ReNewport

My sister gave each member of my family a collapsible market basket for Christmas and I find I use mine several times a week. This European inspired basket features a lightweight aluminum frame, a tough polyester cover, a soft rubber-grip handle and a zip pocket. It is the dimensions of a standard grocery basket, but conveniently collapses for easy storage. I keep my grocery store cards in the pocket, so I no longer have to carry them on my key ring. An added benefit of using my market basket is that I don’t have to use the store’s shopping carts, which are a prime source of the common cold this time of year. I found them online at the following links, but I would be interested to hear if anyone has seen them locally.

Sur La Table for $29.95

http://www.surlatable.com/product/housewares/picnic+&+totes/reisenthel+collapsible+european+market+tote.do

ReusableBags.com for $39.95

http://www.reusablebags.com/store/reisenthel-market-basket-p-726.html

Here are some interesting facts I found on ReusableBags.com:

Top Facts - Consumption

· Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.

· According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.

· According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion)

· According to the industry publication Modern Plastics, Taiwan consumes 20 billion bags a year—900 per person.

· According to Australia ’s Department of Environment, Australians consume 6.9 billion plastic bags each year—326 per person. An estimated .7% or 49,600,000 end up as litter each year.

Top Facts - Environmental Impact

· Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food.

· Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.

· As part of Clean Up Australia Day, in one day nearly 500,000 plastic bags were collected.

· Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats, and even bags. According to the BBC, one group harvests 30,000 per month.

· According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags have gone "from being rare in the late 80s and early 90s to being almost everywhere from Spitsbergen 78° North [latitude] to Falklands 51° South [latitude].

· Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.

Top Facts - Solutions

· In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax , introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.

· July 2003, ReusableBags.com goes live, advancing the mainstream adoption of reusable shopping bags.

· Each high quality reusable shopping bag you use has the potential to eliminate hundreds, if not thousands, of plastic bags over its lifetime.