Plastic Bags recyceling

the other day I was watching a documentary on plastic bags. The documentary was focused on the harm plastic bags do to the environment ( I knew they where bad but I'll be honest I didn't realize these bags are commonly eating by animals...leading to their deaths) but the doc also talked to a person that work for an oil/plastic company talking about how good plastic bags are.

One of the things the guy (I didn't catch his name) stated the fact that these bags can be recycled. But it's estimated that only about 1% of plastic bags get recycled

But listen to the guy trying to put a positive spin for the field that pays him it hit me since these bags can be recycled maybe we should do what was done with the pop industry and give people a little money back when they return bags as they do pop cans and bottles.

The way I see it most people through away bags and don't think about it but keep there pop cans/bottles so they can get some of their money back and for the those of us who still those, sometimes a homeless person will pick them up so they can get the refund.

If a refund was added to plastic bags I would think a similar thing would happen. people will collect their backs to get some money back.

the only problem I can think of is that we would have to increase the cost of bags which may turn some people off. But if the cost is either a store saying it cost 10 cents a bag or if they just sneak the extra price into there normal cost of running business I think it would be well worth it.

The current problems with the hunt for alternative energy

There has been a lot of talk about finding alternative sources of energy to use instead of oil.



Which is great and is something I want to happen. But I see a big obstacle block that stands in the way right now that makes it unlikely.



One of the biggest problems is the fact that there are to many people that think that we will find one magic bullet. One thing that we can use to completely get us off of oil.



Maybe it’s because we are talking about replacing one thing (oil) that makes people think we can replace it with another thing instead of things. Maybe it’s because some industries (like the corn lobby when it comes to ethanol) strongly push there product as the one thing that can save us. Maybe it’s because does that don’t want the use of alternative energy (i.e. the oil industry) send out people to say this to try to discourage people from backing alternative energy.



Ok I am sure it’s a mix of all of these and we have to get people to understand that it is going to take a mix of different things to get us off of the oil monster.