Protect Hawaii’s Environment with a Double Duty Beach Bag

Happy Earth Day! Since the purpose of this day is to highlight ways to protect the environment, let’s look at one simple tip that is not only eco-friendly, it’s very practical for Hawaii vacationers, too.

When you travel to Hawaii, bring one or two of your reusable shopping bags. Use these bags to:

• carry your vacation groceries
• carry your souvenirs when shopping
• carry your beach towels, sun screen and snacks
• use as a an extra carry-on to bring home your souvenirs.

You may be wondering if using one of these reusable bags makes a difference. How do they help Hawaii’s environment? Here are a few interesting facts about the problems with plastic bags:

• Plastic bags are likely to be caught in Hawaii’s tradewinds and quickly blown away to become litter. I think we can all agree that it’s a crying shame to see litter anywhere, much less Hawaii.
• If not secured and properly recycled, plastic bags can easily get into the ocean waters. Sadly, marine animals mistake plastic bags as food. Plastic bags look like jelly fish to sea turtles and whales. Globally, up to 1 billion seabirds, sea turtles, whales and other wildlife die each year due to the ingestion of plastic bags.
• Plastic bags can take over 1,000 years to biodegrade.
• Only 13% of plastic bags are ever recycled.
• Plastic bags are made of petroleum and natural gas, both non-renewable resources.

I hope this simple idea and these facts have been helpful to you. So, won’t you please consider doing this one simple thing to help Hawaii’s environment when you visit?

Sources:

• Earthfare Tomato Talk
• Banning plastic bags in Hawaii debate