Sand "Baggin" the Plastic Bottle

Paper or Plastic?
I have posted about plastic bags a couple of times (here and here) and am all for using less of the ubiquitous plastic grocery sacks. Whole foods made recent headlines about the elimination of all plastic sacks by Earth Day 2008. On a side note, "The Rouge" Whole Foods has not "totally" removed all plastic sacks as of yet, but most people were taking paper, not using bags at all, or buying the long use reusable bag that Whole Foods has available. But they still have those bags in the produce and bulk food isles still...

Developing countries are notorious for having the plastic shopping bag be a visible sign of poverty and disregard for the environment. Everything in the market is in small plastic bags and like their western counterparts, discard the bag after consumption. Usually this means that bag ends up in streams, rivers, trees, and any other place plastic likes to accumulate.

Dominica did not escape this little bit of western living but a local company is providing these handy little "eco" reusable shopping bags to start to decrease the need for imported plastics. The bags run $15 EC Dollars (~$5.75 US) which is honestly a little steeper than I had hoped for but its not that bad. I just hope that locals will adopt and make it something they can be proud of. There has been positive outlooks on having a say in the proposed refinery, so I see this as a positive week for my favorite island in the Caribbean...Cool Man?

Speaking of bags and groceries, a Utah woman bags title as best bagger in America. It sounds like her family should be investigated by a congressional hearing as Erika Jensen's family has won the title two out of the last four years. Her sister is also a bagging champion. Basically she bagged the competition...ok that was bad...moving on.

"Eco" Water Bottles
I try to find the good in most situations and I will try to do so here as if I don't I will be a hypocrite. Most bottled water "manufactures" have switched to their "eco" water bottle that contains some reduced percentage of plastics needed to make the new bottles. This makes them 1.) consume less plastic initially for the creation of the bottle and 2.) it makes the bottle easier to crush and therefore recycle. Kudos for reducing their initial overhead and use of virgin plastics, but thats about the best I can give this industry.

Its crazy to these companies push its product as "healthy," when numerous studies have found that tap water (in most US cities) is superior to bottled water in terms of taste and supposedly purer water. Then throw in the new research that is coming out that basically any plastic product used for food can leach out some nasty chemical that may/may not cause a variety of illnesses, and cost (1 liter per day would cost around $1,000 - $1,500 for a year) bottled water just does not sound all that appealing.

I am a quasi-hypocrite in that I still have a couple of the disposable plastic bottles around for when I got out on runs (throw it in the car) and play some disc golf. I have been promoting Sigg and I actually do not "own" one yet, its in transit to my doorstep as we speak. I will soon be able to go disposable-free within the next couple of days between the uses of my Sigg and Nalgene bottles. I know I know, Nalgene bottles do leach chemicals as well, but you just can not beat their durability and ease of use. Still beats lugging around cheap disposable bottles right?

On a final note, the Sigg turns 100 this year and are celebrating with a new website profiling the company and its storied past. Check it out and pick up a bottle, I know that I can't wait to get mine!
Cheers