Americans use an average of 60,000 plastic bags every minute – single-use disposable bags that most individuals mindlessly throw away. It takes an estimated 12 million barrels of oil a year to make the plastic bags that Americans consume. And that’s just bags. Plastics are everywhere. Although Mecklenburg County accepts most types of plastics for recycling, the county’s recycling rates still trail the national average.
On Friday, May 16, KEEPING WATCH will present a screening of the documentary “Bag it: is your life too plastic” with a panel discussion on plastics, waste disposal and recycling and a “clean martini” night. This free, public event will be from 6 to 9 p.m. at UNC Charlotte Center City.
“Bag it: is your life too plastic?” follows “everyman” Jeb Berrier as he navigates a plastic world. An average American, Berrier decides to take a closer look at the nation’s cultural love affair with plastics. The documentary starts with simple questions: Are plastic bags necessary? What are they made from? What happens to plastic bags after they are discarded?
Mary Newsom of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and PlanCharlotte.org will moderate the panel discussion. Panelists are Mike Lizotte,UNC Charlotte sustainability officer; Laurette Hall, Mecklenburg County Solid Waste, environmental manager of waste reduction programs; Meg Fencil of Sustain Charlotte, a local sustainability education and advocacy group that studied Mecklenburg’s recycling rate, comparing it with other cities; and Sam Perkins of the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, who will discuss the problem of trash, especially plastics, and how they affect waterways.
This event is part of the three-year KEEPING WATCH initiative, a project of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and its PlanCharlotte.org online publication and the UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture. From 2014-16, the initiative will use arts, community engagement, history, science and online publication to highlight environmental issues of significance to Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the metro region.
Slow Food Charlotte is cosponsoring the May 16 event, which will feature “clean martinis” made from local products at local distilleries, as well as light, locally sourced hors d’oeuvres.