Why are plastic bags bad?
* an estimated 5 billion bags given out by
UK supermarkets each year
* 200 million land as litter on beaches, streets and parks
* Average consumer uses 290 bags every year
* Average use is 12 - 20 minutes before disposal
* Worldwide, we use between 500 billion – 1.2 trillion plastic bags each year
* Takes 400 years to degrade—or up to 1,000 years in the sea
* There are very few outlets for recycling plastic bags
* 100,000 tonnes of plastic bags gets dumped each year – only 1 in 200 is
recycled
* 32% of marine debris in North East Atlantic in 2005 was plastic bags
* They harm wildlife - on land, in rivers and at sea...
* 1.4 million bags counted in International Coastal Clean-up 2008
* 70% of 1995 dredge sample on French/Spanish coast was plastic bags
* Beachwatch 2008 found a total of 8,174 plastic bags on
UK beaches (an
average of 46 plastic bags per k/m.
Plastic bags are only part of the problem...
* More than 50% of debris found
on beaches is plastic
* 90% of floating marine litter is plastic. Four-fifths comes from land, swept
by the wind or rained off highways and streets, down streams and rivers, and
out to sea
* 1982 - 2001, 96% of dead fulmars in the North sea had plastic fragments
in their stomachs — an average of 23 pieces per bird
* 96% of the world’s plastic is not recycled.
* Clearing up plastic from UK beaches costs £7 million every year
* 177 marine species (including 95% of the world’s sea birds) have eaten plastic
litter. Oceanic microplastics now out-weigh plankton. Plastic toxins eaten
by filter feeders will pass up the food chain to bigger fish and eventually
to human consumers
What can you or I do?
You can make a big difference just saying ‘NO!’ to free plastic carrier bags whenever you can. There are hundreds of different re-useable bags you can buy in all shapes, sizes and colours- cotton bags, durable plastic bags, string bags, Hessian bags, jute bags, designer bags - even parachute material!
You just need to get into the habit of having some bags in handy. So keep some in your car, your handbag, pockets just in case. If you only have a few small items, do you really need a bag anyway? You may have noticed changes are already afoot -- alternatives to plastic packaging are cropping up and some retailers are already asking shoppers "Do you really need a bag?".
Plastic bags are only the tip of
the iceberg as far as our use of the earth's resources, and we should beware
of feeling that just by reducing our use of them we 'are doing our bit'. We
are doing a bit of our bit, but we still need to address all the other overconsumption
practices we have adopted.
What are the alternatives?
• Bring your own: The plastic bag has only been around for a generation. It became common in the late 1970s. Before that people brought their own bags or baskets and they were made from hard-wearing but bio-degradable material such as cloth, wicker, cane or jute. A re-usable bag is still the best alternative to a plastic bag; the shopper has to be encouraged to bring his/her own bag, i.e. re-use what we have.
• Cloth, jute or other
fabric bags: New bags should be made to last a long time and should
be something which we can and will want to re-use time and time again, manufactured
from a natural fabric which will naturally degrade when its life-time is over.
It is essential that only fabrics that are produced to the highest environmental
and ethical standards are used, for example crops should be grown organically
or without pesticides; be GM free; materials should be unbleached; inks should
be vegetable based, ideally “Azo free”; glues and linings should also be of
natural materials; items should be produced under fair-trade standards; energy
costs of transport should be minimized.
It is best to buy from wholesalers who have already asked the questions of
where and how their bags are made and can prove what they say.
• Cornstarch bags: These can be made from GM free corn starch, vegetable oils and compostable polyesters which are therefore easily compostable and biodegradable to water, CO2 and residual organic carbon (compost), leaving no harmful residues. These are available in sizes from 8 to 240 litres.
• Paper: Paper is not necessarily a good alternative. Although it biodegrades and is not normally a hazard to animal life, the production process uses a lot of energy and water and not all forests are sustainably managed. Mass produced paper is bad for the environment and should be avoided, however if the paper comes from Sustainable Forest Certified (SFC) timber or from another Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) forests or from the EU, if the paper is unbleached and undyed, if it is partly or totally recycled, has no watermarks, embossed patterns, lamination or waxed finishing, and the glues used are biodegradable and vegetable based, then we believe such bags are preferable to plastic.
• The British wicker basket: Dare we say it? Perhaps there are some shoppers who would return to this good old British alternative – expensive but home grown and produced.
We suggest that each store sources an alternative cotton, jute, paper, or cornstarch bag as suits its needs, which could be offered at a minimal charge. A list of possible suppliers is available from us.
Corn-starch is widely used as a biodegradable alternative to plastic. The best way to deal with this at home is to put it in your home composter - if you have one. Corn-starch bags are thin enough to break down in a home composter, but don't try this with a corn-starch food tray or smoothie bottle - you'll find it lurking in the bottom of your compost heap, untouched at all after a year. Thicker corn-starch needs the higher temperatures that industrial composters can achieve, so until food waste is collected by councils these items will still have to go to landfill.
Modbury - facts about plastic bags
Marine Conservation
Society fact sheet
Who else is trying to change things?
Many people from all walks of
life are saying enough is enough:
* Government has set a target to reduce the environmental impact of free carrier
bags.
* Retailers and Supermarkets are slowly adopting different ways to reduce
the bags they give out – ‘Bags for Life’, loyalty points and charging for
bags.
* Towns and communities are saying ‘NO!’ to the plastic bag. The village of
Modbury has already made a name for itself by going plastic-bag free, without
adverse effects on trade. More than 70 other towns, including London,
(link
to plastic bag free areas) are
taking the first steps to do the same. Could High Wycombe be next? Entering
a new shopping centre with the name of Eden is a golden opportunity for companies
to show their capability of rising to the challenge - eliminating the most
frequently disposed plastic waste and moving towards the forefront of enlightened
practice.
Plastic Bag action around the world
Some of the places striving to lower the use of plastic bags around the world:
Canada - Leaf Rapids, Manitoba, claims to be the first municipality in North America to propose, pass and implement a law prohibiting shops from using plastic bags, effective April 2007. Violations can bring fines up to $1,000 Canadian, but officials say compliance has been nearly universal. The town now has its own cloth bag.
Africa - Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania's Zanzibar Islands have introduced minimum thickness requirements and banned the rest. Some supermarkets in Nairobi, Kenya, charge a small fee for each plastic bag but also give away free, reusable baskets with a minimum purchase.
Sweden - The government encourages producers of plastic bags to continually develop greener versions. Two of the biggest grocery chains offer biodegradable paper and reusable cloth bags; both are introducing biodegradable plastic.
Germany - Most stores offer the option of canvas, cotton or plastic bags, all for a fee; shops that provide plastic must pay recycling fees, regardless of whether customers use the bags. Many shoppers bring their own; wheeled carts and wicker baskets are not uncommon.
Ireland - A 22-cent levy on every plastic shopping bag was introduced in 2003, and the number of bags given out plummeted. Some stores switched to paper bags; others stopped offering bags of any kind. In July 2007, Ireland raised the fee to 32 cents a bag.
United States - San Francisco last March was the first major city to approve a ban on plastic shopping bags, inspiring Ken Livingstone to suggest a ban in London. At least 30 villages and towns in Alaska have followed suit. Dozens of cities and states around the country are considering legislation that would ban or impose a fee on plastic bags, mandate in-store recycling, or take other measures to cut down on bag waste.
China - China
is to ban the use of some plastic bags and force consumers to pay for others
in its latest move to save on resources and ease the pressures on its environment.
The country's cabinet, the state council, announced it would restrict the
production, sale and use of all plastic carrier bags as part of the country's
war on waste. As many as 3bn plastic bags are used in China each day, putting
intolerable pressure on the country's valuable resources and helping to ruin
the environment, the council said.
The Message in the Waves
The message coming from Hawaii is that, like a canoe, our space and resources on planet Earth is finite. If we continue to exploit them without managing our actions, the planet will eventually become unusable for us and many species of animal we share it with.
Click on the play button below to watch the trailer for the documentary...
The Plastic Trash Vortex
This refers to the North Pacific sub-tropical gyre, which covers a large area of the Pacific where the water circulates clockwise in a slow spiral. Winds are light, and the currents tend to force any floating material into the low-energy central area of the gyre. There are few islands on which the floating material can beach. So it stays in the gyre, in astounding quantities - an estimated six kilos of plastic for every kilo of naturally occurring plankton. The area is the equivalent size of Texas, swirling slowly around like a clock. This gyre has also been dubbed “the Asian Trash Trail”, the “Pacific Trash Vortex” or the “Eastern Garbage Patch”.
On January 22nd 2008, the ORV Alguita set sail from Hilo, Hawaii for the North Pacific Gyre, led by Captain Moore on a month long research expedition to study marine debris concentrations. Plastic left in sunlight will eventually break-up into very small pieces, which are easily eaten and introduced the ocean food chain -- and consequently into ours.
These recent pictures show a typical beach awash with small plastic fragments...
Follow the crew's progress by reading
their blog,
Ship-2-Shore,
posted from onboard the ORV Alguita.
Links:
Bio-Bags - Biodegradable and compostable bags made from renewable resources
People of 2007 - BBC Newsnight interview with Rebecca Hosking
Independent article on the plastic trash vortex in the pacific (5th Feb 08)
Bucks Free Press: Plastic bag ban gets backing
Bucks Free Press: Plastic bag-free town a step closer
Bucks Free Press: No plastic bags - it's Eden!
Bucks Free Press: Chesham - A step closer to becoming plastic-bag free
