It can be tough to do your homework on environmental issues, such as resource consumption. Here's a list of articles to make the task easier.

Plastics 'poisoning world's seas'
BBC News. December 7, 2007.
Microscopic particles of plastic could be poisoning the oceans, according to a British team of researchers.

The goal: Give up plastic bags
Hi-Desert Star. December 7, 2007.
The problem is that voluntary recycling of the bags simply does not work.

A Bag Problem Blossoms
New York Times. December 3, 2007.
Lawmakers across the country are proposing bans on plastic bags or ordering up studies.

Maine considers new plastic bag fee: Supporters claim state legislature's proposal would help the environment
The Maine Campus. December 3, 2007.
Using cloth bags not only cuts down on the amount of plastic bags that are being used, but also can aid in the reduction of oil use as manufacturing plastic bags uses a substantial amount of oil that harms the environment.

Rethinking Plastic Bags
Ney York Times. December 2, 2007.
The best way to cut down on the use of the ubiquitous plastic bag is just to ban its use by big stores.

Bag makers defend plastic
Houston Chronicle. December 1, 2007.
The plastic bag industry is fighting back. Tired of being cast as an environmental villain, it is challenging proposals in several U.S. cities to limit the use of plastic bags at supermarkets and other retail stores.

Clogged by Plastic Bags, Africa Starts Banning Them
Christian Science Monitor. November 30, 2007.
in a move more drastic than seen in most Western countries, several African nations are tackling the scourge by banning or restricting use of plastic bags.

Saving the planet can start at the grocery store
49 ABC News. November 28, 2007.
Another trend is popping up. Reusable shopping bags.

Skip taxing bags; just ban them
Herald Tribune. November 27, 2007.
Never mind taxing. Across the globe, plastic bags are already being banned due to marine life deaths, pollution and worse.

No more plastic bags for Vancouver shoppers?
CBC News. November 26, 2007.
Paul Richard, the chair of Kwantlen College's Environmental Protection Technology Program, said a move to reusable cloth bags would help the environment without extra cost to the merchants.

Bill would make N.J. first state to ban plastic grocery bags
Boston Globe. November 21, 2007.
The measure would require supermarkets and other retailers with a minimum of 10,000 square feet of space to phase out the bags over three years.

Starting Tuesday, plastic bags illegal at big S.F. grocery stores
San Francisco Chronicle. November 19, 2007.
The policy will be the first enacted in the United States - Oakland passed a similar ban that goes into effect early next year and London and Paris both have followed San Francisco's lead.

SF: First in nation to pass plastic bag ordinance
Bay City News Service. November 19, 2007.
The city ordinance, a first for any U.S. city, bans plastic bags that cannot be composted for large grocery stores and pharmacies that gross more than $2 million annually, said Deanna Simon of the San Francisco Department of the Environment.

Say 'no' to killer plastic shopping bags
London Topic.ca. November 19, 2007.
Here's a challenge to every reader who owns or works at a retail location: Ask every person who makes a purchase if they want a bag. You may be surprised at the number of people who will say no when given the choice, and on top of protecting the environment and reducing litter in our streets, you will actually be saving your company money.

Plastic bags fly into environmental storm
CNN.com. November 16, 2007.
Campaigns to rid the streets of the supermarket bag are thriving. Only this week in the UK all 33 London boroughs gave their backing to a Parliamentary Bill which seeks to make law an outright ban on free throwaway plastic bags.

London councils pledge to bin bags
Guardian Unlimited. November 13, 2007.
"The campaign to rid the capital of the environmental blight of throwaway shopping bags begins here."

Sack the plastic shopping bag
Boston Globe. November 10, 2007.
When you find yourself before a cashier who asks you "paper or plastic?" I hope you'll answer "neither."

Feds want to survey, possibly clean up vast garbage pit in Pacific
San Francisco Chronical. October 30, 2007.
"The ocean is downhill from everywhere. It's like a toilet that never flushes. You can't take these particles out of the ocean. You can just stop putting them in."

Continent-size toxic stew of plastic trash fouling swath of Pacific Ocean
San Francisco Chronicle. October 19, 2007.
80 percent of the oceans' litter originated on land. While ships drop the occasional load of shoes or hockey gloves into the waters (sometimes on purpose and illegally), the vast majority of sea garbage begins its journey as onshore trash.

The Perennial Dilemma: "Paper or Plastic?"
E/The Environmental Magazine. September 9, 2007.
"Paper versus plastic?" is not the question we should be asking ourselves, since the answer is really "neither."

Conservation is in the bag
York Daily Record. August 24, 2007.
Giant Food Stores and Martin Food Stores have partnered with the Earthwise Bag Company to launch a conservation program that looks reduce the number of plastic shopping bags in the environment.

Paper or plastic? Neither, thank you!
New Jersey Star-Ledger. August 23, 2007.
With environmentalists targeting plastic shopping bags as a massive source of litter and waste, a growing number of cities and nations are passing laws and levies to reduce their use.

Excess baggage
Chico News & Review. August 23, 2007.
Local companies, state lawmakers work to eliminate disposable bags.

PCC getting rid of plastic shopping bags
Seattle P-I. August 22, 2007.
"We have studied the environmental impact of paper versus plastic and believe that paper is the more sustainable choice, while bag reuse is the best choice of all."

The time has come for reusable shopping bags
The Buffalo News. August 22, 2007.
They are a really big deal now. The national grocery chain Whole Foods began selling good-looking cotton shopping bags by London designer Anya Hindmarch for $15 earlier this month. They carried the message: "I Am Not a Plastic Bag," and in many stores the bags sold out in a matter of hours.

Despite legal pressure, Fairfax won't back off bag ban
Marin Independent Journal. August 21, 2007.
"For us to cave into a whining plastics industry is not what we should do," said Councilman Lew Tremaine. "We should stand up to these guys. These are the last dying throes of an industry on its way out." "There needs to be a real ban. These things need to be taken out of the waste and litter stream."

What a load of rubbish
The Age (Melbourne, Australia). August 20, 2007.
We now have reports of food and product manufacturers reducing superfluous packaging and going with materials that have less impact on the environment.

Paper or plastic? Green choice isn't clear
Arizona Republic. August 19, 2007.
"How about not taking a bag at all?" Greenfeet.com's Reddemann said. "If it's one item, that's why you have two hands."

Retailers push reusable bags to save money and the environment
Associated  Press. August 18, 2007.
The Sierra Club estimated that if every person in New York City used one less grocery bag per year, it would reduce waste by 5 million pounds and save $250,000 on disposal.

City to roll out plastic grocery bag recycling education campaign
Hesperia Star (California). August 17, 2007.
Councilman Thurston 'Smitty' Smith raises the possibility of a plastic grocery bag ban.

Labor would ban plastic bags
Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia). August 17, 2007.
"We all know plastic bags cause terrible harm by ending up in landfill and our oceans and waterways," he told The Daily Telegraph."Labor has a long-standing commitment to the phasing-out of plastic shopping bags with a legislated ban if necessary." An estimated 3.76 billion plastic bags - 20,100 tonnes - end up as landfill each year in Australia.

Government, retailers try to put green revolution in the bag
The Ottawa Citizen. August 17, 2007.
In Quebec, where an estimated 1.5 billion bags are used each year, Environment Minister Line Beauchamp told reporters last weekend that the province will act this fall to limit bag use and is considering a 20-cent tax on plastic shopping bags.

Paper, plastic ... or none of the above?
The Ithaca Journal. August 15, 2007.
Reusable shopping bags catch on in Ithaca.

Packaging industry need a new mould
Waterloo Record. August 15, 2007.
Communities such as Waterloo Region should think carefully before exporting their recyclable plastic waste to developing countries. Not only does this practice have potentially negative environmental implications in other parts of the world, but it also distances us from the problem and reduces the incentive to remedy it.

City of Annapolis considering banning plastic shopping bags to help preserve the Chesapeake Bay
Herald-Mail. August 13, 2007.

Quebec mulls 20-cent tax on plastic shopping bags
Montreal Gazette. August 11, 2007.
Quebecers use as estimated 1.5 billion bags annually. A 90 per cent reduction would generate $30 million for the government.

Reusable 'green' shopping bags a laugh and a trend
Modesto Bee. August 10, 2007.
It is going to take some getting used to, both for shoppers and for baggers. And there are bound to be a few silly laughs. But I think this might catch on.

Environmentalists in US Target Plastic Bags
Voice of America. August 9, 2007.
On one thing, grocer Scher and Alderman Shropshire agree: The ideal choice would be re-usable totes like shoppers around the world take back and forth to market.

What's really 'green'? It's in the bag
Whistler Question. August 9, 2007.
"Reducing is better than recycling. It means consuming less and throwing away less and leaving a legacy for the next generation," said Pal-Pross. "Using reusable shopping bags is a very easy first step in meeting that goal."

Councillor pushes to ditch the plastic bags
The Comet (UK). August 9, 2007.
The district council's ruling Conservative Party is looking into the idea of following in the footsteps of a handful of towns in the UK and cutting the use of plastic bags across Hitchin, Letchworth GC, Baldock and the rest of North Herts.

Oakland sued over plastic bag ban
Associated Press. August 9, 2007.
Mills said that making stores switch to plastic bags that can be turned into compost would harm the environment because they cannot be mixed in with conventional petroleum-based bags at recycling centers without contaminating them and rendering the recycled plastic useless

Reusable Grocery Bags Given Away
KX News (South Dakota). August 8, 2007.
"American retailers spend about $4 billion on plastic bags every year, and those costs are passed on to consumers," Johnson said. "Those plastic bags may take up to 1,000 years to degrade, contaminating our soil and water and endangering animal and marine life."

Greening Up by Cutting Down on Plastic Bags
New York Times. August 8, 2007.
Few people, however, take bags back to stores to be recycled. "It's just not being done," said Mr. Lemar, the alderman from New Haven. "Changing personal behavior is much harder than manufacturers' recognizing that the product itself is deficient and they need to do something to change the product."

Tops making reusable bags available at all of its stores
The Buffalo News. August 7, 2007.
"With a lot of people caring about recycling, it was automatic for them to start using the reusable bags. It's great to see so many making the switch. We have to think about the environment and our grandchildren."

Reuse bag when shopping to protect the environment
Saipan Tribune (Northen Marianas Islands). August 7, 2007.
Plastic bags can last for hundreds of years and many shoppers use three or more for their groceries. It's a major environmental problem when plastic bags end up in marine waters that eventually lead to the suffocation of marine mammals and sea birds. On land, plastic bag litter can block drains and trap birds. They also kill livestock. Plastic bags are also commonly found in nearly all beaches on Saipan, Tinian and Rota. The bags end up in landfills and emit harmful greenhouse gases.

Campaign against plastic bags begins
Evening Star (UK). August 3, 2007.
"It's such an important campaign because of the damage that plastic bags do to our wildlife, they can damage marine life, they damage land animals and birds get them wrapped around them."

A message to our shoppers: Use re-useable carry-out bags
Sierra Sun. August 3, 2007.
Stock the car you use for shopping with reusable bags. Then remember to carry them when shopping.

Paper, Plastic or Prada?
Time Magazine. August 2, 2007.
"It's not paper vs. plastic. It's about getting rid of plastic in favor of recycled paper or reusable bags."

Supermarkets reduce plastic bag use
NZPA. August 1, 2007.
Foodstuffs supermarkets have used 45 million fewer plastic bags to pack shopping over the past two years.

Hard sell over plastic bag ban
Cambridge Evening News (UK). August 1, 2007.
"We all have a duty to use fewer plastic bags and we've had a discussion about making the area a bag-free zone. We rely too much on them and it would be great if we could help lead the way and do something good which would benefit the environment."

Ban the bottle, ban the bag?
New Haven Register. July 31, 2007.
Americans drank an estimated 8.25 billion gallons of bottled water in 2006, and threw out most of the the more than 37 billion plastic containers it came in. For the sake of the environment and consumers' wallets, the most sensible approach is to use a reusable container and bottle your own water.

Americans rethink convenience of plastic grocery bags
New Kerala (India). July 31, 2007.
The fight against plastic bags also creates a dilemma for US environmentalists whose concern over the environmental friendliness of paper bags has again been aroused. Franklin Associates, a Kansas consulting company that specializes in environmental issues, estimates that the production of paper bags requires twice as much energy as the production of plastic bags.

Maui bill would ban plastic bags
Honolulu Star Bulletin. July 30, 2007.
Mikulina said the best answer to the question "Paper or plastic?" is "Neither. You're supposed to bring your own canvas bag."

Plastic is made from oil. You knew that, right?
Fake Plastic Fish. July 27, 2007.
According to a nationwide online survey conducted in April of this year, 72 percent of the American public does not know that conventional plastic is made from petroleum products, primarily oil..

Paper or Plastic? A New Stylish Answer
The Daily Green. July 18, 2007.
Trendy Designer Bag Proclaims "I'm Not A Plastic Bag" - And Ladies Line Up For It.

Will My Plastic Bag Still Be Here in 2507?
Slate. June 27, 2007.
News reports have cited a statistic that the ubiquitous receptacles take 500 years to break down in landfills. How do we know? Actually, we don't.

Polymers Are Forever: Alarming tales of a most prevalent and problematic substance
Orion Magazine. May/June, 2007.
"Except for a small amount that's been incinerated," says Tony Andrady the oracle, "every bit of plastic manufactured in the world for the last fifty years or so still remains. It's somewhere in the environment."

Paper or plastic? Neither; it's time to bag both
Times-Herald Record. May 20, 2007.
What really would make a difference at a household level is to politely refuse to accept any more shopping bags from stores. Instead, bring your own reusable tote bags.

It's official: Manitoba town gives plastic bags the boot
CBC News. April 2, 2007.
The northern Manitoba town of Leaf Rapids became the first municipality in Canada to ban plastic shopping bags. Customer feedback to the ban has been overwhelmingly positive.

Our view on the environment: Plastic-bag ban full of holes
USA Today Opinion. April 2, 2007.
So what's the answer? The real culprit is the slob who litters or refuses to recycle either one -- or communities that don't provide the means for him to do so. Our throwaway society is to blame as well. The best answer to the paper or plastic question is neither. Each individual can do more to help the environment by reusing whatever bags groceries distribute or buying a canvas sack to carry goods.

Taking Aim at All Those Plastic Bags
New York Times. April 1, 2007.
Because of a tax, Ireland has cut the use of plastic bags by 90 percent, according to the Irish government. Taking matters further, several countries, among them Bangladesh and Bhutan, have banned them.

San Francisco first city to ban plastic shopping bags
SF Chronicle. March 28, 2007.
Paper or plastic? Not anymore in San Francisco. The city's Board of Supervisors approved groundbreaking legislation Tuesday to outlaw plastic checkout bags at large supermarkets in about six months and large chain pharmacies in about a year. The ordinance, sponsored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, is the first such law in any city in the United States and has been drawing global scrutiny this week.

San Francisco thinks green: Plastic grocery bags banned
Seattle Times. March 28, 2007.
"We can take steps to make our economy a little more soulful in San Francisco," Mirkarimi said. "We can't sleepwalk into the future. The end of the era of cheap oil is here."

San Francisco Votes To Ban The Plastic Bag
Green Options. March 27, 2007.
If anything, the lesson here is try and bring your own reuseable bag to the grocery store when possible. While these latest shifts are encouraging, consuming less by reusing items should not be lost in our quest for a new grocery bag. For the sake of the environment, however, let's hope San Francisco's commitment inspires others to follow suit.

San Francisco votes to sack plastic bags
USA Today. March 27, 2007.
The idea behind the measure was to urge residents to compost food waste by getting them to dump it into the biodegradable plastic bags, then put the bags in recycling containers along with yard waste. Whether more cities follow San Francisco is uncertain because it is one of the few in the country that composts commercial and residential food waste.

San Francisco Nears Ban on Plastic Grocery Bags
NPR - Morning Edition. March 14, 2007.

Plastic in the Sea
Minfully.org. October 5, 2005.
According to a study published in 1992 by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), plastic pellets were one of the most abundant types of debris found in US harbors of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico.

Ban on plastic bags closer
The Mercury (Tasmania). July 2, 2005.
TASMANIA can expect to be plastic bag-free from the end of 2008.

Mumbai flooded as plastic bags choke drains
Pressbox. June 24, 2005.
Mumbai city was inundated by floods. The megacity, India’s business hub was paralyzed.

Scottish Bill proposes 10p charge on plastic bags
letsrecycle.com. June 22, 2005.
A new Bill proposing a 10 pence levy on every plastic carrier bag sold in Scotland has been introduced into the Scottish Parliament.

Plastic bag use slashed
The Border Mail. May 24, 2005.
Three billion less plastic shopping bags were used over the past two years, an annual reduction of 45 per cent compared with 2002, according to Federal Government figures.

Australians Give Up Plastic Carry Bags
Environment News Service. March 14, 2005.
Australians have reduced bag use by 21% since 2002.

Eritrea bans plastic bags
Africa News. March 4, 2005.
Parts of Eritrea once littered by a sea of flimsy shopping bags are being cleaned up thanks to a new law that entered into force in January to help the Horn of Africa country protect nature. In the capital Asmara and other outlying regions, the bags have been replaced by the cotton and nylon and Eritreans have no choice but to adapt to instead.

Plastic Carrier Bags Declared Environmentally Unfriendly
Europa World. February 25, 2005.
UNEP, the Kenyan based United Nations environment agency opened a campaign this week designed to reduce demand for the ubiquitous flimsy plastic carrier bag. According to UNEP the discarded bags tend to block gutters and drains, choke farm animals and marine wildlife and pollute the soil as they gradually break down. In hot countries they can even fill with rainwater, offering ideal breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Mailbag full of bag responses
San Francisco Chronicle. Jan. 27, 2005.
People are passionate about their shopping bags

Adding Up the Cost of Bags
San Francisco Chronicle. Jan. 25, 2005.
Today, the San Francisco Commission on the Environment is expected to adopt a resolution urging the Board of Supervisors to pass an ordinance requiring supermarkets in the city to charge 17 cents for every plastic or paper bag "to reduce the proliferation of unnecessary bags and provide funds to mitigate the negative impacts caused by them."

Nobel Peace Prize winner's drive to banish plastic bags from Kenya
The Scotsman. Nov. 6, 2004.
KENYA’S Nobel Peace Prize winner, Wangari Maathai, said yesterday she will launch a drive to rid the east African country of plastic bags because they are choking the environment. Ms Maathai, an outspoken environmentalist and junior environment minister in Kenya’s government, last month became the first African woman to win the peace prize, for spearheading a tree-planting campaign to slow deforestation and aid the poor. She said she would embark on a strenuous campaign to force manufacturers to stop making polythene bags

Shopping with plastic bags can indeed be taxing!
Oct. 29, 2004.
London, Oct 29(ANI): A home improvement retailer in Britian will charge customers a 5 pounds extra for using plastic bags, the proceeds of which will go to an environmental charity.

Katherine council bans plastic bags
ABC News Online (Australia), Oct. 27, 2004.
The Katherine Town Council in the Northern Territory has agreed to impose a ban on plastic carry bags in the town. The council last night agreed to start consulting with businesses and the community to introduce the ban. Mayor Anne Shepherd says the bags are an environmental threat to the Katherine River system. She is confident of gaining widespread support for the ban. "I think it's very important to get the retailers on side, I think there's a general awareness now of the damage of plastic bags and many people are using the green bags that supermarkets and various other vendors are selling at a very cheap rate," she said.

Rwanda's war on plastic bags
BBC. Oct. 4, 2004.
Thousands of Rwandans have taken the day off work to pick up plastic bags as part of a government attempt to clean up the environment.

Plastic left holding the bag as environmental plague
Seattle PI. July 21, 2004.
Imagine a world without plastic shopping bags. It could be the future. There is a growing international movement to ban or discourage the use of plastic bags because of their environmental effects. Countries from Ireland to Australia are cracking down on the bags and action is beginning to stir in the United States. The ubiquitous plastic shopping bag, so handy for everything from toting groceries to disposing of doggie doo, may be a victim of its own success. Although plastic bags didn't come into widespread use until the early 1980s, environmental groups estimate that 500 billion to 1 trillion of the bags are now used worldwide every year. Critics of the bags say they use up natural resources, consume energy to manufacture, create litter, choke marine life and add to landfill waste. "Every time we use a new plastic bag they go and get more petroleum from the Middle East and bring it over in tankers," said Stephanie Barger, executive director of Earth Resource Foundation in Costa Mesa, Calif. "We are extracting and destroying the Earth to use a plastic bag for 10 minutes."

Dirty old bags
The Age. June 29, 2004.
Mark Latham says a Labor Government will ban plastic bags outright if they are not voluntarily phased out by 2007. But with the 20 million being used in Australia everyday causing environmental havoc, how long can we afford to wait? Sushi Das reports. There is one thing we know for sure: long after today's shoppers have passed away and their bodies have turned to dust, their plastic bags will still lie in the soil, refusing to decay. Environment groups estimate plastic bags can stay intact for up to 1000 years. It is no wonder, then, that the very mention of these powerful symbols of durability can invoke a serious bout of "bag-guilt".

Wrap That in Plastic? Not in Taiwan, Unless You Pay
Kapiolani Community College Newspaper. March 2, 2004.
It's not often that an Asian country beats out the West with progressive environmental policy. Yet that's just what Taiwan has done, with regulations that have dramatically reduced use of what many consider a scourge - the plastic bag. Single-use plastics, so ubiquitous in modern life and so prevalent across Asia, have become something of a novelty in this island nation since the country's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) implemented tough restrictions - namely, large fines against businesses that give away plastic bags, utensils, and Styrofoam and plastic food containers.

Reusable Bags are Available Alternatives to Unfriendly Plastic
Kapiolani Community College Newspaper. March 2, 2004.
More than a billion plastic bags per year are given out for free in the US alone. Just to manufacture one of these bags causes the destruction of resources, fragile habitats, ecosystems and millions of tons of green house gasses. Only one to three percent of all plastic bags collected are recycled. Many are sent to Third World countries where they’re incinerated and cause air pollution. Eight billion pounds of plastic bags enter the US waste stream each year diminishing landfill space. In a landfill it can take up to 1,000 years for a single bag to biodegrade, according to reusablebags.com.

Plastic Pollution Poses Problem
Beijing Review. January, 2004.
If you’re a Shanghai resident used to having your groceries packed into free plastic bags after doing the weekly shopping, things for you are about to change, and when the cashier at the check-out tells you the bags are extra, you’d better believe it. From the beginning of 2004, the popular supermarket practice of giving shoppers free plastic shopping bags will come to an end in Shanghai and all bags will be charged for. According to an official from Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau (SEPB), the move, which has long been planned by related environmental protection authorities of Shanghai, is aimed to reduce environmental pollution caused by abandoned plastic bags. Meanwhile, the measure has been formally included in the city’s new three-year environmental protection plan for dealing with “solid waste”.

Trashed: Across the Pacific Ocean, Plastics, Plastics, Everywhere
Natural History Magazine. November, 2003.
Captain Charles Moore of Algalita Marine Research describes their survey of the North Pacific Gyre, an enormous swirling accumulation of debris estimated as twice the size of Texas.

Bag the Bag!
The Green Guide. October 21, 2003.
Once again San Francisco is leading the way for environmental change in the US through a proposed fee on plastic bags at supermarkets that will reduce waste in streets and parks. If you are a San Fransciscan, please urge Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, and the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco to adopt the ordinance requiring a 17 cent fee on plastic and paper bags. A decision should be made by January 25th, so speak up now! Call or e-mail Mayor Gavin Newsom at (415) 554-6141 or gavin.newsom@sfgov.org. Urge him to support the bag-fee ordinance, resolution No. 007-04-COE, and let him know you believe in paying upfront the hidden costs of eliminating plastic bags.

Are Plastic Grocery Bags Sacking the Environment?
National Geographic News. September 2, 2003.
The "paper or plastic" conundrum that vexed earnest shoppers throughout the 1980s and 90s is largely moot today. Most grocery store baggers don't bother to ask anymore. They drop the bananas in one plastic bag as they reach for another to hold the six-pack of soda. The pasta sauce and noodles will get one too, as will the dish soap. Plastic bags are so cheap to produce, sturdy, plentiful, easy to carry and store that they have captured at least 80 percent of the grocery and convenience store market since they were introduced a quarter century ago, according to the Arlington, Virginia-based American Plastics Council. As a result, the totes are everywhere. They sit balled up and stuffed into the one that hangs from the pantry door. They line bathroom trash bins. They carry clothes to the gym. They clutter landfills. They flap from trees. They float in the breeze. They clog roadside drains. They drift on the high seas. They fill sea turtle bellies.

It's Not My Bag, Baby!
OnEarth. Summer, 2003.
I started bringing two heavy-duty plastic beach totes with me to the grocery store.

Irish Take Lead With Plastic Bag Levy
MSNBC. August 4, 2003.
The shopping experience in this picturesque Irish town is not dissimilar to buying groceries in New Jersey or Texas — except at the checkout. Garvey’s Supervalu will happily take your euros or your credit card, but the staff won’t offer any shopping bags unless you are willing to pay for them. The practice, replicated in villages, towns and cities throughout Ireland for 17 months, has contributed to a stunning drop in the use of plastic bags, once a ubiquitous scourge along the nation’s bucolic lanes, quiet rivers and twisty highways. It’s a plan that environmental groups think is worth serious consideration in other countries.

Indian state outlaws plastic bags
BBC. Aug, 2 2003.
Anyone found even using a polythene bag could face up to seven years behind bars or a fine of up to 100,000 rupees ($2,000).

South Africa Bans Plastic Bags
BBC News. May 9, 2003.
Known as the country's "national flower" because they litter streets - retailers handing out the bags now face a fine of 100,000 rand ($13,800) or a 10-year jail sentence.

Plastic Panic
The Hindu. April 4, 2003.
Plastic garbage chokes everything in sight. Is there any way to stop this menace?

Bagging Plastic Bags
Earthbeat, Australian Broadcasting Company. March 1, 2003.
A new campaign wants to change the culture of plastic bag use. Kerb side recycling and bag free lanes at the supermarket could be on the cards.

Plastic Planet
The Guardian. October 17, 2002.
The world has a big bag problem. Plastic bags are everywhere - billions and billions of them - and they are clogging up our land, our drains, our rivers, and our seas. When we are all dead and gone, they will still be out there, because they last, pretty much, for ever. Could a new brand of degradable plastic finally absolve us of 'bag guilt'?

Irish Bag Tax Hailed Success
BBC News. August 20, 2002.
Tax on plastic shopping bags in the Republic of Ireland has cut their use by more than 90% and raised millions of euros in revenue, the government says. The tax of 15 cents per bag was introduced five months ago in an attempt to curb litter, and the improvement had been immediate and "plain to see", said Environment Minister Martin Cullen. The "plastax" is being closely watched by other countries, particularly neighbouring Britain. Bangladesh has banned polythene bags altogether while Taiwan and Singapore are taking steps to discourage their use. "The levy has been an outstanding success in achieving what it set out to do," said Mr Cullen. "Over one billion plastic bags will be removed from circulation while raising funding for future environmentally friendly initiatives." He added: "It is clear that the levy has not only changed consumer behaviour in relation to disposable plastic bags, it has also raised national consciousness about the role each one of us can, and must play if we are to tackle collectively the problems of litter and waste management."

Planet Earth's New Nemesis?
BBC News. May 8, 2002.
Supermarket shopping in Ireland is much the same as anywhere in Europe, or indeed the rest of the world. But one element British shoppers would find distinctly foreign is the need to pay for plastic bags at the checkout. Since the beginning of March, supermarkets have been forced to charge shoppers a 15c (9p) tax on each new plastic bag. The idea was introduced as an attempt to curb the litter problem created by so many bags. And anecdotally, at least, it seems to be working.

NI Shoppers 'Would Bring Their Own Bags'
BBC News. March 4, 2002.
Shops in the Irish Republic have begun to charge their customers 15 cents (nine pence) for every plastic carrier bag they take away with their purchases under a new government tax. In Belfast shoppers gave their mixed views on whether a similar scheme should be brought into Northern Ireland, to BBC News Online's Jane Bardon. The Irish Government has estimated that about one billion bags are handed out each year, and it hopes to reduce the environmental impact that producing and discarding the bags causes.

A World Drowning in Litter
BBC News. March 4, 2002.
As industrialised countries run short of sites for dumping waste, the need to recycle more rubbish grows increasingly urgent.

South Africa Getting a Handle on Bag Dilemma
Los Angeles Times. January 30, 2002.
They're dubbed "roadside daisies" and South Africa's "national flower." They flap from fences, hang in bushes and float on rivers. Thin plastic grocery bags have become a national eyesore. The Environment Ministry wants to phase them out and introduce thicker, reusable bags that officials believe would help alleviate the country's mammoth litter problem. But manufacturers of plastic are adamant that the government's proposed legislation would cripple the industry and lead to job losses.

Bangladesh Bans Polythene
BBC News. January 1, 2002.
The Bangladesh Government has begun enforcing a complete ban on the sale and use of polythene bags in the capital, Dhaka. Environment Minister Shahajahan Siraj says the decision has been taken to save the city from an imminent environmental disaster. Environmental groups say the millions of polythene bags disposed of everyday are clogging Dhaka's drainage system, posing a serious environmental hazard. Polythene shopping bags were introduced into Bangladesh nearly two decades ago, quickly replacing jute bags traditionally in use in every household of Bangladesh.

A comparison of plastic and plankton in the North Pacific central gyre
Marine Pollution Bulletin. December, 2001.
The number of marine mammals that die each year due to ingestion and entanglement [of marine debris] approaches 100,000 in the North Pacific Ocean alone.

The Plastic Sea
Ocean Realm Journal. Autumn, 2001.
The oceans are becoming plasticized. This threat becomes more lethal each year as the cumulative amount increases.

Bombay Gets Tough on Plastic Bags
BBC News. May 14, 2001.
Bombay is stepping up its campaign against plastic bags, with police raids on factories and shops that may be manufacturing or handling them.

Plastic Resin Pellets as a Transport Medium for Toxic Chemicals in the Marine Environment
Environmental Science & Technology. 2001.
Plastic resin pellets (small granules 0.1-0.5 centimeters in diameter) are widely distributed in the ocean all over the world. They are sometimes ingested by seabirds and other marine organisms, and their adverse effects on organisms are a concern.

Seven Common Misconceptions About Plastics
This investigation into plastic packaging has revealed a great deal of information. Most plastic packaging is used only once, its chemical stability keeps it from degrading in the environment for many years, and it is accumulating in landfills. The processes that produce the plastics use fossil resources, pollute the air and water, and consume large amounts of energy.

Report of the Berkeley Plastics Task Force
April 8, 1996.

Plastic Pellets in the Aquatic Environment
US Environmental Protection Agency. August, 1993.
This study of plastic pellets in aquatic environments is a comprehensive look at the sources, fate, and effect of pellets in the aquatic environment. The study also recommends actions to control or prevent future release of pellets to the aquatic environment.

Plastic Bags: A Necessary Eyesore?
Worldwatch Institute.
Compared with paper bags, producing plastic ones uses less energy and water and generates less air pollution and solid waste.

Keep the Sea Plastic Free—Bin It
Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Heritage.
Action to reduce waste, either by encouraging material efficiency, reducing the generation of waste, or enabling the recovery and reuse of discarded material is a critical element of sustainable development. The Department of the Environment and Heritage is developing partnerships and facilitating action with the states and industry to address these issues.

Great Moments in Plastic Bag History
Film and Bag Federation.
(This is really scary)

Paper vs. Plastic Bags
Franklin and Associates completed a life-cycle energy analysis comparing the two common grocery bags. There were two critical measures. The first is the total energy used by a bag, which includes both the energy used to manufacture a bag, called process energy, and the energy embodied within physical materials, called feedstock energy. The second measure is the amount of pollutants produced. Using energy and pollutants from all stages of a bag's life, both measures result in favor of plastic bags.

Compensating for size differences, Franklin and Associates found that most carrying-capacity differences are between 1.5-to-1 and 2-to-1 plastic to paper. Volume and weight capacity were included, and also suboptimal bagging techniques. In assessing each criterion ILEA, to be conservative, compared two plastic bags to one paper. Franklin and Associates. 1990.

Reusable Bags Tackle Plastic Bag Mess
Organic Trade Association.

Say "No" to Plastic Carry Bags
Hyderabad Greens.

No Bag, Thanks!
Australian Broadcasting Company.

• Shopping Bags by the Numbers
• Solutions to the Shopping Bag Problem
• Lifestyle - you can do more than just using Reusable Shopping Bags
• More Information