There are people out there – and I’m one of them- who want to see plastic bags banned. But why should Jo punter give up his free placky bag? Introduced in the 1950s the plastic bag is now a way of life. Given out on purchase these bags are the ultimate in convenience, made to be used once and then discarded. They are so popular we use 500 billion to one trillion bags globally a year and the number is increasing.
Almost every free carrier bag is made from plastic derived from petroleum and natural gas – both non-renewable resources. To make 500 billion bags you need roughly 9000000000 litres of oil.
Needless to say this has a cost attached and UK retailers spend £64-£80 million per year on providing bags to their customers – the cost being added to the price of the product.
Getting rid of plastic bags also costs a lot of money. Petroleum based plastic do not biodegrade rather it falls apart breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic. It can take anything from a 100 to 1000 years to do so. A trillion bags a year results in a lot of long lasting rubbish. Not surprisingly at this rate of rubbish production the landfills will soon be full. Burning plastic is not an easy as it produces toxic airborne chemicals and poisonous ash as well as adding to the greenhouse effect.
The increase in plastic rubbish has lead to an increase in visual pollution. – trees and hedgerows snarled up with plastic streamers, bags blowing down the canal, beaches littered with them – need I go on? Hanging on for years they get ever more ugly till they turn into the ugly black grey shroud like tatters that now blight much of our environment.
Littering is a problem but surely it is the fault of the litter lout and not the bag. Lock em up – problem solved. Sadly no. About 45% of plastic litter is blown in off rubbish dumps. Light and easily airborne plastic bags that have been disposed of responsibly can still end up on the streets, into the rivers and so out to sea.
Bags in the natural environment are lethal. Every year thousands of sea turtles, whales, dolphins and other cute marine mammals eat bags they mistake for jelly fish. Cows and goats also accidentally ingest plastic bags while foraging for food. Once eaten the bags choke the animals or block their intestines. Either way, it’s a slow and agonising death.
But what of those bags that get reused? Many a carrier bags ends up as bin liner – surely a better way to go. Except that using plastic to wrap up rubbish prevents biodegradable contents from degrading naturally. Wrap your potatoes peelings or deceased family pet in plastic and rather than feeding the worms you will be bequeathing future generations with a bag full of foul and festering sludge. The bin liner argument is no reason to keep the plastic bag.
Plastic bags pollute the environment in other ways. The manufacture of plastic results in toxic chemicals and co2 emissions. The cheaper bags are invariably made in far flung climes where environmental legislation is weak. Added to that is the environmental cost of importing, transporting, distributing and disposing of the bags.
The good news is that people begun to recycle plastic bags. Recycling is good – it saves energy ( two-thirds) water usage (nearly 90%), results in less chemical pollution, reduces carbon dioxide generation by two-and-a-half times and saves up 1.8 tonnes of oil for every tonne of recycled polythene produced. Obviously then using bags with a recycled content is better for the environment then bags made from virgin polymers and recycled bags are being promoted as the green plastic bag. But while recycled bags are better they still aren’t good enough. Plastic cannot be recycled indefinitely – so ultimately even recycled bags still need to be disposed of and plastic even recycled is still difficult to get rid of.
Another green plastic bag is the degradable bag. These use an chemical or plant based additive is used to glue tiny particles of plastic together. The additive breaks down within a matter of months leaving a pile of fine plastic dust. Additives are chemical or plant based. The plant based additives are biodegradable leading to the strangely named biodegradable plastic bag. Biodegradable plastic bags still contain non biodegradable particles of plastic.
Because they break down so quickly, these bags are preferable to the indestructible pure plastic bag in visual litter terms at least. However while they are no longer visible the plastic particles are still there. And they are now small enough to enter the food chain. Plastic contains toxic chemicals and known hormone disrupters. While the manufacturer claim these are stable they have been shown to migrate. They can pass from plastic wrappers or bottles into the products they contain The thought of ingesting minute particles of plastic worries some folks.
There are alternatives to petroleum based plastic. A very similar materials can be made using natural renewable plant resources such as starch from corn, potato, and tapioca, cellulose, soy protein, lactic acid. This is called bio plastic. Because it is made from natural materials it is fully compostable and will decompose back to carbon dioxide, water and biomass – elements that are part of the natural cycle. Because they are made from plants can be returned to the food chain i.e. animals can eat them and live. Because they will biodegrade they solve the visual litter problem without leaving a potentially toxic residue in the environment.
Carrier bags made form bio plastic are available and becoming more popular. Substituting bio bags for plastic is a partial answer. Basically the production and provision of a trillion disposable bags even biodegradable ones is not environmentally sustainable. While the materials used to make bio bags may be a whole lot greener, biodegradable bags still require a similar amount of energy to produce as regular plastic bags. The increased demand for said plant based raw materials may well push up the price of staple foods.
Of course the real green answer to the bag problem is for Jo punter to stop expecting a “free” bag with every purchase and take his own good quality reusable bag to the shop. Many jo punters are already doing just that but more needs to be done. Decisive government action could quickly resolve this issue. The could ban the use of plastic bags. Why not – its been done in other countries and people and economies have survived. Towns and villages all over England are doing it voluntarily. What is our government doing? Nothing – they have has no plans to do anything.
I think that is a mistake. A ban would not just be about getting rid of bags but a opportunity to make a much need strong environmental commitment. We cannot consume at the level we are doing and survive and the disposable bag is a symbol of our unthinking consumerism. It is an unnecessary utterly profligate waste of precious resources and we do it everyday without making the connection . By banning them the government would show a committment to raising consumer awareness. To not address the issue is irresponsible. Lets face it this is time to be fannying around – we have 10 years and counting to turn around climate change – if the government cant even move on the bag issue well its goodbye polar bears, hello floods and pass me the factor 90.
