Members of the St. John Rotary are planning to talk with the island's largest grocery stores about eliminating plastic bags. At the club most recent meeting, a plan to contact merchants was discussed.
There have been other efforts to try to reduce the use of plastic on the island. One problem is that plastic bags too often find their way into the waters of the island and end up wrapped around coral reefs.
A few years ago, Friends of the VI National Park made cloth bags available. Dolphin Market offered discounts to shoppers who used them.
In other news, Rotary's planning continues for the tasty annual fund raiser, Flavors. Kind of hectic right now as they try to line up restaurants and bars to participate in the event, since many of those businesses are closing for the end of summer/hurricane season.
The event will be held at the Westin, Oct. 28.
No more plastic bags is an easy and quick fix, and the island would benefit greatly. I hope this doesn’t get caught in some bureaucratic pile. Just do it!
Actually, many of us who live here use grocery bags for garbage bags. Therefore, we’ll have to spend our hard-earned money to buy something to put the garbage in. While on the surface this seems like a good idea, it’s not well researched. Giving us a choice is a better idea.
It’s a great idea, here in Chicago we bring our own bags, the reusable ones, and it’s working fine here in the big city! We were snorkling last September at Francis Bay and we saw a few bags floating in the water, yes I did remove them.
There have been other efforts to try to reduce the use of plastic on the island. One problem is that plastic bags too often find their way into the waters of the island and end up wrapped around coral reefs.
It might be difficult for tourists unless villa rental agencies and such get involved. Supplying villas and condos with canvas bags for groceries would really help. Like beach towels, beach chairs, etc, it would just be a thing that the renter would expect to be supplied and most certainly would use.
Turtles think plastic bags are jellyfish and try to eat them. They end up getting caught in their digestive system and kill them.
When we visit, I pick up plastic bags all the time along the beach. One time I filled a garbage bag with crap doing the Reef Bay hike. Tons of plastics in the water that was ashore. It is really too bad.
Unless there is less expensive alternative to plastic bags, it won’t happen. Cloth bags have cons as well. They carry bacteria unless cleaned properly.
I bring my own shopping bags every year when I visit St. John, I use them as my beach bags as well!
At the grocery store that we shop in here in Louisiana, they ask us at the checkout counter, “paper or plastic”, everyone I see most always says “paper”….maybe at least give the customers a choice…
Why not require all the stores to offer biodegradable “plastic-y” bags that are made from cornstarch I think? At a NYC farmer’s market, my nephew lead the charge towards requiring all the vendors to use biodegradable bags and it was a big success! Do you REALLY think the tourists coming in to StJ are going to be willing/interested in bringing their own shopping bags? C’mon now….