Film Looks at How Plastic Bags Affect the World

It began as a friendly challenge between two Colorado communities.

Before long, it spawned an idea for a 20-minute short film, which soon grew into a feature-length documentary, then into five awards from film festivals across the United States. Now, “,” the film that asks if your life is too plastic, will screen at 7 p.m. tonight (Thursday, June 2), the East Brunswick Public Library.

The documentary, produced by Colorado resident Michelle Green and directed by award-winning filmmaker Suzan Beraza, follows a man’s rather unusual world tour.

The man, Jeb Berrier, scours the world to find out how plastic bags are used in different cultures and how various communities have set about dealing with the environmental and health dangers that disposable, non-biodegradable plastics pose. What Berrier finds, and what the filmmakers relate, have left more than a few American chemical companies with more than a few unanswered questions on their doorsteps.

And by the end of the film, you may well have a new appreciation for the sheer volumes of plastic being used (in America, 60,000 plastic bags every 5 minutes) and discarded into the environment, but you will also have an idea of how to begin reversing the trend.

The film traces its roots back to humble beginnings in the mountains of Colorado.

“Initially it began as a voluntary plastic bag reduction challenge that happened between the towns of Telluride and Aspen, Colorado,” Green said. “It was put to us by a friend of ours who thought it’d be a neat idea to do a 20 minute piece on the challenge. We started researching more and almost instantly realized there was so much more information here.”

 “We started to look at the politicization of bags,” green said. “We looked into communities across the world that have begun to ban plastic bags. Some other countries are so far ahead of us.” However, Green said that very promising projects to curb the use of plastic bags in American cities like Seattle and San Francisco ran into multi-million dollar lobbying efforts against them.

“We don’t really know,” Green said when asked the source of these lobbying efforts, “but most people will tell you it’s the American Chemistry Council (ACC). They’ve created a web site called ‘About Bag It’ (http://209.190.250.109/ACC_Activities.html), in fact, to try to put a spin on the facts presented in the film.” Green notes, however, that part of the message of the ACC’s “About Bag It” web site agrees with the documentary by suggesting Americans should indeed begin curbing their use of single-use plastic items.

“Bag It” premiered almost precisely one year ago at the Telluride National Film Festival, and since then has been screened in over 600 communities across the country. “We have been exhibiting it mostly through a grass roots screening effort,” Green said. Communities interested in screening the film can request a showing through a simple process on the film’s website.

“In doing that,” Green added, “we also ask the screeners to come up with a simple action that audience members can take that will make a difference in their areas.” The filmmakers also manage a campaign through which communities can sign up as “Bag It Towns” and use shared resources to help enact plans to reduce their consumption of non-biodegradable plastics. They currently work directly with 10 communities and provide resources to an additional 50.

The East Brunswick Public Library’s screening is sponsored by is sponsored by the East Brunswick Environmental Commission, Kayman Greenmedia, the New Jersey Environmental Lobby, and the library itself. A talk back session follows.

For more information on the film itself, on ways to host a local screening, or on ways to become a “Bag It Town”, visit http://www.bagitmovie.com.