RE: plastic bags - Buy a reusable cloth bag and refuse plastic ba gs!

[melissa terry <melissaterry@yahoo.com>]

well, kinda. if you bring your own bags (which i do),
then the problem is solved. here's a case in point of
where it's not solved:

i'm at the supercenter around the holidays this
winter...i make my purchase (2 items) and the sales
clerk sticks them in a bag while i'm writing my check.
i smile and tell her that i have my own bag while i
take my stuff out of the plastic bag. she takes the
plastic bag back from me, wads it up and throws it in
the trash can under her register. i ask for the bag
back, so i can at least put it in their own store's
recycling bin. while wal-mart, inc has very little
control over an instance like that, the clerk told me
that they are trained to spread the purchase items out
among several bags, rather than using the bags to
capacity. 

so, while the general consumer has the responsibility
to bring their own shopping gear if they do not want
to accept plastic, producers also have a
responsibility to assess their own environmental
policies. 

i'm not holding wal-mart inc. up as an example of an
intentional polluter...i'm just trying to think about
the big picture of how a mega-producer of their scale
(with their own corporate "green team") can help
educate their customers while the customers spend
their money. after all, if you visit the wal-mart
website, they claim that "Every Day is Earth Day" at
Wal-mart.  

could wal-mart sell resuable cloth bags in a visible
location? (there is a company that makes them out of
recycled PET plastic.) could they have special tags on
items made with recycled products? it would be cool if
they did...anybody have an e-mail address for someone
in the green team up at wal-mart?

thanks for your feedback!

:}
melissa terry
source reduction and recycling educator
madison county solid waste and recycling center



--- Mark Kidd <Mark_Kidd@co.washington.or.us> wrote:
> It's simple... problem solved..
> 
> 
>
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