Don't Eat Lead Bags!

Do you know that heavy feeling you get after eating a giant plate of pasta with plenty of wine and fresh bread on the side?? Yeah, well the feeling is worse if you eat a plateful of lead. Hopefully you already know that anecdotally VS from first hand experience...

Why this tidbit of info now? Oh, because of the big pseudo-scare about reusable plastic shopping bags being tested for lead this last week. I have some good follow-up advice from John Weber, Surfrider's Northeast (US) Regional Manager.

He reminds us that, "lead has been used in plastic for a long time, as a hardener (or a softener I can't remember). But that would not be the case with anything made in the USA. Stuff from China is much more likely to have lead, especially vinyl products." He provides an article from the New York Times on the subject.

Building on that info, John recommends, "If you buy a reusable bag, buy American, don't buy vinyl, buy polypropylene or PET or buy cotton." Here are some recycled-cotton bags, made in USA, from EnviroTote (no affiliation with Surfrider). Sweet!


Johns final advice, is not just for the weekend, it's for everyday: "Oh and don't eat your reusable bag or put it in your mouth."

Sage advice! Pass it on!

NY Bottle Bill Update

One year ago the state of New York (with the help of NE Region Surfrider chapters!) instituted the “Bottle Bill” – essentially a bottle-deposit on plastic bottles. According to Surfrider’s NE Regional Manager, John Weber, “If you believed the critics of bottle bill expansion, it was all gloom and doom, the economy was going to grind to a halt, overtaxed consumers were going to end up in the poorhouse, etc, etc. As you can see the actual results were a little different.”

Yo! Vive La Différence!

Not only did the state pick up a cool 120 MiLliOn bucks in unclaimed deposits, but, as we read in the recent press release, “The number of registered redemption centers which take back empty containers grew by 113 in 2009 and an additional 131 as of October 2010. Many of these small businesses have been able to expand and increase their employees’ wages and benefits.”

Yo! Helloooo Green Economy!

Sadly, no studies have been completed that can give us any statistical insight into the health changes New Yorkers experience by ingesting so much BPA from drinking out of all those bottles…hmmm...

Yo! Something to ponder this weekend! - have a plastic-free one…