Just in the past couple of weeks, some of those in Bethel got appalled at the number of plastic grocery bags they have trapped in the bushes around the city dump [ Massive trashy tundra clean up effort planned]
Beautiful Bethel beaches (Sadowski & Froehlich) is the same city that refused to ban the little fly-by-nights a couple of years ago because a few folks ordering delivery lunch wanted them. This is the same public works that ordered new dumpsters that are too tall for folks to use, especially children. This is the same landfill, adjacent to the giant septic pond unlined sewage lagoon, which for years did not use daily cover; the same dump/pond which feeds the gulls and the ravens all year round.
see related entries–
- solid+waste
- Manuals Available to Assist Communities with Solid Waste Planning and Education
- Take ugly butts home
- Interim rural solid waste management IV
- Toilets and Trash sanitation in the frontier
- Solid waste management in emergencies
- SWMP flying anuk
- Trash money available SWMP
- SWMP EPA grants
- Trash into electricity– Tactical biorefinery
China targets plastic bags http://link.latimes.com/r/0Q7X8Z/A75RX/S1MZ9L/6245/NPR1J/LE/h
By Mark Magnier
A ban on the thinnest goes into effect in June. Some wonder how effective it will be.
Earth Matters: Bags don’t have to be ubiquitous
Mona Blaber | The New Mexican1/25/2008 – 1/26/08
Last summer, I decided to go bag-neutral. Armed with a mountain of sacks from previous purchases, I vowed never to take another bag.
It went well until I actually bought something. I walked into a salon intending to buy just a brush and walked out with a brush, two jumbo bottles of shampoo and conditioner and one plastic bag. Before the day was out, I slipped up again, forgetting until it was too late that a Subway sandwich means a plastic bag unless you speak up.
Plastic bags are convenient and difficult to avoid; conservation groups estimate that between 80 billion and 100 billion are given to consumers every year in the United States. Those 100 billion bags require about 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture and take up to 1,000 years to break down. Standard plastic bags don’t biodegrade. They photodegrade, … Even when properly disposed of, the sacks can fly away and sully the landscape. In South Africa, where they’re now banned, they’re so ubiquitous as litter they’re called the national flower…
The industry also argues that plastic bags are more environmentally friendly than paper, because paper uses trees and requires more energy in manufacture and transport, which is true, according to a study by the Institute for Lifecycle Environmental Assessment. That’s the point: If we use our own bags, we don’t need either. Paper and plastic both use precious resources and energy, contributing to carbon emissions and climate change. […]
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/HealthandScience/Bags_don_t_have_to_be_ubiquitous
Old shipping crates reborn as Taloyoak garbage bins
Last Updated: Friday, January 25, 2008 CBC News
A Nunavut community has found an innovative use for discarded wooden crates from barge shipments: make them into badly needed garbage bins for residents… Covers on the new bins prevent ravens and dogs from getting into people’s garbage, a major problem… […]
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2008/01/25/tal-boxes.html?ref=rss
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I’ve been really trying not to use plastic bags, bought some reusable bags and everything, but I have too much habit I’m fighting! I hope that Alaska will pass a law, much like some other states have or are considering, that will begin a tax on plastic bags (or even paper ones, for that matter). Although I’ve been a little better at remembering lately, it would be worth it to see just how our break-up landscape changes once we have to pay for those.
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I’ve never been too fond of the weeny bags because they flop over in the car and never hold very much. At one point, I remember when paper sacks were huge; then they went shorter and then to plastic.
Plastic bags always cut into my hands, too, when walking. Then stretch to the point of ripping. The old Carr’s store had a perfect size canvas bag, I thought. Large enough to tote two smaller bags worth.
Folks who come by boat or snow machine get their groceries boxed up. This also saves them local sales tax. But I have seen a couple of store clerks fill bags then place those inside the boxes.
Plastic bags are made from petroleum so maybe that will affect our landscapes, too, as the price of oil rises. In Bethel, the bags are known as $100 bags because that is how much groceries they hold.
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I TRY to use cloth bags… but often forget. I would be very much in support of mandatory charging for plastic bags (a tax) in order to reduce their use or at least inspire people to try to use them less. I reuse bags instead of bubble wrap or peanuts when shipping things, but I also try to re-use any shipping that comes to me. Difficult to do when I order more than I send (a result of living in the Bush). I have several USPS flat rate boxes that have made 3 trips to Michigan and back. But still, even though I try to avoid obtaining more bags and I try to reuse the ones that I do have, I still seem to accumulate them. I have also found new life in cereal boxes… cut them into postcard sized chunks and send them to family and friends back home to let them know how I am doing.
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I finally just took to keeping a few in my backpack.
I wish there were a community exchange, much like what Fairbanks has, to re-use stuff instead of throwing it into the dump. I had loads of great freezer containers out of yoghurt containers; little boxes for computer parts which come in by mail or for every new office setup are great for organizing breakables or office supplies. I store emergency water in gallon juice bottles. I really hate to throw away the extras when they are so useful (torn shirts and underwear are also essential rags but who wants to wait until one’s own clothing is ready?)
Who needs an entire tube of glue to fix one crack?
Cats are great for re-using–
* grocery bags for litter box cleaning
* 35 lb bulk containers (buckets) of kitty litter hold several gallons or a collection of extension cords or CDs
* Tidy Cats litter containers can be made into the best berry buckets– berries go in, don’t fall out, and can be rinsed and poured out. I’ll post the pictures shortly
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