I think one area of campus where I see a lot of waste and not a lot of sustainability is the bookstore. On campus, the bookstore gives away a massive quantity of plastic bags, which are often discarded quickly after use. This practice is extremely not sustainable, and contributes to a lot of pollution. As we have seen in math of sustainability, using an excess of plastic is incredibly harmful to our environment–this includes our oceans, our groundwater, our wildlife, as well as many other aspects of life. Another issue with this practice is that there doesn’t seem to be a good way to recycle these plastic bags on campus; I often see them being placed in trash bins. As a green proposal, I think that Union would be wise in starting an initiative to give students reusable bags, and to encourage students to use these by charging a small fee for the plastic bags, similar to how some grocery stores do.
3 thoughts on “Green Proposal, Plastic Problem”
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Your proposal seems similar to that of a bottle deposit, just for plastic bags instead. I like this idea, along with incorporating reusable bags and even paper bags into the bookstore. I too, have found it to be the case that the bookstore willingly hands out these plastic bags to anyone on campus. Though this is a useful tactic, it is not sustainable for our environment. Replacing the plastic bags in the bookstore with a more sustainable method seems like a great grant proposal.
I like the idea of reusable bags for students in the book store. This is a good and easy way to cut down on waste on campus. They could even be given to first year students, like they do with the reusable water bottles.
I think this idea is really effective and smart. I noticed that the bags from reamer say that they are partly made of recycled plastics, which is a good step in reducing the total amount of plastic used, but I also agree with you that very often, people do not even need the bag and throw it in the garbage right away. Bringing our own bags or paying an extra 5 cents, for example, per bag would, I think, deter people from using in a frivolous manner