05/30/2007: "Guest Editorial: Bags!!!!"

By Francie Hansen

Bags under your eyes, getting bagged, plastic bags…all of these make us sad sacks! Join other San Juan Islanders who have decided to stop using paper or plastic bags and instead are using cloth bags or baskets -- like people do all over the world, I might add -- to contain their purchases and transport them home.

In the U.S., about 12 million barrels of oil and 14 million trees go to producing plastic and paper bags each year. Just imagine…we can save these valuable resources by simply NOT using throw-away bags! I think it’s time to amend our ways and take along our own cloth bags when we head out to do our daily errands. If you don’t have any appropriate bags, you can buy them at King’s, the Market Place, or the Farmers’ Market. And I’m sure the Thrift Store probably has something that would work. I’ll even make you one!

Store your bags in your car so they are always accessible and visible, and you’ll have them handy when you arrive at your shopping destination. Baskets work well too. Anything you can re-use, even if it has to be rinsed, will be great as long as it has a good, sturdy handle.

At a recent steering committee meeting of the Anti-Litter Initiative, I was appalled to hear about the substantial amount of money our local markets are spending to purchase plastic and paper bags that we end up using for only a few minutes and then just throwing out. I like simple fixes, within everyone’s reach, and this is indeed a simple fix. Both the Market Place and King’s even give you 5 cents back per bag if you bring your own!

Francie Hansen is a member of the San Juan Island Anti-Litter Initiative