Plastic Take-Out Bags

Plastic Take-Out Bags

The Coop offers free plastic take-out bags, which are also called "roll bags". Photos of these bags are in the images below. These bags are controversial. Some members want them eliminated because of suspected environmental damage. Other members like the convenience of the bags. This webpage holds the history and context of this issue, and lays out a path to reduce plastic bag pollution.

Figure 1. Plastic take-out "roll bags" given out for bagging produce at the Coop.

History 

October , 2006: Blogspot site starts

Blogspot posts on the large plastic bags at the checkout counter for bagging all items:

January 25, 2008: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2008/01/reducing-plastic-bag-use-at-coop.html

May 26, 2008: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2008/05/plastic-shopping-bags-vote-on-tuesday.html

May 28, 2008: https://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/31/21/31_21_thief_of_bad_bags_park.html

June 1, 2008: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2008/06/coop-stops-providing-plastic-shopping.html

June 20, 2008: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2008/06/plastic-produce-bags-can-we-reduce.html

July 13, 2008: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2008/07/july-29-plastic-produce-bags-general.html

July 25, 2008: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2008/07/where-are-reusable-bags-in-coop.html

July 29, 2008: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2008/07/tonights-gm-bring-your-ideas-about.html

Summer 2008 : Pacific Plastic Patch first national news stories: check Google News Search 

Blogspot posts on small "roll" plastic bags for bagging individual items, e.g., produce:

September 1, 2011: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2011/09/plastic-releases-estrogenic-chemicals.html

September 7, 2011: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2011/09/majestic-plastic-bag.html

September 25, 2011: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2011/09/use-less-plastic-interviews-with-coop.html

February 7, 2011: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2012/02/shopper.html

January 18, 2012: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-i-shop-without-any-new-plastic-bags.html

February 16, 2012: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-28-plastic-produce-bags.html

March, 2012: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2012/03/people-and-plastic-take-that-plastic.html

November 5, 2012: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2012/11/why-coop-should-stop-providing-free.html

April 13, 2013: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2013/04/general-meeting-may-28th-plastic-bag.html

April 18, 2013: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2013/04/park-slope-food-coops-roll-bag-phase-out.html

May 23, 2013: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2013/05/vote-to-phase-out-plastic-roll-bags.html

June 11, 2013: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2013/06/plastic-bag-phase-out-update.html

June 22, 2013: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2013/06/624-event-ban-plastic-bag-nyc.html

October 5, 2013: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2013/10/dear-coop-members-and-friends-of-park.html

November 3, 2013: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-short-comedic-film-inspired-by-artist.html

December 16, 2013: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2013/12/update-plastic-roll-bag-vote.html

February 10, 2014: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/p/important-events.html

February 23, 2014: http://ecokvetch.blogspot.com/2014/02/vote-yes-proposal-to-reduce-plastic.html

The Coop first began offering disposable plastic "roll" bags for individual items on a long-forgotten date, probably the 1980s.  A formal vote to ban these bags was held on February 25, 2014. The vote was close, and poorly counted, but narrowly defeated the motion to ban plastic take-out bags at the Coop.

Other history of plastic grocery bags is found at the Plastic Bags article on Wikipedia.

Objectives of this Project 

• • Educate about environmental impacts from Coop plastic take-out bags

  • Educate about ways to reduce Coop plastic bag pollution to the environment

  • Reduce Coop plastic bag pollution to the environment from the PSFC

Question and Answer

Q: What are the environmental impacts from Coop plastic take-out bags?

A: When plastic bags are thrown to the environment, the impacts are: 

                    i) wildlife ingestion in rivers and oceans 

                   ii) use of fossil fuels and chemical factories for plastic production

                   iii) visual pollution of city streets, trees, parks

                   iv) use of landfills for garbage storage.

      The size of each impact should be measured to answer these questions:

                    i) how many animals die from the Coop's use of 1-year's output of plastic take-out bags? 

                    ii) How much fossil fuel is used in making 1-year's output of plastic bags? 

                    iii) What percentage of 1-year's output of the bags ends up polluting the surrounding rivers, lakes, oceans, streets, trees? 

                    iv) How landfill volume does 1-year's output of plastic bags occupy?

       Then we should ask if the size of the environmental impacts from bags is negligible compared to other contributors to the problem.

Q: How much plastic waste arises from Coop plastic take-out bags as compared to other forms of Coop plastic output?

A: We are communicating with the Coop General Coordinators and IT Department to calculate how much plastic flows through the Coop in merchandise each year and how many plastic roll bags flow through the Coop.

Q: Are the environmental impacts eliminated if shoppers dispose of plastic bags into the NYC trash stream?

A: Most of the environmental impacts would be eliminated by proper disposal of the plastic bags.

Q: How much of the NYC curbside waste stream ends up in rivers and the ocean?

A: We are launching a research campaign with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection to answer this question.

Q: Can I do something to ensure that my plastic waste is destroyed without harm to the environment?

A:

Q: How much hassle are the non-plastic bags?

A: 

Q: How much benefit does a Coop member receive from using the take-out plastic bags?

A: 

Q: Have other cities or countries been successful with plastic bag bans?

A: California banned "single use" plastic bags in 2014; US cities such as Seattle and Miami are proposing bans on plastic bags; the country of Kenya has 

     banned plastic bags (with jail time for infractions) and some neighboring African countries are seeing it as a success such that they want to duplicate it; 

     The U.K. and the E.U. have placed future phase-outs on plastic bags,; corporations like Starbucks and Disney are proposing bans on plastic bags.

Estimated Pollution from Coop Bags

The plastic roll bags are obviously convenient for the Coop members. We assume the question of whether to keep or ban the bags is answered by whether the environmental damage outweighs the convenience. This section assesses the environmental damage from Coop plastic roll bags.