I read Marshall County plans to ban using plastic bags for purchases in retail stores.   Kudos to you…and hopefully other counties in Iowa will follow their lead to “go green”!  These plastic bags do not decompose…they are made of polyethylene. Other places that have banned these plastic bags are South Africa, China, Ireland and San Francisco.  Biodegradable bags cost more to retailers making them not as popular.                                                                                      

Here are some statistics found on www.earthday.net:

 -Plastic bags can be recycled but it rarely happens: according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, only 1% of plastic bags were recycled in 2000, against twenty percent for paper bags. (www.earthday.net)

 -They endanger wildlife and particularly sea life such as sea turtles and dolphins which can die of entanglement, suffocation, and ingestion because they assume that these bags are jellyfish. (www.earthday.net)

What did I choose to do?  I chose to buy canvas tote bags and decorate them.  My kids and I used cookie cutters, stencils, fabric paint and iron-on transfers to decorate 8 tote bags.  They look great…we leave 4 in each vehicle.  It is a challenge to REMEMBER to take the canvas totes into the store…other than that…it is not a difficult decision for my family to make as we want to do our part for the environment…to go green.  We take them into all different retail stores:  JC Penneys, Bath and Body Works, Target, Hy-Vee, Fareway and Walmart to name a few. 

So again…kudos to the forward thinking leaders of Marshall County, IA and I hope that several other cities and counties in Iowa follow your lead!

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