From the New York Times: Even Reusable Bags Carry Environmental Risk
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
They dangle from the arms of many New Yorkers, a nearly ubiquitous emblem of empathy with the environment: synthetic, reusable grocery bags, another must-have accessory for the socially conscious.
But the bags, hot items at upscale markets, may be on the verge of a glacier-size public relations problem: similar bags outside the city have been found to contain lead.
“They say plastic bags are bad; now they say these are bad. What’s worse?” asked Jen Bluestein, who was walking out of Trader Joe’s on the Upper West Side with a reusable bag under her arm on Sunday.
“Green is a trend and people go with trends,” Ms. Bluestein said. “People get them as fashion statements and they have, like, 50 of them. I don’t think people know the real facts.”
There is no evidence that these bags pose an immediate threat to the public, and none of the bags sold by New York City’s best-known grocery stores have been implicated. But reports from around the country have trickled in recently about reusable bags, mostly made in China, that contained potentially unsafe levels of lead. The offending bags were identified at several stores, including some CVS pharmacies; the Rochester-based Wegman’s grocery chain recalled thousands of its bags, made of recycled plastic, in September.
Concerns have proliferated so much that Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat, sent a letter on Sunday to the Food and Drug Administration, urging the agency to investigate the issue.
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Climate-change-conscious shoppers at one of Manhattan’s culinary meccas on Sunday said they were chagrined that yet another good intention had gone awry.
“Bummer! We’re still not doing the right thing,” said Shelley Kempner of Queens, who was looking over the produce at Fairway on Broadway at West 74th Street. She prefers a reusable bag, she said, because she “likes the idea of not putting more plastic into the environment.”
Read entire article here h/t to Tom Nelson
George Carlin was prescient in his view of plastic bags:
Carlin was one of the biggest skeptic of all time. That made him more scientific than a lot of so called fame-seeking climate scientists.
Wilson says:
@ur momisugly Anton – “’Many surveys over the years have shown that self-identified liberals, who tend to favor fads, are in general far less hygienic than other Western demographic groups.’”
“Now, there’s some “surveys” I must read. Can you provide links or details, please?”
I’ll have to hunt down the surveys, some of them from a few years back. In the meantime, here are some lovely articles on the new filth PC fashion. Note that the new excuse is that being dirty is good for the environment, actually the same excuse used by hippies forty years ago.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/02/give-up-washing-showering
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/12/moneyless-man-soap-free-hygiene
http://thenewamerican.com/index.php/opinion/selwyn-duke/5092-stinking-in-america-is-not-washing-the-new-pc-trend
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/fashion/31Unwashed.html?_r=1
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Grumpy old Man says:
November 15, 2010 at 1:59 pm
“I would have thought the eco-freaks would be all over the idea.”
Na, that don’t like anything like that. After all it might that, … you know …, actually work.
The big problem with these bags — aside from lead! — is you’re supposed to wash them between uses to avoid cross contaminating your food E. coli and other nasties.
And that takes time which could otherwise be used for the enjoyment of life. It also takes the use of water, detergent, and electricity. I don’t think there’s any net benefit to the environment.
And you have to remember to bring the things with you too.
Anton says:
November 15, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Note that the new excuse is that being dirty is good for the environment, actually the same excuse used by hippies forty years ago.
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I live in a land of moonbats, but where I use to live was far worse ( Sonoma county, CA). I have never seen so many species of them in one place. Being a yote, by nature, I enjoy preying on the little buggers from time to time.
I found this “Earth Day” shirt, that was way too amusing for me to pass up. “Save Energy – Wear a Dirty Shirt”. From my perspective, it shows the true hart of the enviro-nuts. They want to turn us all in to filthy, diseased and bug ridden savages.
First day I wore it, my ex-hippy landlord saw it. “OH, what a Great shirt!!! We really do use to many resources.” [pridefully] “I only shower ever couple days!”
Seriously, it took all my will, not to bust out in laughter; need to be polite to the landlord after all. Others who fell into my trap were not so lucky. I still have fun with that shirt.
“Shelley Kempner of Queens, who was looking over the produce at Fairway on Broadway at West 74th Street”
What time was Shelley looking over the produce? What is her middle name? This article is completely lacking in detail!
bubbagyro says:
November 15, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Polyethylene burns much, much cleaner than wood or paper. Some plastics are toxic to burn, so a little homework is necessary. In most of the world, dung is burned. If it against the law to burn where one lives, one can move or change the law.
Depends of the temperature which is reached. Backyard barrel burning hardly reaches 600°C. Mostly a lot lower. That causes a lot of smoke, including PAH’s (and dioxins – there is already enough chlorine present in the ambient air, adhered soils, any other natural waste), CO and so on, which are not that good for health… But indeed, in general less worse than burning paper or (wet) wood, leaves and other (garden and kitchen) waste.
Anyway completely forbidden in my country, where a lot of waste is burned in state of the art incinerators reaching much higher temperatures (900°C and higher) with energy recuperation, neutralising of the acid components and destruction of dioxins and NOx to near undetectable levels.
Also worth remembering that the plastic bags are a bi-product of the fractionation process that enables you to drive to the supermarket to get the shopping in the first place!
But now we’re not allowed to use them because they’re not PC?
And what about the checkout experience these days? In the UK we have ‘fast lanes’ where you can ‘scan your own goods’ (save the globalists some money by eliminating checkout jobs).
‘Please wait for assistance’, ‘unexpected item in bagging area’, ‘ please key in the item’s product number’. ‘thank you for using the fast lane’, ‘don’t forget your receipt’. ‘Please place the item in the bagging area’, ‘please wait for assistance’, AAARRGGHHHH!
Just give me the RFID implant and have done – checkout the goods, debit my card, check I’m not on a no-buy list, you know. The de-humanisation process is well underway, anyway.
Wher I live in Australia we have no choice – we have to use those bags because plastic shopping bags are illegal. Got no choice. Or we can PAY 10 cents each for a enviro-bag, supposedly made of corn starch, which will compost away.
Well I am sure it is all a trick to charge me more for my grocerioes by adding lead to the bag. Frankly I’d rather they just put their thumb on the scale like normal ordinary crooks do.
I’ve been fishing with lead sinkers for longer than I care to admit; and I’ve never had a poisoned fish yet.
Biggest hazard I have ever had from lead is whacking myself in the back of the head; or in my back with a lead weighted fly ; that went awry in the air.
The reusable bags around here are cloth, not recycled plastic.
And another thing! Why do we have to pay for the resuable bags? The supermarkets are making a double saving because we’re too dumb to notice or complain.
Today, I sell you something and I give you the bag for free. I absorb the cost of the bag into the price of the goods.
Tomorrow, I sell you something. But this time I make you pay for the bag. I save my costs for producing the bags so the profit on the “something” is greater and also make a charge for the bags. I’m paid twice.
I’m all for free enterprise – but things like this really bug me.
timheyes,
California is going to require eco bags by charging 25 cents deposit on 1/2 cent plastic bags. That’s not free enterprise. “Eco bags” are an example of unelected busybodies sticking their noses where they don’t belong. Here’s an example of the camel’s nose under the tent:
[source]
It’s not everyday that one discovers the meaning of life.
The Earth created life to create people to create plastic…… Our work here is done:-)
When I shop I always ask for about 20 bags… at 5 cents a pop, a whole loonie is worth the gasps…
This is actually more dangerous than you think-there are a large number of home gardeners growing potatoes in these sacks.
Potatoes for home/personal consumption.
This is bad news-bad news indeed.
Lead has made me ill many, many times; when people have used it as a past participle of the verb “to lead”.
So, doesn’t that just beat all, our parents and grandparents were right to use paper bags after all. Imagine that. Nothing better than recycling a tree grown by CO2 vs a tree made from oil 🙂
Now, if we can just get rid of all that extra packaging that you can’t get into anyway 🙂
This is from the “care and use” tag in a reusable bag gotten at the local Giant supermarket, emphasis added.
Above are comments about the hazards of not washing and bleaching reusable bags. But these can’t be bleached, can only be gently hand washed, and forget about using the clothes dryer. Unless I find a method of soaking them in an acceptable disinfectant, I can’t clean them well enough to remove bacteria.
The Earthwise insulated zipper bag is worse, “Spot wash with sponge.” What, I can’t get it soaking wet? The tag says the Outer Shell is that 100% non-woven PP. It claims the Inner Lining is 100% aluminum foil, which makes it a true modern miracle in Materials Science as I have never seen thin metal that looks and behaves exactly like a thin metalized plastic film, like thin Mylar. I don’t know what the padding, the insulation, is made of as somehow that information was (conveniently?) left off the tag. Going by thinness, feel, and density, as felt between the outside layers, it could be the same stuff found in the “blotters” used for plastic-wrapped fresh meat.
So if I use this “hot and cold” insulated bag to bring home rotisserie chicken and some juices leak out of the container into the bag, my only safe action is to throw the bag out.
This is found in the Earthwise FAQ:
Oh yeah, they’re pushing their DuPont™ Tyvek® bags hard, starting from the main page. The material used for throw-away industrial clean-up suits, and sleeves and liners for real floppy disks, is now a material of choice for washable reusable shopping bags. And the Tyvek breaking down and getting softer is apparently a good thing.
Also from the FAQ (can you spot the grammar error from the “Made in China” manufacturer?):
1 reusable bag = 1000’s of plastic bags
1 Earthwise bag = 100’s of plastic bags?
Do you know anyone willing to hand wash in cold water their reusable shopping bags then hang them up to dry, possibly hundreds of times for the same bag? Do they also really expect them to last for hundreds of uses (once a week, use then wash, for around four years)?
Lead in ecobags and mercury in light bulbs where next?
John Marshall said on November 16, 2010 at 1:35 am:
Toyota Prius or similar vehicle crashes on a highway, intense fire, total incineration. Emergency responders report breathing problems, which later prove persistent, perhaps chronic. Local residents also have them. At some point of investigation, by government officials, intrepid journalists, and/or concerned citizens, the ground around the site, hosed down during and after the burning, is revealed to be highly contaminated with metals and chemicals from the batteries, to the level requiring cleanup by soil removal, thus the atmospheric presence of them due to the fire is known to have been unacceptably high. This is revealed by an expose in the media, where they postulate about the cancer risks. Game over.
Side rant: Of course if it is a Toyota, they’ll print “Do not incinerate” on the battery pack, stick that info in the owner’s manual, and declare “Problem solved.” Remember the runaway Toyota issue? Toyota released a report several weeks ago saying the problem was largely user error, pointing out how the “black boxes” reported half the drivers were pumping the accelerator.
Away from the management/engineering/PR team, here in the real world it is known it is standard for the gas pedal connection to the motor to be a cable, specifically a cable in a plastic-lined metal sheath. Cables get stuck in sheaths, linkages on the engine can get hung up, a standard method of dislodging such is yanking on the cable, and pressing that pedal pulls that cable, thus pumping the gas pedal is an acceptable way to try to “fix” an over-accelerating vehicle. I’ve done it myself, it’s worked.
The report was barely on the TV news for a single day. I haven’t heard of it since.
Joy. Lead in eco-bags, mercury in CFLs, BPA in plastic bottles. Dioxins, pesticides, e. coli, trans fats. The list goes on and on and on.
I have become firmly convinced that the greatest single health risk I face from all of these things is the stress of trying to deal with them. Accordingly, I give up. I’ll stick with the common-sense precautions my parents drilled into me, and forget the rest of this stuff (they’ll change their minds about what’s good and what’s bad in a few years anyway).
Just wait till all those Prius cars come home to roost.
I look forward to the day that customer service (and disposable bags) returns to stores. With patience I think we will prevail in the this rhetorical battle with the eco-fascists.
I have personally reached the pedal (by a free hand) and pulled it back; this was not, in my case, on a Toyota, but some other manufacturer’s care in bygone years …
Then there was the one case where a motor-mount broke on a V-8 powered American 2-door ‘sled’ thereby pulling the throttle cable taut – and yielding full throttle. Since this was fortuitously while parking and up against a curb, brakes were already being partially applied and the situation was under control BUT startling nonetheless (and bent a lower control arm and ball joint in the process) …
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