade claims that have been made against “Im Not a Plastic Bag”, the bags are also claimed to be more of a business endeavor than a ‘green’ effort. During their first days of launching, the bags came “wrapped in one clear plastic bag and two Wellcome (Hong Kong supermarket) plastic bags.” This being the case, Green power leaders have dismissed these reusable bags as being nothing more than a sales-gimmick.

Such claims, as well as claims of the use of manufacturing materials and chemicals used to manufacture the bags have all made an impact on the way these businesses are viewed; environment friendly, or just another branding strategy.