With all the reports about plastic water bottles polluting the planet it made me realize a problem that no one is talking about. I work with biology labs in Southern California and more and more labs are converting from glassware to plasticware. Instead of reusing the glassware after cleaning it in a mahcine called an autoclave labs are buying disposables, plastic containers of all different sizes that get used to grow bacteria and other cells and then the plastic gets thrown away as biohazard. Boxes and boxes of different plastic vessels show up everyday and the used containers are thrown away. The work that's is being done is invaluable but it needs to be done in a way thats not counterproductive to making this a better world. Glassware is not more expensive as long as you reuse it.
If anyone knows who to contact to make this a larger issue spread the word.

Well ....

Think about it.

What is plastic made from.

I wonder who makes money from that.

:angry:

The Great Plastic Bag Plague

It turns out 'paper or plastic' is a life or death question for our environment.

They're ubiquitous. They accompany us home each time we shop. They swirl about our oceans, they cling to our trees, they drift down our city sidewalks, they adorn metal fences, they're consumed by animals.

They are an urban tumbleweed, a flag of the consumer era.

Each year across the world some 500 billion plastic bags are used, and only a tiny fraction of them are recycled. Most of them will have a short lifetime with a consumer -- they'll be used for the few minutes it takes to get from the store to home and then they're thrown away.

But what does "away" really mean? Plastic shopping bags can last up to a thousand years in a landfill. In the environment, they break down into tiny, toxic particles that become part of the soil and water. Fortunately, some communities in America have started taking serious action.
continued....
http://www.alternet.org/environment/61607/

How sad about the plastic water bottles - there is a big demand for the recycled clear plastic bottles that water comes in but only 20% is recycled.

Purchase reuseable shopping bags here
http://www.reusablebags.com/

Some grocers like Kroger give you 3cents credit for every bag of grocery you have purchased and put in your own shopping bag.

Works great for me. It's another one of those "convenient versus inconvenient" things.

Also, Walmart does usually have a box near their entrance where you can bring your used plastic bags to be recycled.