Reasons to ditch your plastic bags and bottles

This is a summary of what we talked about this morning on the Bruce and Betty show on 1061 the Corner!

PLASTICS:
Plastic has done amazing things for us in medicine and food storage, BUT it's also made of a non-renewable resource: oil! It pollutes when we make it, and it won't biodegrade (it takes hundred of years to go away?! yikes). And new information continues to come out about the leaching of plasticizers and BPA (Bisphenol-A) through high heat and freezing. 'Nuff said.

WHY DITCH THE WATER BOTTLE?

Strike One: Currently 1.5 million barrels of oil - enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year is being used to make plastic water bottles!

Strike Two: Not to mention the emissions involved in the manufacturing and transportation of these bottles (aka embedded energy).

Strike Three: Tap water has stricter quality standards and MOST BOTTLES are never recycled.

More Strikes: One account says that bottled water costs $5.76 gallon!

SOLUTION?
Bring your own bottle - PBA-free plastic (1 or 2) OR your aluminum or glass bottle for reuse

Use a water filter like Pur or Brita

PLASTIC BAGS
We go through 380 billion bags per year!! Only 6% are recycled and the rest are trashed, but as many of us know these bags turn up as "urban tumbleweed." I always cringed to look up at one of our beautiful Virginia trees to see a plastic bag ornament or worse a bag floating down the Rivanna or turning into food for fish in the ocean. 'Nuff said.

HOW CAN I REMEMBER TO USE MY BAG?
1- Right now, make a pledge to use your bags. Tell people this is what you're doing. That way you will generate the committment and support you need to fulfill this promise.
2- Stash them in the front seat of your car. (You'll forget them in your trunk, right?)
3- Hang them on the garage door or front door.
4- Just think. In three weeks, it will be a habit.
5- Come to Eco-Fair on April 18th at the Downtown Pavilion and get a Shop Local/City of Charlottesville and Better World Betty bag as part of our big reusable bag campaign kickoff!

Cheers to less bags blowing in the breezes and the treezes,
BWB