Dr. Mercola February 16 2008 113,139 views
The Whole Foods grocery chain plans to stop offering customers plastic grocery bags, and instead use only recycled paper or reusable bags.
A rising number of governments and retailers are banning plastic bags, or discouraging their use, due to concerns about their environmental impact.
Whole Foods had previously tried to get customers to buy reusable bags, but the concept did not catch on until they began offering them for 99 cents.
Whole Foods officials estimate that the store currently distributes 150 million plastic bags a year.
Plastic bags are typically thrown away after one use, do not break down easily in the environment, fill landfills, and float into trees, rooftops, roadways and oceans.
Plastic pollution causes more than 1 million seabirds, 100,000 marine mammals, and even more fish to die in the North Pacific alone, every year.
The problem is so bad that a plastic “stew,” twice the size of Texas has formed on the Pacific Ocean. Scientists have dubbed the mass of floating plastic trash the “Eastern Garbage Patch,” and its volume is growing at an alarming pace. Even more shocking: when researchers tested the water of the Pacific Ocean, they found it contained six times as much plastic as plankton, by weight! It’s not just marine animals that are poisoned by all these stray plastic bags. You too (and your breast fed baby) are ingesting plastics every day through the food chain. It’s a hazardous mix of chemicals and additives, such as:
The end result of breathing, eating, drinking and absorbing all of this plastic includes obesity, declining fertility rates and other reproductive problems, and cancer, just to name a few.
Sobering Statistics on Our Use of Plastic
The statistics on our use of plastic bags world-wide are truly staggering. For example, did you know that:
Of these billions of plastic bags:
According to the BBC, windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that cottage industry groups are now harvesting about 30,000 bags each per month, which they use to weave bags and hats.
And, plastic bag litter can now be found as far north as Spitsbergen (78° North latitude), and as far south as the Falklands (51° South latitude).
Why Switching to Paper is FAR From the Best Solution
While switching to paper might appear to be better than sticking with plastic, paper also, unfortunately, comes at a very high price to your environment, and your health. In fact, they’re roughly equal in their number of pros and cons. For example:
What’s the Answer?At the end of the day, your best option to ensure a cleaner environment and better health for both man and beast is to use reusable, cloth shopping bags.
I read an article a few weeks ago about how one country, I believe Ireland, put a 35 cent fee on ALL plastic bags. They did not ban or make them illegal, anyone could still purchase them, BUT this simple act done six years ago virtually eliminated the use of plastic bags in their country.
A few of my readers have commented on the dilemma of what to do about their pet waste as they’re trying to reduce their dependence on plastic bags.
For this situation, a good alternative is to buy biodegradable doggie bags, which you can find online on sites like www.poopbags.com and www.ecoanimal.com. They sell bags made from 100 percent biodegradable corn and other renewable sources.
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind .....how can we ignore the reality that the real fakers are in Washington (who allow laws that limit solutions). Hemp is more practical and renewable than forests for paper. Hemp improves the soil rather than deplete it. Hemp is a superior source of vegetable protein. Hemp cloth lasts and looks better than cotton, uses less chemicals for cleaning and is better for the human body for health. Hemp seed oilis a wonderful salad oil....tastes better than fish oil, olive oil, or even coconut oil. We the people are supposed to be the government and they the bureaucrats the governed. We must retake our country or lose it. We will suffocate in our chemicals, drown in our plastic, and rot in our fungus. Together we can do it!!!!
Please explain the "rot in our fungus." What is the source or cause of growth of the fungus?
Amen. There are so many things that if everybody does life would be so much better. Not to mention cleaner.
Ever wonder how your grandparents (adressing baby boomers here) got their groceries home? I remember my grandmother (in Germany) always had a few net bags in her pocket or or cloth bag when she went grocery shopping at the open air market a few times a week. The net bags roll up into almost nothing and she made her cloth bags. Vegetables were weighed and given to you in paper cones of recycled paper...meats in butchers paper first then wrapped up in newspaper then given to the customer. There were no plastic bags...these were introduced to Germany by the Americans at one point...I think 70's?
For normal shopping, she always had a net bag tucked into her purse. Those things hold huge amounts and you could buy them anywhere cheaply. I wish they were available again.
I like to to use canvas bags when I can. Re the comments about all the water and soap wasted to wash them...oh come on! They just get thrown into whatever is washing anyway whenever they get too dirty! When is that, every few weeks/months?? :>D
I agree, PatriSpain. Washing canvas bags does not waste water or soap. I have quite a few canvas bags, but I don't wash them that often. I certainly don't have enough bags to fill a whole load of laundry. When I do wash the bags, I just throw a few in with a load of laundry that I'm already planning to wash. No waste there.
www.reusablebags.com has string bags. I always amazed at how much I can fit i one of those bags.
PatriSpain - check here for net bags - www.malmoexports.com/Stringbags.htm - I am in no way affiliated with this site, just something I use myself.
This post brings back memories. When I was a little girl, my Mother (who is German) carried one of those net bags in her purse; my grandmother (Oma) had crocheted it for her and it even had a shell that folded around the netting when it was rolled up (to about the same size as a 8 year old's fist). My mother gave up trying to use it here in the U.S. because back then using your own bags was just not done <sigh>. Wish my Mom still had the bag.
Frankly I'm not impressed. America is lagging far behind the rest of the world.
When I moved to Germany in 1976 they had been recycling ALL bottles for years already & continue to do so. In addition, you had to PAY for plastic bags (which you still have to do) so most people brought their own bags. France switched to recyclable bags about 3 or 4 yrs ago....America always thinks it's so smart - a front runner. The reality is that it is the most wasteful society on the planet.....I am glad that Whole Foods, of all companies is waking up and I guess late is better than never although they of all people should have thought of it whenthey went into business.
Isabelle
Great. Now all they need to do is remove the following ubiquitous ingredients from their food products, and maybe I'll care about their silly plastic bag stunt:
Corn syrup
High fructose corn syrup
Crystalline fructose
Fructose
Canola oil
White flour
White sugar
Table salt (sodium chloride)
Copra
Autolyzed yeast extract (MSG)
Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (MSG)
Yeast extract (MSG)
Autolyzed yeast (MSG)
Cooked honey
Mono- and di-glycerides
Artificial food colorings
Silicon dioxide and other flow agents
Dried milk powder
Pasteurized/homogenized milk
I have a list that I've been collecting for months, but I don't have it in front of me. Those are just the ones from memory, as if that isn't enough!
WFM is a sham and is destroying the American public's ability to get truly healthy food by putting smaller, more health-conscious stores out of business.
Right on Ninja!!!! I was starting to get worried that I was the only person who noticed that they FLAT OUT LIE about their "prohibited ingredients" as well as misleading people into thinking all the seafood they sell is sustainably harvested - WHICH IT IS NOT. Most of their meat isn't even from the U.S. - ask them - it's from Canada and South America. And they don't put the country of origin on their bulk foods because MOST OF THEM ARE FROM CHINA. And the same is true of the ingredients in their 365 foods. Ask them - they will scuttle around for 15 minutes to get a manager's okay who will then finally tell you flat out that they have confidence in the ingredients they are getting from China - because they're Whole Foods.
While our Natural Foods Co-op carries a small handful of products that contain some not so great ingredients (namely they have a local BBQ sauce that has HFCS and local tortillas that have calcium propionate and a few vegan items with HVP/Autolyzed yeast), it's nowhere near as bad as what I find at Whole Foods and at least at the Co-op they TELL YOU THEY DO and put little warnings on the products and they ALWAYS point out excellent clean alternatives. Plus, they are all about getting their customers to buy fresh organic local produce and bulk foods that aren't from China and encourage people to make their own meals. And they ONLY sell sustainable seafoods and meats raised in the Midwest that are either organic or raised without antibiotics,hormones, animal by product in the feed. GMO's in the feed, and under humane farming practices on PASTURES.
My town is full of people who think Whole Foods is perfect and they CLAIM the prices are better than the co-op but THEY ARE SO WRONG.I have price compared many many times and yes on a couple of things Whole Foods is less, but when you look at your total bill, you will always spend LESS at the co-op and get better quality foods. And you won't be lied to. I wish people would WAKE UP!!!
Whole Foods stores let you know very clearly what foods are grown by the organic method and which are conventional. They carry both. They are not lying to people. If people chose to select produce with their eyes closed, that is not the problem of the stores --it is the problem of the client. READ LABELS. USE YOUR BRAIN. If you don't like what you see, don't buy and go elsewhere.
However, buying food grown by the organic method is proven to be healthier and safer for families' health. Additionally, when I could walk, prior to my surgeries, I either walked to the store or rode my bicycle, and carried my cloth bags full of groceries (which did not break unlike plastic bags) home.
The U.K. has always been more advanced compared to the U.S.A. on many items. Paying more taxes to support sustainable policies is definitely better than letting corporations dictate policy, as is done in this country. In fact, environmentally, especially under the dictatorshop of the petrochemical industry, the USA is just about last in environmental protection and public health concern.
NINJA! You GO! The most sane comment so far! I'm copying your LIST!
I challenge Joe Mercola and all who get into this assanine discussion to:
Enter any Wal-Mart or similar store, and JUST count those IMPOSSIBLE TO OPEN WITHOUT A CHAIN SAW plastic packaging... Less chance of cutting oneself with the chainsaw, than any other method of opening those abominable packs... AND FAR more plastic is used in those, than that carousel of plastic bags at the checkout!
YES! "They" would like to see great outfits like Whole Foods, and all the little HealthFood guys go under...
Blessings, MuleMarm
Thanks, Eatreal and MuleMarm! I just found two more crappy ingredients last night. They had a cranberry cheese that had propylene glycol(a type of antifreeze) in it, and some frozen ravioli had(I wasn't looking to buy it - pasta is bad - but it looked like it would have bad ingredients...get this...sodium bisulphite. Add two more ingredients that have no business being in our food to the list.
Now, to address Beccadog, who seems to be an apologist for WFM, yes, WFM is indeed labeling their food. Some of it. Many of their own prepared foods do not have ingredients listed. And they are lying to people because they're claiming to be a health food store. Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but no true health food store would carry so many foods with such bad ingredients, and have half the store devoted to breads, candy, crappy "nutrition bars" and other junk. They do indeed lie about MSG, as they claim not to carry products that contain it, when they clearly do (it's not listed as MSG, but rather autolyzed yeast extract and others). It's not a matter of shopping with your eyes closed, it's a matter of not being able to eat anything in the damned store because it's all crap!
Most of their produce comes from out of state or worse yet overseas and is conventional, not organic. I recall entire summers in Chicago when there were not organic watermelons or limes anywhere at WFM in Chicago.
As for your comment about "go buy elsewhere", that is precisely what I'd LIKE to do, but cannot do. WFM brutally crushes small health food stores using underhanded, semi-legal (if not outright illegal) tactics. Sherwyn's used to carry ONLY organic produce, and WFM put them out of business. Likewise, they screwed Sunflower Market and others out. WFM is about the only so-called health food store in the Chicagoland area anymore. They deserve to be put out of business forever, which is hard to accomplish when they have a monopoly. Power corrputs. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Ninja, they are not only putting smaller stores out of business, they put the large chain Wild Oats out of business, too. WO was, in my opinion, the better large "health food" market in my city and the one where I preferred to shop. I don't know about the quality of their products (re: ingredients) vs. WFM, I just liked the store better. Now there's only WFM and they are so dirty and busy all the time they can't really handle all the traffic they forced on themselves by shutting down, sorry, "buying out" WO. The people who used to work at WO now work at WFM and I don't know of any of them that don't miss the old place! BTW - in every city WFM opened a store within blocks of an existing WO. Here it was closer to a main street and many people didn't even know WO was just around the corner! And do you know about this nasty tactic: blogs.mediapost.com/online_minute
Really, don't get me started on Whole Foods!!!1!!!
There are some smaller health food stores in town, but they focus mainly on packaged foods and supplements and don't really offer a selection of fresh meats and vegetables. Of course, ideally I would be getting meat and veg from a CSA anyway.
Just my thoughts about it...
Also, I seem to recall when stores started offering plastic bags that they were supposed to be photodegradeable. What ever happened to that? Or was it just another lie?
Ninja,
So let me get this straight b/c WFM carries items that you find objectionable they're a sham?
I've been involved w/wholistic food for over 30 years, w/every type of diet, fasted hundreds of days, etc.
However, I was always grateful for that which was available even if I had to seek it out.
Albeit life can be difficult but I can procure ANY, and I mean ANY healthful product from ANYWHERE in the world, including organic produce, grass fed meats, raw dairy and cheeses, etc.
So why is it WFM's fault if in order to stay in business they have to offer a wide variety of foods? In our area they have the best and healthiest buffet's I have ever seen anywhere, cooked and fresh.
If what you say is true, then apparently the demand for organic is just not all that high because I have seen many health food stores come and go. The ones that survive only offer a smattering of fresh the rest is packaged product. If you are so smart, then start your own and prove them wrong.
I mainly eat fresh whole foods, but it seems most of what you have listed would be described as adulterated. No health guru worth their salt would describe eating this way. If you stay centered on whole foods then what difference does it make if WFM sells these other items, all grocery stores do. If you want to avoid crap go to Farmers markets or only by fresh produce or find the myriad of ranchers that sell fresh meats, and farmers that sell fresh produce online. Many great un-adulterated products are available at the likes of chain stores like Giant, such as Cascadian farms produce or is that not good enough? We both live in major metropolitan areas, so if I can do it then you can too.
You really need to take responsibility for your own health. WFM stopping the use of plastic bags is AWESOME!
Look the issue is not that Whole Foods stocks products with unhealthful ingredients or conventional produce. Nearly all stores carry items that someone or the other is going to find objectionable. The problem with Whole Foods is that they MISLEAD the public and the media by making claims they don't carry certain things when they do and that they have certain "better" standards than other places when they don't. They spin themselves as healthier and greener and as having high standards when they actually do not. They craft their media messages very carefully so that they can wriggle out of whatever they get themselves into. The other issue with them is that like Wal-Mart they exist solely to make loads of money for their stockholders and they strive to do this by squashing all competitors - which would probably not be entirely objectionable if they really were a business of honesty and integrity in what they sell and that's why they were successful. But no, they mislead and do other underhanded things in their quest to dominate natural foods retail. It's purpose is no longer in the name of health or doing the right thing environmentally. They may have started out that way, back in Austin TX 20 plus years ago, but now it is all about money and they won't hesistate to tell you half truths or withhold information to get your business.
I can't believe we think it's important to encase garbage and dog poop in plastic... do we want to save it for posterity ?!? I propose that we have to dispose of all our trash in our own back yards. If we actually saw how much trash we generate maybe we would think twice about the things we buy and/or what these things are packaged in. I used to buy gerolsteiner mineral water as a treat... but no more. It used to come in glass bottles but now it is in plastic. I guess we don't have enough of our own plastic trash ... now we can import it in from other countries ! We need to write to companies when they do what is right or wrong. Look at our stores...we vote with our pocketbooks so we really have no one to blame but ourselves... if we don't buy it , it won't be manufactured.