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The Full Circle Recycling Initiative, developed by the Progressive Bag Affiliates of the American Chemistry Council, would require a $50 million investment from industry members to increase the collection of bags and update manufacturing processes.
The Initiative also aims to have 25 percent of that 40 percent content come from postconsumer recycled plastic. To achieve the two goals, plastic bag makers would need to use 470 million pounds of recycled plastic (300 million pounds of which is postconsumer) annually, the equivalent of 36 billion bags.
In 2007, the latest year there are figures available for plastic bag recycling, 830 million pounds of plastic bags and plastic wrap were recycled.
Progressive Bag Affiliates plans to work with grocery and retail stores to increase in-store plastic bag drop-off programs for customers to use. The American Chemistry Council (ACC) runs PlasticBagRecycling.org, which lists locations that have collection bins for plastic bags, plastic wrap from items like paper towels, newspaper bags, dry cleaning bags and other #2 and #4 plastic bags and wrapping. Plastic bags are overwhelmingly not accepted through curbside recycling programs or at drop-off centers.
While the ACC tries to increase recycling of bags, many companies like IKEA and Whole Foods have eliminated their use entirely, and various cities in the U.S. and other countries have set or proposed bans or fees for using plastic bags.
Plastic Bags - CC license by Tom Lemos
Should put this story in a plastic bag and toss it out the door
Why is GREEN design not coming out strong on this one and calling it what it really is?
50 million USD is a joke, and retooling their process is just an excuse to buy more time.
Living in China, it is scary to think that they are so far ahead of the curve on this one. My guess is that by 2015 China will not only ban the sale of these bags, but will ban the manufacturing of them as well.
r
Smoke & Mirrors: How easily we are distracted.
Talk about smoke & mirrors. How easily we are distracted...
This is the definition of greenwashing.
Of course the American Chemistry Council, which represents plastics and chemical companies, is lobbying hard for higher recycling content. Threatened by a growing push to ban plastic bags in cities across the world, the Council is working to distract audiences from the harsh environmental truth that plastic bags, which take more than 1,000 years to disintegrate, are poisoning our ecosystems. Their goal: shift public attention and support away from citywide plastic bag bans and toward plastic bags recycling programs. Read more in this article about the plastic and chemical industries efforts in cities across the US to squash legislation to ban plastic bags:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23596727/
If that's not enough to motivate you to action, watch this about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating island of plastic particulate in the Pacific Ocean, two times the size of Texas, where plastic particulate outnumbers plankton 6 to 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLrVCI4N67M
Another Great Step
I love reading stories like this. Plastic bags are used so often that they have to rank up there with plastic water bottles as the most environmentally detrimental products out there.
Bob