Going green to save the planet

I've been waiting for this - the first major food retailer in the United States is doing away with plastic bags, and I'm thrilled for a number of reasons. Whole Foods is the world's largest retailer of organic and natural foods, so this is no small announcement. What makes me even happier is that other retailers are sure to follow this long overdue announcement. You can read more about Whole Foods' announcement Here. What I really loved about WF's announcement is that they "aren't trying to settle the 'paper versus plastic' debate," either; they are openly encouraging the use of reusable cloth bags. I even heard from someone that they will charge 2¢ per bag to customers who need bags at the checkout.

Through several sources, I've gathered a few stats that really illustrate the dramatic impact that recycling and conservation can have...

• Speaking of plastic bags, about 100 billion of them are thrown out each year in the United States. That's about 274 million a day. The craziness doesn't end there, either; it can take more than a thousand years for a disposable plastic bag to break down in a landfill.

• It really pays to reuse cardboard and and paper whenever possible, and to always recycle what you can't reuse. In 2006, over 100 million pounds of paper products were used in the US. That's 666 pounds per person, which is no coincidence - using that much paper is flat-out evil.

I recycle all magazines that I subscribe to (and that's a lot), but I'm even cutting down on those, including subscribing digitally. Any box I get in the mail from shopping gets saved and reused. Scrap paper I'm not saving to print on the other side. As much as I love Post-It notes, I'm going to cut scrap paper into squares and use them for notes.

• It is well worthwhile to recycle glass and aluminum. In almost every place, it's pretty easy to do at home, but what about in the car and at work? I commute a great deal, so I bring home whatever plastic, glass and aluminum I use at work and in my car to recycle.

Typically, glass containers go from the recycling bin to the store shelf in as little as 30 days.

And all that aluminum is a valuable resource indeed - recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a light bulb for 20 hours.

• Plastic is not fantastic - 2.5 million plastic bottles are consumed in the US per hour, and less than 1/4 are recycled. I'll have plenty more to say about why it's downright stupid to consume bottled water in a separate post very soon.

• Recycling inkjet and toner cartridges is quick and easy, too. I'm a bit cynical about this one, because it's a way for companies to save money and rape the consumer at the cash register. It galls me to know that companies are getting old cartridges back, shooting more ink inside, repackaging them, and I still have to pay $40 for a cartridge at the store. Having said that, I still hold my nose and recycle my cartridges - the average ink cartridge can be reused 3-7 times before it's no good. Bonus - Dell, HP and Lexmark cartridges (and maybe a few other brands?) can be returned to Staples for a $3 credit off your next purchase.

Recycle - we only have one planet, and we haven't done a great job of taking care of it.