“Bag-it: the Impact of a Single Plastic Bag”

The story begins with a single plastic bag and one man’s question: what happens to this bag once it has fulfilled its brief purpose? Plastic bags are disposable, meaning they are meant to be throw away after their use, right? But as Jeb Berrier admits, there’s a dirty little secret that we as people do not like to admit: that even if you throw something away, there really is no “away.” Everything has to go somewhere. And plastics last for a long, long time.

Jeb Berrier’s Documentary Bag-It examines the global use of plastic products and what happens to them after they are created, used, and disposed. Many plastic products – bags, bottles, yogurt containers, etc. – are designed to be used for only days or hours, a very brief period of time in comparison with the rate at which they will decompose. Are these short-lived plastic products really worth their value to us in the long-run as they fill up our landfills for centuries to come?

Bag-It focuses on the politics of plastic bags, the dangerous of single-use disposables, issues with waste and recycling and also looks at marine and human health in relation to plastics. Many US cities refuse to ban plastic bags, while numerous nations have banned the bags because of their adverse effects on human health and the environment. Bangladesh was the first nation to ban plastic bags in 2002 and many African nations – such as Mali, Mauritania, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, and Kenya – have also banned the bags.  But the issue goes way beyond bags. Plastics fill the ocean and harm marine life. BPA in plastics are linked to breast and prostate cancer, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, as well as many other human health problems.

Do you think you use too much plastic in your life? Bag-it suggests numerous ways to reduce your own plastic waste: carry reusable shopping bags, give up bottled water, say no to plastic produce bags, buy from bulk bins, make your own seltzer water, pack food in reusable containers, choose milk in returnable glass bottles, use bar soap and shampoo, choose lotions and lip balms in plastic-free containers, make sure your personal care products are phthalate-free.

Watch Bag-It on Wednesday March 20^st at 7:00 at Szatyor Food Co-op, Gyulai Pal Utca 12, (Between Astoria and Blaha Lujza metro stations) and learn how to be more conscious of your purchasing decisions and how to make your life happier and healthier by understanding how your actions affect the world and what you can do to make each decision count.

Ariel Drehobl

MESPOM