Modbury: A Year Without Plastic Bags
by Bonnie Alter, London 
on 04.11.08
Last May Day Modbury in Devon became the first town in Europe to ban plastic bags. Now, on this anniversary, we revisit the town to see the impact that the ban has had on the shopkeepers and businesses in the area. And the answer: once they had got rid of the plastic they realised that food packaging was another link in the chain. The butcher now packs meat in biodegradable corn-starch bags and switched his fridges to energy efficient models. The florist wraps flowers in corn starch cellophane and uses raffia instead of ribbon. The local deli owner puts sandwiches in brown paper bags and uses corn starch biodegradable cartons for take-out salads. The green grocer carries mainly loose produce, with brown paper bags for packaging.
Their next goal: on April 27 they are holding a mass beach clean-up. The townspeople are going to collect all the rubbish, recycle as much as they can and take note of the most prolific polluting items. Presumably that will be plastic water bottles, but they are already on to that too. One of the shopkeepers has started talking to the near-by bottled water company to see whether it would be willing to switch to reusable glass bottles. Don't you just want to move to Modbury? :: Guardian
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Hear, Hear!
All well and good unless you have a corn allergy!
;)
Well, there will always be some sort of problem, won't there?
Hmmmm. They have the right idea but i wonder how much better (engergy usage in the gradn scheme of things) growning corn for corn starch plastic/paper is than recycling plastic? (I honestly don't know but it seems like it should be considered).
Actually I'm glad that where I'm from, we have to pay for plastic bags and so at least some people are motivated to bring their own. I try to use and re-use one cotton grocery bag I bought just for that purpose (well, I have been cheating a few times, because I haven't always had mine handy for shopping) But still, as I become more used to it, I'll be able to reduce my plastic waste conciderably.
I remember how my friend made fun of me when I declared my new years resolution to be not to buy/use another plastic bag this year. Well, a week later, he got one cotton grocery bag as well and now we both look like geeks when shopping:)
Yay!!!!! This does, in fact, sound like a place I would want to live.