I got in my Greenhouse Gas Offset Certificate (check out Carbon Footprints in the Sand)! But before I can feel all self-righteous about how green I am, I still have a huge problem in that I can sum up in one word: Plastic
Like most people I primarily use petroleum based (polyethylene) plastic bags for all my food storage bags, produce, trash (non-compost) and recycling. The environmental impact of something that takes hundreds of years to decompose, does not recycle well, if at all and kills thousands of animals every year is just astounding to me. And paper sacks generate as much as 70 percent more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags…
So today I did some research today on corn based plastics. The cost is about 5-40% more than traditional plastic bags but they work about the same. They are not as durable or long lasting as high end plastic equivalent but they do work very well with fresh produce. There are two great companies that have biodegradable alternatives, Trellis Earth and BioBag.
BioBag is conveniently available through many local stores and online as such retailers like Amazon.com
Posted in Green Living and Technology
