Aldi Eliminates Plastic Shopping Bags in All 2,300 Us Grocery Stores
The decision to eliminate plastic shopping bags will prevent almost 4,400 tons, or nearly 9 million pounds of plastic, from entering circulation annually, according to Aldi. Aldi has cloth bags available in stores for purchase and the retailer will continue to sell bags to customers who forget their own reusable bags.
How to Build a Zero-Waste Economy
These advocates and entrepreneurs are also envisioning a future free from single-use items altogether. By promoting a “circular economy” — patterns of consumption that reduce waste generation of any kind — they hope to eliminate not only single-use plastics, but also disposable products made from paper and metal. Their vision will require whole new business models and supply chains that prioritize reuse — containers and dishware and shipping packages that can be used again and again rather than discarded after just a few minutes.
Go Gentler on the Planet With These Grocery Store Swap Outs
By swapping out bagged potatoes for loose ones, and eggs in cardboard cartons instead of styrofoam, you’ll lighten your environmental footprint.
Bio-Based Plastic Won’t Solve the Plastic Problem
If you order takeout in Los Angeles and your meal comes with a compostable fork made from PLA—a common bio-based plastic—you’re not supposed to toss the utensil in your curbside compost bin. The city doesn’t want any products or packaging labeled “biodegradable” or “compostable,” saying that the materials don’t actually break down quickly enough even at commercial composting facilities. The fork also can’t go in a recycling bin, since it can contaminate other materials. And if it ends up in a landfill or the ocean, it may last as long as if it had been made from regular plastic.
Toothpaste Tablets and Syrup on Tap: Us Refill Shops Cut the Container
At Mason & Greens in Washington, the lack of packaging is the point -- the small shop selling household goods and groceries is among dozens of zero-waste refill stores sprouting up in US cities from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Such stores are emblematic of what experts say is a necessary culture shift in one of the world's largest consumer economies, where the average person generates 4.9 pounds of waste per day, according to government statistics.
Judith Enck: Plastic Recycling Doesn’t Work and Will Never Work
Judith Enck, founder of Beyond Plastics, illuminates the global failure of recycling and what we can all do to make a positive difference moving forward.
All The Convincing You'll Need To Ditch Bottled Water For Good
As of 2017, people worldwide are purchasing plastic water bottles at the rate of 1 million bottles per minute, with the average American consuming 45 gallons of bottled water apiece every year. And though bottled water sales have continued to skyrocket since 2010 ― climbing to a whopping 15 billion gallons of bottled water sold in the United States in 2020 ― data shows and experts say there are compelling reasons to ditch the plastic for good.
It’s Time for Dry Cleaners to Stop Using Plastic Film
There’s that unpleasant moment when you get home from the dry cleaner: You remove the plastic film covering your clothes, and since most curbside recycling programs won’t accept it, you have no choice but to throw it in the trash and feel guilty about how you’re contributing to the plastic pollution crisis. You’re right to worry. Every year, dry cleaners use more than 300 million pounds of this plastic film in the U.S. alone. (They are sometimes known as poly bags because they are made from a kind of plastic known as polyethelene.) The vast majority—96%—will end up in a landfill or the ocean, where it will slowly break into particles that eventually end up in the food chain, and inside animals and humans. But it doesn’t have to be this way.