May Is Bring Your Own Bag Month in Westwood, MA!

May 2019 is going to be Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) month in Westwood. Patch spoke with Claire Galkowski, Westwood Environmental Action Committee (WEAC) member and Executive Director of South Shore Recycling Cooperative.

Patch: WEAC has chosen May for "Bring Your Own Bag Month." Is there a reason why May was chosen?

Galkowski: We thought April and June were too busy, and everyone clears out in July and August.

Patch: Do you have any statistics either from Westwood-based retailers or Westwood residents as to what percentage of Westwood residents are bringing their own bags at present?

Galkowski: I would hesitate to use the word "statistics" yet. We are working on a pre-BYOB month assessment now...We should have some better numbers next month.

Patch: Tell me more about the reusable, folding bags WEAC is giving away?

Galkowski: it will be a t-shirt bag made of recycled PET* (soda bottle plastic) that folds up into a pouch the size of your fist, so it can fit in a pocket or handbag, or clip to a belt.

Patch: What about the ECOgrade bags used by places such as Roche Bros? How do they compare to plastic bags?

Galkowski: Over several months, they do fall apart when exposed to sunshine. Like the 'regular' plastic bags, [ECOgrade bags] should not go in your recycling cart. They are not compatible with the plastic bags collected for recycling at the super market. That type of bags generally has a bigger environmental footprint in the manufacturing process, but still much smaller than paper, and I don't know the specifics on the Roche Bros bag. Like paper bags, it trades one problem for another, while not solving the core problem of disposable bags in general.

Patch: What about plastic produce bags?

Galkowski: We certainly encourage avoiding or reusing them, but in the grand scheme of things, they have a very small footprint. Just keep them out of your recycling cart and off the ground.

Patch: I'm going to use myself [Heather] as an example—I have an unholy number of reusable bags, which I use on grocery etc runs. However, what about when I don't have my bags with me? How do I make the best choice then?

Galkowski: You regularly bring your own bags? You rock, Heather, and are a social trendsetter! Occasional lapses happen to all of us, so don't kick yourself too hard. Then hold your nose and ask them to stuff the purchases that won't fit in your pockets into the lesser of the two evils: plastic. Here's why: Paper isn't the benign, "natural" product people seem to think it is. While plastic does have issues both upstream and down, it is much more efficient in its manufacture and transport than paper. Paper bags have about triple the carbon footprint of their functional equivalent plastic bags, along with more chemical use, air and water pollution and habitat destruction. (clearcut the forest, boil wood chips in lye and sodium sulfide, acid wash, dry, treat, put in trucks where they take up about 8 times the space of plastic...). And even recycling paper requires about 40% of the energy to make paper from trees. And resolve to put some bags in your car, and a small one in your purse as soon as you get home.

Thanks, Claire. Speaking of WEAC, have you read about the Community Electricity Aggregation warrant that will be voted on at town meeting?

*A study in the United Kingdom in 2011 suggested that reusable bags such as these need to be reused eleven times to match the environmental impact of a plastic bag.