How We’re Reducing Plastic In Store | Plastics In The Dancewear & Retail Industry

At this point, I think everyone is aware that plastic, especially single use plastics are bad for the environment. Plastic doesn’t break down and decompose very quickly so it ends up in landfills and the ocean. It takes 1000 years for plastic to fully degrade! Animals also have trouble distinguishing plastic from food so they end up eating it.

Not only are plastics bad for the environment, but they’re bad for our health as well. Most plastic, especially single use plastics contain toxic chemicals including BPA which is a hormone disruptor. Hormone disrupting chemicals can cause anything from hormone imbalances, to hormonal cancers.

The retail industry uses an outrageous amount of plastic. When we get shipments, clothing is individually wrapped in plastic, shoes come in a plastic zip-lock bag inside a box, even receipt paper contains BPA! Not to mention the plastic bags to carry your freshly bought merchandise from the store into the car.

Just a few stats on plastic bags…160,000 plastic bags are used every second. 5 TRILLION plastic bags are produced every year! Only 1-3% of those bags are recycled. The rest end up in landfills and oceans.

At The Cinnamon Tree, just last year, we gave out over 6,000 plastic bags!

We obviously have no control over how much plastic the companies we work with use however, we can control how much plastic we contribute.

Moving forward, we will no longer be handing out plastic bags unless requested. We will also be emailing and/or texting receipts unless you request a paper copy. We HIGHLY recommend bringing your own reusable bag!

Sources:

https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/interesting-facts-about-plastic-bags

End Plastic Pollution

https://uspirg.org/blogs/blog/usp/toxic-chemicals-single-use-plastics-are-harming-human-health