NPR 11.14.08


Our founder, Vincent Cobb, joins Ashkay Rao, program director and professor at University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, to discuss why not all reusable bags are created equal.

Says Cobb: "[The 99-cent reusable shopping bag phenomenon] has become a marketing gimmick du jour, big time. It's an advertisement for the retailer, so they're very incented to get them out there. If they just sit and accumulate in a closet and you go back to taking plastic bags, then yeah, you have done a net negative." Listen here...

National Post 12.02.08

After two days of debate and as many as 25 proposed amendments, Toronto council last night voted by a margin of three-to-one for a groundbreaking series of packaging-reduction bylaws. Read more...

Our Take: Huge news! While Chicago implemented a bottled water tax in 2008, this is the first bottled water ban we're aware of - congratulations, Toronto. Banning the sale of plastic water bottles at all city-run facilities is sure to put a dent in consumption. Unfortunately, the 5-cent bag fee voted through just isn't enough to change consumer behavior.

The Chicago Tribune 12.27.08

Amid a recent flurry of worrisome reports about plastic, a simple question came up: Could we live without it?

I decided to try. For one week, I pledged to buy no new plastic and to keep the kids away from it as much as possible. Read more...

Our Take: A great article by a working mom that shows it's possible to make gradual changes towards consuming less plastic in our daily lives. She discovers the wisdom of reusables - and reinforces that none of us will ever eliminate plastic items, but every small step makes a big difference!

The New York Times 12.24.08

Weeks after its own advisory board accused the Food and Drug Administration of failing to adequately consider research about the dangers of bisphenol-A, found in many plastic baby bottles, plastic food containers and metal can linings, the agency has agreed to reconsider the issue. Read more...

Our Take: Finally, the FDA is admitting that BPA may pose a risk to human health. Based on the overwhelming evidence, we expect this "second look" at the data will confirm the no-brainer advice we've been giving for years - avoid BPA as much as possible. And remember, it's not just plastics that pose a risk. Cans are another important source of BPA - more than 2 billion pounds of which is produced a year, according to this article.

GreenvilleOnline.com 12.29.08

The plastic bottles you are drinking from could soon be made from corn instead of petroleum, with research at Clemson University making biodegradable plastic more applicable for widespread uses, experts say...

Although the plastic is biodegradable, it's not necessarily as simple as throwing a bottle onto a compost heap... Read more...

Our Take: Bio-plastics are a promising invention for replacing some plastics. But an obvious downside - it still take significant natural resources to grow and process the corn to create the plastic. Overall, reducing consumption and using reusable items to replace our disposables addiction is a smart thing we can all do right now that will have a huge impact.

Sign On San Diego 12.01.08 The influential California Ocean Protection Council has proposed an attack on everyday threats to sea life, including a ban on some popular take-out food containers and fees on plastic and paper bags...

Ocean litter threatens rare sea turtles, sea birds, sea otters and hundreds of other marine species...Eighty percent of ocean litter comes from land sources, the ocean council said. Read more...

Our Take: Following in the footsteps of France, California would be the first U.S. state to propose a ban or fee on everyday sources of trash - a huge culprit in the "plastic island" of debris floating in the Pacific Ocean. We applaud California's continuing leadership to reduce consumption, beyond bags and bottles.

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