Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Stop the Plastic Bag Scourge

“China bans free plastic bags”

According to this article a friend sent me, “the Chinese use up to 3 billion plastic shopping bags a day.” As a result of the number of bags floating through the air and filling their landfills, the government has mandated that shops and supermarkets charge for the ubiquitous bags to encourage the use of reusable bags. I’m not sure how many bags we use per day in the United States or Europe, but I figure it would be a pretty hefty figure.

Before I began putting together my collection of shopping bags, I would collect plastic bags from each shopping trip and leave them on a hook near my door. It was incredible how quickly they piled up. But now I leave five reusable shopping bags hanging by my door and grab them for each shopping trip. It also limits my purchasing because I have to be able to carry what I buy.

Our government may not go as far as banning free plastic bags, but you can do your part to help reduce impact and support Coffee Kids at the same time by picking up one of our tote bags in our online shop.