stop! December 30, 2007
Posted by Administrator in : kraziness, rustika , 1 comment so far
Each Spanish citizen uses an average of 238 plastic bags per year, that´s over 97.000 tons, of these a mere 10% are recycled, say Cicloplast, who represent bag production and distribution companies. Worse still, * plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photo-degrade—breaking down into small toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food-chain when mistaken for zooplankton or jellyfish.
On my last California trip I was given a chico bag (and I don´t get paid for plugging them) which is cool cause it folds nicely into a smaller bag which is sewn on the inside, solving the problem of carrying a large shopping bag when you´re not shopping.
I also brought some colourful polipropilene Trader Joes bags, as gifts for friends here, in case being less wasteful became contagious. It needs to be, we have to re-use more, we have to make this a trendy thing to do..Luckily a bunch of designers created a bunch of ultra hip bags with this concept in mind: Hermes, Stella McCartney and Consuelo Castiglioni all took part in the initiative. Hermes created “Silky Pop” which costs $960 and is made of animal skin, hand embroidered silk and can be reduced to the size of a wallet. Nice try.
There are cheaper and far more ingenious options like “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” by British designer Anya Hindmarch which is selling like hot cakes for $15 on eBay.
For more on why we need to avoid plastic read this.