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.
…
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:
Hello – is anyone out there listening? We are the original ecobags brand and “eco bags” is not a generic catch all for reusable bags! We produce high quality reusable bags, certified for social compliance and materials since 1989.
Continue to speak out about low cost, low quality, unsustainable options but call them “reusable bags” or “eco-friendly?” or whatever but stop calling them eco-bags, because they’re not!
Thank you!
The specific type that’s implicated is NWPP – Non-Woven PolyPropylene . The polyester and cotton types are fine.
The disposable plastic bags are a plague — they are dangerous litter all over the planet. And create more waste and use more energy net-net than paper bags. The were another idiot greenie push: to get rid of paper bags, which biodegrade easily.
Brian H says:
November 20, 2010 at 9:53 am
“And create more waste and use more energy net-net than paper bags.”
What a silly notion. See this:
“…paper bags, which biodegrade easily.”
Biodegradable is not always good. See here:
You think none of that remains in the paper which decomposes?
Besides, in modern landfills, paper degrades no faster than plastic. From the first source:
Sorry Bart, all bull. And what can you believe from anyone who can write or quote “brake down”? Illiteracy is not impressive, rather the opposite.
Even if you’re a CO2 -is-evil-believer, it happens that the best way to get it out of the air is to cut down mature trees and use the wood in some long-lasting application, like furniture, and let new young trees grow up and absorb the CO2.
Of course, CO2 is beneficial so we should actually be trying to maximize its release, not its capture.