Articles & Resources

Living Plastic Free
By Kristin Garguilo, Director of School Programs

Earth Day is Tuesday, April 22 and it’s a good time to make some changes that will reduce the use of plastic in your everyday life. The pledge to reduce plastic is good step to a more eco-friendly future and is not that difficult to achieve.

Plastic bags that end up as litter kill thousands of marine mammals every year and plastic bags that get buried in landfills may take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade. Furthermore, the production of plastic bags consume millions of gallons of oil that could be used for fuel and heating. It’s estimated that the United States uses 100 billion plastic shopping bags each year which requires 12 million barrels of oil to make.

Here are four easy tips to begin living without plastic bags:

1. BYOB, bring your own bag! Collect the canvas, nylon, and plastic bags that are around your house and put them in your car, purse, briefcase, and anywhere else they might come in handy to use when shopping.

2. Now that you’ve switched to using your own bags, try not to use plastic produce bags when shopping at the grocery store.

3. So what do you do with the collection of plastic bags that you already have? Don’t toss them – many stores such as Shaws, Stop & Shop, and Walmart have recycling bins available. Companies such as Plasticbagrecycling.org work with business to recycle plastic bags, for a more complete listing of partnerships visit their website. If you like to recycle your plastic bags in a crafty way there are many plastic bag designs and projects. Just take a look at my new shopping bag made with entirely with plastic bags knitted together. Click here to find projects.

4: Avoid buying plastic. This can be hard to do, with many of our products shrouded in plastic. But when given the option to purchase plastic covered products and non-plastic covered products, choose the plastic free. Cast a vote in favor of the plastic-free production of goods with the power of your dollar. In truth, what we buy and how we buy it, speaks louder than any blog, article, or political movement.

Happy plastic free shopping and Happy Earth Day!