Today my post is just a small example of a climate friendly solution that has no simply disadvantages for anyone involved: SPAR, Austrias second largest supermarket-brand, offers bags made from bio-plastics in some of their stores since 2007. Due to the great success of those bags, they now start offering them in every store. Those bio-bags are produced in Austria out of potatoes that grow (in a CO2-neutral manner) mostly on Austrian farms. They can be composted without being hazardous to the environment. Those bags even noticeably improve the storability of fresh groceries, because they are „breathable“.
[ad#ad-1]That seems to be a only small step but it is a good example of CSR (corporate social responsibility) that really deserves the name.
But SPAR can only allow us to make a choice (well, of course they also could stop offering conventional plastic bags). It is us, the consumers, that have to take the next step. It is quite impressive that without any campaigns that may build awareness for the whole plastic-problem – in stores where the choice is already available – 20% of sold bags are bio-bags (another 20% are made out of paper). Of course that still leaves a lot of conventional plastic bags used (60%).
As I already explained in one of my earlier posts plastics are quite a big problem for our environment, our climate and a severe threat to our health. In Austria alone about 6.000 to 7.000 tons of plastic bags are used, producing about 15.000 tons of CO2. The price for bio-bags is only 8 cents more than for a plastic-bag. I assume that is not an amount that could ruin anyone. And once the bags go downmarket, we can expect the price to drop further.
This post is also published as part of the international Th!nk 2 blogging contest – comments are appreciated here or there