Consumers worried about plastic bags' impact on the environment

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They're initially used for mere minutes, they cost only pennies to make and are rarely given much afterthought.

But more and more consumers and communities are thinking twice about the everlasting life of plastic bags.

They offer a convenient carry-all for everything from cereal to CDs to cosmetics.

But then what?

LONGMONT - They're initially used for mere minutes, they cost only pennies to make and are rarely given much afterthought.

But more and more consumers and communities are thinking twice about the everlasting life of plastic bags.

They offer a convenient carry-all for everything from cereal to CDs to cosmetics.

But then what?
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"Plastic bags are a ubiquitous part of everyday life, and consumers are becoming overwhelmed by it," said Lisa Wise, executive director of The Center for a New American Dream, a Maryland-based agency that promotes responsible consumerism.

"People are getting increasingly concerned with global warming and how our lifestyles contribute, and plastic bags are a true culprit in the problem."

Industry figures show 90 percent of all grocery bags are plastic. Plastic bags debuted at U.S. groceries in 1977.

Current estimates say 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags, which are petroleum-based, are used every year worldwide. Yet only 1 to 3 percent are recycled.

The rest end up in landfills, sewers, streams, tree branches and the bellies of hungry ocean life. These littered totes can take hundreds of years to decompose, Wise said, breaking down into smaller toxic bits that mix with the soil and water.

"There's no end life to plastic bags that is good," Wise said. "The commonality is that the plastic bag is endlessly damaging to our environment."

But manufacturers and retailers incur little cost to make and use them, and they advocate the bags' convenience, strength and protection to goods from outside contamination.

The Film and Bag Federation, a trade group within the Society of the Plastics Industry based in Washington, D.C., states on its website that the environmental choice at the checkout is plastic.

According to the trade group, plastic grocery bags, compared to their paper bag counterparts, take less energy to produce and transport, generate less air and water waste and take up less room in landfills.

The group also encourages the recycling and reuse of plastic bags.

Efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic bags are increasing globally.

Locally, efforts are purely voluntary.

Plastic bags are the most popular material dropped off at Eco-Cycle's Center for Hard to Recycle Materials, which has accepted plastic bags at the Boulder site for more than two years, manager Dan Matsch said.

CHaRM receives 1,000 pounds of plastic bags per year. By Matsch's estimates, that's 25,000 to 30,000 bags.

"The time you use (a plastic bag) is literally seconds for the majority of people - from the cashier to the car and then from the car to the house. And then you're done with it. The actual time the bag is holding something is so short, it's painful," Matsch said.

Plastic bag recycling is painstaking and costly because "it's in its infancy and the restrictions are very tight," he said. "Otherwise, you're just giving us trash."

Plastic bags must be clean and dry, and sandwich baggies must have the sealing mechanism removed to prevent bubbles in the recycling process.

The leftover product is then used to make composite and alternative lumber for the decking company Trex.

Wise said another barrier to plastic bag recycling is that it's expensive to do.

"It costs $4,000 to recycle one ton of the bags. What's left over is valued at only $32," Wise said.

Some local retailers and grocers, such as Wal-Mart and Albertson's, also accept bags at their storefronts for recycling.

Some stores, such as Safeway, deduct a few pennies if a customer opts out of a bag, while other stores such as Ikea charge customers for using a bag.

Longmont resident Chuck Peterson, who owns the Boulder Sign Company, said he and his wife use leftover bags to haul donations to a local food bank. But the sheer volume of plastic bags in the house "always bothered me a little bit," he said.

So this summer, when two University of Colorado-Boulder students had Peterson make signs for their reusable bag business, Peterson purchased more than a dozen bags for his family.

Green Endeavors is the brainchild of CU grads Doreen Molk and Carly Gralak, who created the not-for-profit supplier of reusable non-woven polypropylene shopping bags earlier this year.

"We're not necessarily against everything that's plastic," said Gralak, "we just want to get people in to the reuse movement, as opposed to taking a bag. And taking a bag. And taking a bag."

So far, they've sold more than 250 bags, Gralak said, at $2.50 each. Soon the bags will be available at some stores in the Boulder and Denver areas, she said.

"People were catching onto the idea. They liked it, they went with it and it's still going," she said.

Peterson agreed, saying using reusable bags is simple.