Plastic Grocery Bags

Americans use 84 billion plastic bags annually and efforts to reduce consumption and trash have been underway with varying degrees of success.

This is some of what has been posted on this site in the past --



Beacon Hill & Plastic Grocery Bags: About Time! #2
Beacon Hill & Plastic Grocery Bags: About Time!
California considers ban on plastic bags.....
China Watch: Plastic Bag Ban Trumps Market and Consumer Efforts

'Save the Bay' unveils annual list of most-polluted local waterways
included a staggering inventory of plastic bags and trash retrieved during the cleanup from 2008 --

All told, 184 tons of waste were collected from the bay, including more than 26,000 plastic bags. About 1,100 bags were collected from Coyote Creek alone.

... Lewis of Save The Bay said recycling plastic bags doesn't work. He points to a California Integrated Waste Management Board estimate that less than 5 percent of all single-use plastic bags in the state are recycled "A lot of it ends up in landfills," he said.

Albany-Berkeley-Emeryville shoreline (Alameda County). Bags removed: 7,497

Antioch Shoreline (Contra Costa County). Bags removed: 478

Belden"s Landing (Solano County). Bags removed: 591

Burlingame Bayfront to Mills Creek, Millbrae (San Mateo County). Bags removed: 784 Candlestick Park (San Francisco). Bags removed: 750

Coyote Creek (Santa Clara County). Bags removed: 1,100

Mare Island Straight (Solano County). Bags removed: 400

Richmond shoreline from Shimada Friendship Park to Point Isabel (Contra Costa County). Bags removed: 2,252

Ryder Park (San Mateo County). Bags removed: 384

Warm Water Cove (San Francisco). Bags removed: 542


(Note: Not every section of the Bay watershed held Coastal Cleanup Day events in 2008, and some sites did not report trash data.)
Source: Save The Bay

Shopping around the Middleboro area, reminders are everywhere -- Hannaford's posted a reminder at the entrance. How many times do you just forget to bring the reusable bags in with you?

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What once caused rolled eyes is becoming the norm with little effort and has the added benefit of reducing curbside trash destined to SEMASS.