plastic bags: the immortality of humankind?

I'm feeling a little anti-plastic-baggy tonight and wanted to share this video and some blogging on the issue:

Small-scale film work of Brian Liloia: "The Immortality of Man"

Bag it Beagle Style ... from Michael Barton's (my husband) the "Dispersal of Darwin" blog.

San Francisco, China, Africa, Ireland... have all taken steps to ban, charge for, and/or discourage plastic bag use. Could Bozeman take this on and work to become plastic bag free?

You can also support the library at the same time and buy a sturdy canvas Bozeman Public Library book bag for only $15.00 in the Friends of the Library/Wild Joe's Coffee Shop. I use canvas bags to shlep all kinds of stuff; books, groceries, my son's toys, etc. I try to keep canvas bags in the car so I'm never without. Personally, I know I still need to cut down on (cut out) my plastic bag use...

Finally I wanted to share a new blog I've been reading "Live Lightly, Read Wildy: A Summer Reading Program the Earth Can Live With" and that blogger, Shannon in Illinois' thoughts on the subject, "Why Ban Plastics in Programs?".

Okay back to honing my plastic-bag-avoidance skills.

"No thank you I don't need a bag. I brought my own."

no market for glass in bozeman

The caption under the photo from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle on Monday April 2, 2007 says it all, "Glass taken from local recycling bins sits in piles at the Bozeman Landfill. It will be mixed with dirt then used as landfill covering."

Solid Waste Superintendent S. Johnson states that, "What we're doing right now isn't really recycling." That is right. Why then did I think I was recycling when I dutifully sorted out my glass from the trash and threw it into Headwaters Cooperative Recycling's binnies? While I was disappointed that the City of Bozeman will stop collecting glass I was more disappointed to learn it wasn't even recycled when it was collected.

I visited the Headwaters Cooperative Recycling, Inc. website and found that:

It takes approximately 1 million years for a glass bottle to break down in a landfill.
In the U.S. today, 34% of all glass containers are recycled.
Most bottles and jars contain at least 25% recycled glass.
Glass never wears out - it can be recycled forever.

Recycling glass saves 25-32% of the energy used to make glass.
Glass containers save 9 gallons of fuel (oil) for every ton of glass recycled.

One million years is a long time for that bottle of wine from last night's dinner to sit in the Bozeman landfill waiting to decompose. The Chronicle cites expense and lack of market as well as use of energy for reasons why glass recycling isn't economically feasible. Why then does the Headwaters website state that recycling glass saves energy and fuel?

What is the solution? My family has decided to stop purchasing glass when we can substitute it for #1 or #2 plastic bottles that are recyclable here in Bozeman (at least I hope those aren't going to the landfill too!). What glass we do purchase we aren't throwing away. Glass jars of all shapes and sizes can be reused to store food, for drinking glasses, for art projects, and a wide range of other uses. I guess sometimes the answer isn't recycling. It's Reuse.

Does anyone have any long term solutions to the lack of recycling options here in Bozeman?