Starting September 15, New Yorkers are going to experience an epic break-up: with plastic bags. BYOB is taking on a new meaning next week in NYC, because it’s Bring Your Own Bag Week (you can put a bottle in it). And yes, it can be of the farm-to-table cowhide variety.
BagItNYC is hosting a BYOBag Week from September 15 to September 21, encouraging New Yorkers to stop using single-use paper and plastic bags and carry reusable bags with them. The organization, which works to reduce plastic bag waste in NYC, is asking people to sign up for a bag-free week. If you do, they’ll send you emailed tips each morning on how to change your relationship status with those convenient, but harmful, disposable bags.
According to New York City Department of Sanitation, Bureau of Waste Prevention, New Yorkers use 5.2 billion carryout bags per year, the vast majority of which are not recycled. That’s not so great.
If you’re not aware of the pretty terrible effects the plastic bags you grab daily with your six-pack at a bodega are having on the planet, you’ve probably at least been frustrated with their gross effect of being stuck in trees and on your shoe way too often. Beyond that, New York City pays an estimated $10 million to transport 100,000 tons of plastic bags to landfills in other states each year. Maybe if we helped reduce this cost NYC would have money for things like affordable housing?
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this is where i’d appreciate a bloombergian plastic bag tax–$0.10 extra per plastic bag. it works in lots of places.
So, like, I bring a bag to a store instead of a plastic bag that weighs 0.1 grams
and then buy products that have tens of grams of plastic packaging.
Yay!!!! I’m saving the environment!!!!!
(Have we got Kono yet?)