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Tag Archives: Sustainability

Bag It: Filmmaker Tackles Plastic Bags In FilmBag It: Filmmaker Tackles Plastic Bags In Film

Green Issues, , ,

grateBag It, a documentary produced and directed by Suzan Beraza, depicts Americans’ single-use consumption obsession of plastic bottles, plastic bags and to-go cups.

The film follows Telluride (Colorado) resident Jeb Berrier’s personal quest to learn more about the effects plastic consumption has on the environment and our health. It is an eye-opening glimpse into the usage of plastic and a wake-up call for how reckless its consumption is.

The ultimate question the movie raises: How does the brief usage of a disposable product that lasts forever make sense?

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Two Ideas For Your Unwanted Plastic Bags: Make Gasoline And Beds!

Green Issues, ,

Now that you’re dedicated to using cool printed reusable grocery bags, what will you do with your surplus of plastics that have accumulated around your house? Here are two nifty ideas that made news this week.plastic_bags_mricciardi

1. Make gasoline! A Japanese inventor has created a machine suitable for home use that can turn plastic waste into fuel. Akinori Ito’s machine heats up household plastics, traps the vapors in a system of pipes and water chambers that cools and condenses them back into crude oil. The crude is suitable for use in generators and some types of stoves and can be further refined into gasoline.

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Reusable Bags for Shopping Lead to Solar Power

Green Issues, ,

groundmount_webRemember our blog back in 2009 about Colorado ski towns Telluride and Aspen? The residents battled to see who would hold bragging rights over using the most reusable bags for shopping—and earn new solar panels for its high school.  That original competition resulted in the 2009 Colorado Association of Ski Towns (CAST) Reusable Bag Challenge.

Why are we writing about this two years later? The town that won the Reusable Bag Challenge just debuted a new $50,000 solar power system at its middle school—a system that was created because of the town’s victory back in 2009.

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Reusable Grocery Bags Get Their Day in the USA

Green Issues, Promotion Ideas, , ,

31251They’re doing it in Europe. They’re doing it in Asia (Reusable Bag Day). And, they’re doing it in America.

The 13th Annual America Recycles Day is on November 15. This is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging people to recycle and buy recycled products. Last year, America Recycles Day featured 750 registered organizations conducting 2,375 events!

Why is this day so important? The amount of energy saved from recycling aluminum and steel cans, plastic PET and glass containers, newsprint and corrugated packaging in 2008 alone was equivalent to:

* The amount of electricity consumed by 17.8 million Americans in one year
* The amount of gasoline used in almost 11 million passenger automobiles in one year
* 7.9 percent of electricity generation from fossil fuels in the U.S. in one year

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The Financial Burden of Single-use Plastic Bags

Green Issues,

You’ve read the staggering statistics on the environmental ramifications of single-use plastic and paper bags. But, have you stopped to consider how much those “free” checkout bags actually cost you? Maybe you should. Plastic bags cost US consumers approximately $4 billion dollars in increased good costs per year. Stores typically pay 2 to 5 cents per plastic bag. Business aren’t spending that money for shopper convenience—they’re burying that cost in the price of each product, adding up to as much as $18 per person, per year (ecovote.org).

plastic-bags1An estimated 8 billion plastic bags enter the US waste stream per year, and worldwide over 200,000 plastic bags are dumped into landfills every HOUR (planetark.com). A typical landfill costs over $20 million to build and millions of dollars per year to maintain.  Nearly all of this money comes from taxpayers—over $750 million per year in California alone!

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What to Do With Old Reusable Bags? Make Furniture!

Green Issues,

Here’s a new spin on a reduce, reuse, and recycle contest. Coles Supermarkets in Australia is giving primary schools the chance to win furniture—while encouraging children to be environmentally friendly.

Coles Supermarkets are collecting old and unwanted reusable shopping bags for recycling as part of a two-week bag drive. The chain will accept any polypropylene bags—including shopping bags from other retailers and give-away bags from conferences and exhibitions.

The collected bags will be recycled into outdoor furniture. Primary schools can enter to win the unique furniture by describing what the school is doing to help the environment. The best 100 examples of school recycling and reuse will receive outdoor furniture made from reusable grocery bags.

This initiative is a way to avoid creating more landfill rubbish. By recovering the plastic and turning it into outdoor furniture for primary schools, supporters are hoping future generations of youth will see the benefits of recycling first hand.

We love the idea of program and would love to see something similar in the US. Our only question is…why is the program only two weeks long? It should be an ongoing, never ending initiative—worldwide.

NHL Announces Green Initiative, Swaps Reusable Bags for Plastic Bags

Green Issues

The NHL, with support from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), is launching a League-wide green initiative to promote sustainable living and business practices. NHL Green demonstrates the League’s commitment to ecological responsibility, while educating fans and raising awareness of environmental issues.

The NHL also announced today that it will replace 30,000 plastic shopping bags with reusable bags during the Stanley Cup Final.  The commemorative bags, which feature the 2010 Stanley Cup Final logo, will be available for a limited time to consumers who make purchases of $10 or more at arena shops in the two Stanley Cup Final markets and at the NHL Powered by Reebok store in midtown New York City.

From the retrofitting of Philips Arena in Atlanta to become the first existing NHL or NBA arena to achieve LEED certification to the construction of the new CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh to LEED gold standards, NHL Clubs have made sustainable business practices a priority for several years.

Fans clicking on the NHL Green button on the NHL.com home page are transported to the home of news stories and videos focused upon the League’s sustainability activities, NRDC-compiled tips for fans on how to live a more eco-friendly life and links to sites that will provide more information and resources.

Green Up Your Holidays!

Green Issues, ,

green_earthAccording to Planet Green:
2,000: Christmas trees planted per acre on average at Christmas tree farms.
18: People who get their daily oxygen requirement from one acre of Christmas trees.
10: Years it takes a Christmas tree to mature enough to be cut.

In light of these statistics, we think it’s a good time to stop and think about ways in which we can lessen our impact on Mother Earth this season.

1. Christmas Trees
Though the use of pesticides on Christmas trees has declined by 50 percent over the last decade, many are still sprayed. Look for trees that were grown using sustainable methods and without pesticides. These sellers are usually either certified organic by the Department of Agriculture or are members of Certified Naturally Grown. If you choose to have a vendor cut trees and set up shop on a convenient street corner for your perusal, make sure the trees come from a local farm.

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Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Damariscotta, Maine

Bulletin Bag Products, Green Issues, Promotion Ideas, , , , ,

Lincoln Academy’s Climate Action Club , located in Damariscotta, Maine, has been trying to raise awareness about reusable bags in their community for several years.  Headed by Chloe Maxim, the CAC created a video about the problems with plastic bags . Subsequently, Chloe and the CAC gained recognition by the Sundance Channel, MTV, and others.  The project began with a video, and then a pledge page (to pledge the use of reusable bags). From there, it blossomed into a full-blown campaign. Their goal? Reduce the use of plastic bags in Damariscotta by distributing town-wide custom-imprinted reusable bags.

image2The CAC, together with local businesses, organizations, and individuals, sponsor the bags in exchange for their logo imprinted on each reusable bag. The CAC led a very successful merchant’s meeting last March to discuss their campaign with local merchants Former Maine Representative Ted Koffman and reusable bag expert Suzette Bergeron of Bulletin Bag.

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Why we need to reduce plastic – starting now!

Green Issues, ,

350px-north_pacific_gyre_world_mapHave you ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch ? It’s believed to be the world’s largest dump. Plastic debris from the world over makes its way into waterways, where it’s carried out to sea and trapped in swirling ocean currents, thereby forming a trash dump in the North Pacific that’s twice the size of Texas. Even Oprah’s talking about it !

Think that doesn’t affect you? About 46,000 pieces of plastic litter are floating in every square mile of ocean. Up to one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles worldwide die each year from eating plastic. When two scientists in the Pacific caught a commercially harvested fish and cut it open, they found 17 pieces of plastic inside. We need to educate people are the very real consequences of our addiction to throw-away plastic. Captain Charle’s Moore, who confirmed the phenomenon in a 1977 sailing expedition, will begin more intense voyage in June, to further his research and help build awareness of this issue, according to the Huffinton Post.

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