Command: The state of plastic - news update

• In the aftermath of San Francisco ban, stores state "Paper bag usage shot through the roof!"
  
• Politicians around the world base bans on bad science as reported by TIMES Online.
  
• Record rates of plastic recycling is taking place throughout the country.
  
• They are now proposing banning paper bags too!
  
• Get the plastic facts and overview of what it is and where it really comes from.
  
  
  Read more below about the recent news and views of the most reused plastic product in the world.....
  
  
  
  Palo Alto Online reported, "After San Francisco's rule went into effect last fall, our paper bag usage shot through the roof," Mollie Stone's owner David Bennett said. Paper bags cost about 10 times the cost of plastic bags according to Dan Conway, Safeway's director of state and local government relations.
  
  No other plastic packaging can boast that it is reused by more people globally than any other product and yet plastic bags have been attacked by opposing environmentalist and politicians that say it's a start against the most visible target. We see people using the plastic t-shirt bags to collect their trash at the beaches, parks, along roadsides, so if they ban it, what will they use to collect the trash - plastic trash liners they have to buy? Or perhaps they could use their nice designer reusable cloth bags made in China? If it is not convenient, the litter problem will only increase with other disposable products.
  
  
  
  
  Bags a tiny fraction of sea trash.
  Danny Westneat, Seattle Times staff columnist reports about Curt Ebbesmeyer, one of the world's leading oceanic garbologists findings in the heap of sea trash.
  
  Last month, Ebbesmeyer held a "Dash for Trash" in Ocean Shores. In two hours, 50 people collected an astonishing 2,000 pounds of junk from the beach. Almost all of it was plastic - from fishing floats to shotgun shells to dolls from Japan. Yet very little of it was the plastic bags targeted by Seattle. "...plastic bags are not the real problem," he said. "It's one little battle out of a million. Go look at what the ocean carries in on a given day. You'll see what I mean."
  
  Taking Ebbesmeyer's advice to go see for himself, he did his own investigation that he called "garbology" dig at low tide in Seattle's Myrtle Edwards Park. "In half an hour poking along 300 yards of shoreline, I found a demoralizing 173 pieces of trash, " said Westneat. 36 of the sea trash included things like metal and wood, while 137 pieces were plastic. Out of the 137 total plastic trash, only one plastic bag was found. Read article at Seattle Times...
  
  "Series of blunders turned the plastic bag into global villain" ~ Times Online reported.
  All too often we see politicians jumping to popular beliefs that are based on half truths and flawed data for the popular vote. With the internet and the bombardment of mass communication, it's understandable how confusing all these environmental issues are. There is no black and white answer, there is a lot of grey and it is up to us to weed through the clutter to get to the facts. Mercury News Online also reported, Socal falls victim to Internet hoax, considers banning items made with water." The report further stated, "City officials were so concerned about potentially dangerous properties of "dihydrogen monoxide" that they considered banning foam cups after they learned the chemical was used in their production. Dihidrogen monoxide is H20 (water) for short." Read the "Series of blunders..." article at Times Online...
  
  
  
  
  
  CA and New York are leading the way on recycling as recycle rates climb to record numbers.
  Nationwide over 650 million pounds of plastic bags and film are recycled annually and reprocessed into useful new products, such as low-maintenance fencing and decking, building and construction products, and new carry out bags. These numbers are increasing with the mandates towards recycling implemented in California, New York City, and Illinois states. Connecticut, New Jersey and Rhode Island are in the process of considering plastic bag recycling policies of their own. Some of the cities bent on opposing the state mandate to consider a ban are finding that a ban is causing more harm than good. Read more...
  
  
  Paper bags may get banned too! According to Times Online report, Britain's paper-bag industry is protesting against government plans to extend its proposed action against single-use carrier bags to include those made of paper. Read the rest of the article at Times Online...
  
  Get the plastic facts and overview of what it is and where it really comes from.
  
  You can see from this image that all the billions of gallons of oil saved from not using plastic "CAN'T" be used again since it is a by-product (derivative or waste) of oil and natural gas. If the by-product isn't turned into useful plastic products, it could get discarded to pollute our landfills, or worse, allow it to be burned into the air. Read more...