Managing household waste

We hope this will help you evaluate your garbage practices and devise a more efficient system of reducing, recycling and reusing.

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Say no to single-use plastic bags with an Envirosax eco-bag

Lightweight, super strong (holds up to 44lbs), durable, fully washable and fade resistant, Envirosax, the original designer reusable bag, is available at Red Dot boutique in Laoag for only 395 php.

Unrolled, the chic eco-bag measures 19.5″ x 16.5″, yet folds to a mere 4″ x 1.5″ pouch. A built-in snap button holds the pouch for an easier upkeep. Just toss it into your purse, or put it in your pocket, and you’re ready to go shopping. As a matter of fact, it offers versatile functionality.

There are many designs and colors to choose from. Get your environment message across in a fun and fashionable way.

Photographed by Blauearth. Red Dot boutique, F.R. Castro St, Laoag City, Ilocs Norte, Philippines

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Know the facts about plastic bags

• Somewhere between 500 million and a trillion plastics bags are consumed worldwide each year.
• Less than 1% of bags are recycled. It costs more to recycle a bag than produce one. It costs $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for $32.
• Plastic bags photodegrade, which means they breakdown into smaller, more toxic petro-polymers, which eventually contaminate soils and waterways.
• When ingested, these microscopic particles can become catastrophic to wildlife. Nearly 200 different species of sea life including dolphins, whales, seals and turtles die due to plastic bags. Birds, as well.
• By using a cloth bag, we can save 6 bags a week. That’s 24 bags a month. That’s 28 bags a year. That’s 22,176 bags in an average lifetime.
• If just 1 out of 5 people did this, we would save 1,330,560,000,000 bags over our lifetime.
• Bangladesh has banned plastic bags.
• China has banned free plastic bags.
• Ireland took the lead in Europe, taxing plastic bags in 2002, and have now reduced plastic bag consumption by 90%.
• More countries have also banned, or are moving towards banning the plastic bag.
• Reducing plastic bags will reduce foreign oil dependency.
• China will save 37 million barrels of oil each year due to their ban of free plastic bags.

Read more on the data released by the US Environmental Protection Agency

image by Zainub via flickr

• In the Philippines, the town of Santa Barbara in the province of Iloilo was the first to ban the use of plastic bags.
• While a number of Filipino students, NGOs, private citizens, and a handful of public officials have been lobbying for the total banning or taxing the use of plastic bags, legislators have yet to come up with a solid stand against the use of plastic bags.
• In Ilocos Norte, former board member Kris Ablan took the iniative and filed before the Sanggunian Bayan Draft Provincial Ordinance 2008-10-074, entitled “An Ordinance Establishing An Advanced Recovery Fee (Green Fee) For Disposable Plastic Bags And For Other Purposes”, still pending in the committee-level.

E.a.r.t.h now. E-nvironmental a-wakening, r-esponsibility (shared responsibilty), t-ransformation, h-ope. A message by the LEAD Movement

Copyright © Blauearth™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Let Us Rise Above Plastics

Plastic fishes, anyone?

The photo was created by Blauearth in support of Rise Above Plastics and Surfrider Foundation.

From Rise Above Plastics (a program of the Surfrider Foundation, an international non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s oceans, waves and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education):

• In some places in the Pacific Ocean, the amount of plastic suspended in the ocean outnumbers plankton six to one!

• Each year. one million sea birds and one hundred thousand marine mammals die from ingestion of, or entanglement in plastics!

Copyright © Blauearth™ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The photo may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without written permission. Photographed by Blauearth. Blauearth wishes to thank kittykatfish for the TTV texture, and JoesSistah for the fishes.

WALANG PLASTIKAN!! Fellow Ilocos Norteans, please support BM Kris Ablan in his effort to reduce the use of disposable plastic bags

Late this afternoon, the LEAD Movement received a letter from one of the young and most dynamic politicians in Ilocos Norte, environment advocate Sanggunian Panlalawigan Member Kristian R. Ablan. He made known his desire to lessen the waste from disposable plastic bags through Draft Provincial Ordinance 2008-10-074, entitled “An Ordinance Establishing An Advanced Recovery Fee (Green Fee) For Disposable Plastic Bags And For Other Purposes”, sponsored by him, BM Mariano V. Marcos II, BM Jessie B. Galano and the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

Environment Protection is our foremost concern. Plastics are dangerous to human and animal health. Improper plastic disposal results to degradation of our natural resources. The manufacture of plastic bags and other plastic products translates to the use of large quantities of non-renewable resources and adds to the acceleration of global warming. Plastics make the earth look like an astronomic trash can (click to view photos of plastic eyesores).

Kababayans, please support our latest campaign by endorsing this draft ordinance and writing the Province of Ilocos Norte Sanggunian Panlalawigan asking them to pass it ASAP. Sir Kris, green thumbs-up for you! May God continue to bless you with muscle and spine.

Click to read plastics that aren’t recyclable.

Don’t Let The Earth Die

Reduce your plastic footprint

A plastic footprint is the amount of plastic any one individual or entity contributes into the environment, either through consumption or manufacturing.

What you can do to reduce your plastic footprint:

Practice the 3 Rs — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

> bring your own reusable grocery bag whenever you go to the market
> instead of bottled water, try using reusable bottle containers like Nalgene and washable plastic tumblers to serve water
> always dispose of any and all plastics you use in approved recycling receptacles, or bring them to recycling centers. Plastics can be re or downcycled into innumerable other products

BYOB "Bring Your Own Bag": A Green Idea by Mike and Alma Oida

Click to visit Kapuluan Vista Resort