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Let's Talk with Basil Garzia: Lose the Baggage
July 5, 2010
Keep the Midlands Beautiful and the city of Columbia Climate Protection Action Campaign recently launched the Lose the Baggage initiative. The effort is designed to reduce the amount of plastic bags used by Midlands residents. As part of the campaign, residents are being encouraged to reduce the number of plastic bags they consume by taking the Lose the Baggage pledge. The hope is to lower the number of plastic bags used each year by at least 7 million, which would require that roughly one in every five people who take the pledge switch from plastic to reusable bags. Residents can officially pledge on a website that will launch in August, but in the meantime they are being encouraged to lower individual consumption.
Basil Garzia, who owns Rosewood Market, is a member of the Lose the Baggage committee and a longtime environmentalist who incorporates many green practices into his business. He spoke recently about the Lose the Baggage effort, the importance of conservation and how residents can get involved.Q. First of all, can you tell us a little about your passion for conservation and the environment?
"I'm guessing some of it originates from the Great Depression. That is, my parents' experience of it. We lived frugally as a result. Although there wasn't recycling when I was growing up, we did some tilling in of vegetable scraps in the family tomato garden. Our annual week of family vacation was spent outdoors and as a result, I grew to appreciate the clean water and air of the Adirondack Mountains. After that, associating with like-minded individuals continued my interest in ecology."Q. About how many plastic bags do you estimate that Midlands residents are now using each year?
"The average family can accumulate as many as 60 bags in just four trips to the store. If we make a low estimate of five bags per resident per week, that would mean Midlands residents use as many as 169 million bags a year. Worldwide, it is estimated that 500 billion are used with only 1 percent being recycled."Q. Tell us a little about your personal recycling practices.
"Glass, metal, plastic and newspaper recycling is easy at home because I live in the city with curbside pickup of these items. I bring my cardboard to Rosewood Market's large recycling container. Batteries are taken to several retailers that I frequent. The family vegetable scraps are composted in our garden along with paper takeout containers. Leaves and grass clippings from the yard are used for mulch in the garden."I save large mailing envelopes, bubble wrap and Styrofoam peanuts for reuse. Clothing items are donated. Fluorescent bulbs, electronics and anything with a plug attached to it is taken to the city's e-waste recycling facility at 2910 Colonial Drive, and paints and other household hazardous wastes are stored safely until a collection for these items is available – usually once a year by Richland County.
"I try to divert from the landfill any other item I no longer have use for by finding someone who can use it."
Q. How are you planning to document the decrease in usage?
"Lose the Baggage will compile information from its retail partners about how bag use is decreasing in their establishments. Also, participating families will supply Lose the Baggage with information through use of the "What's Your Baggage Number."Q. Where are reusable bags located? We are aware that some grocery stores have them.
"Almost every grocery, office supply, hardware and pharmacy has reusable bags for sale, usually for a modest cost. Others are given away at events and conferences."Q. How did you come up with the goal of decreasing the number of bags used by 7 million? What's significant about that number?
"If one cuts back by at least two bags a week, it will save about 100 bags per year. If we can get 70,000 Midlands residents (or just over 10 percent of the population) to cut back by two bags a week, we can reach our goal of 7 million."Q. How long does it take for plastic bags to decompose?
"Estimates and conditions vary, but many think a plastic bag may last 500-1,000 years in the oxygen-starved environment of a landfill."Q. What do you see as the area's biggest motivation for getting involved in this effort?
"From the retailer's point of view, it will be cost savings from not having to buy paper or plastic bags. For the consumer, it will be education of the household by programs like Lose the Baggage."Published in The State
Compiled by Bertram Rantin