That will be 6 cent please

A group of high school students from Kent Denver School came up with an idea which they took to Senator Jennifer Veiga.   The idea, to charge 6 cents for every plastic bag a customer would use. Veiga thought it was a good idea and drafter legislation to do just that.

It's a great idea for several reasons:

• less shipping weight having to haul around plastic bags, leaving more room for actual merchandise
• less pollution as many bags end up being tossed about by the wind until they get caught in branches or something else, in the landfill they become part of a very toxic soup that can end up in our drinking water
• they choke our landfills
• many bags end up in the ocean where it kills sea life, there are even floating islands of plastic in the ocean now
• our dependence on foreign oil goes down a little more, ever so slightly

But, there is also this:  some stores will now charge an arm and a leg for cloth or other bags, because customers will have less of an option.  One cloth bag does save the consumer money, especially if they are going to be charged 6 cents for each plastic bag.  In fact, one cloth bag could replace more than 6,000 plastic bags per person, a savings of $350, after the cloth bag is paid for.  Cloth bags are bulkier and also heavier, which makes carrying groceries home a bit harder, especially for people like myself who walk, not drive.

Before this becomes legislation maybe someone should think this through a bit more and not allow grocery stores to charge an arm and leg when this becomes law.  It would be good for the environment, our health - less pollution in both manufacturing and dumping of plastic, and cloth bag do reduce our dependence on oil.  Lets just not let the consumer be gouged in the process.

What's the big deal?

Some people seem to think going Green does not equate to saving money.  Where they get this idea is beyond me. 

Sure, some items do cost more intially like CFL bulb but in the long run they not only last longer, they use a lot less energy than a conventional light bulb.  So what is you can't afford to replace all the bulbs in your house in one day.  Spread it out over 3 to six months and I gaurantee you will see the savings very quickly.  By the end of the year you will see anywhere from 20% to 40% savings on your energy bill.  Who can say no to that?  You do want to save money, don't you?

Until next time...