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Health & Fitness

Plastic bag ban is good for us... if you do it right.

Resuable bags are great, but...

I've been carrying around resusable grocery bags for several years.  

I started after visiting Ireland, where the bags were a bigger problem than what we see here.  Actually saw a dolphin in a West Ireland estuary with one stuck on his nose, and became less of a fan at that moment.

But, it makes sense on more levels than just environmental.  They are stronger than plastic bags, can generally hold more and just seem easier to carry more.  I get a lot of resuable bags at trade shows and recycle them into my collection and have a bunch of canvas bags.

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Then came the day I was shopping, opened up one of the bags and a silverfish came running out.  Ick.

Then recently came a research paper for the Wharton School Institute for Law and Economics, that showed the 2007 San Francisco ban "led to an increase in infections immediately upon implementation and...conservatively, 5.4 annual additional deaths."

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So, by all means, make the switch, but there are general recommendations about reusable bags. 

  • Use specific bags for meat and fish and wash them regularly
  • Fabric bags can be washed with jeans
  • Plastic bags should soak in soapy water with lemon juice, or vinegar, or even bleach.

This is especially important during the current flu season.  Being environmentally responsible also means not spreading infection.

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