Enviromental Issue
Plastic Bags
The area I focused on is plastic bags. As a pet owner, I use those plastic bags clean up after my four legged friends. As a member of my community I regularly see them blowing down the street or caught in the corner of fences. Poor waste management and littering may seem like an annoying issue; one not as dramatic as many environmental issues present today, but how we do or don’t process our garbage is a serious and insidious environmental issue. Look around at our streets, neighborhoods and cities. Garbage is everywhere, albeit sometimes in small amounts and plastic grocery bags are one of the main offenders.
Where is it happening?
On a local level here in Utah, take a walk through the beloved Salt Lake City Sugarhouse. Even in this treasured area sometimes the pond and stream are littered and lined with waste that is largely made up of grocery bags.
Here in Utah, Salt Lake City launched Reusable Shopping Bag Campaign in 2009 promoting the use of reusable bags (SLCgov.com) and providing links to additional information. One of the more clever promoting ideas on this site is a link to another site called ‘I got my own bag’. The marketing angle is “What does your bag say about you?” as various pictures of reusable bags flash across the screen.
The‘Reusable Shopping Bag Campaign’ also lists four simple yet motivating facts about grocery bags:
Issues and Impacts of Plastic Bags
*Plastic bags are not free. Conservative estimates show that Utah retailers spend over $13 million dollars a year on plastic bags.
*Utahns use almost 1 billion plastic bags every year.
* Plastic bags are made from oil—producing 14 of them uses the same amount of oil as
driving one mile.
*Just one percent of plastic bags are recycled; a much higher percentage ends up in
our waterways, which endangers wildlife and degrades water and soil
quality.
Where is it happening?
On a local level here in Utah, take a walk through the beloved Salt Lake City Sugarhouse. Even in this treasured area sometimes the pond and stream are littered and lined with waste that is largely made up of grocery bags.
Here in Utah, Salt Lake City launched Reusable Shopping Bag Campaign in 2009 promoting the use of reusable bags (SLCgov.com) and providing links to additional information. One of the more clever promoting ideas on this site is a link to another site called ‘I got my own bag’. The marketing angle is “What does your bag say about you?” as various pictures of reusable bags flash across the screen.
The‘Reusable Shopping Bag Campaign’ also lists four simple yet motivating facts about grocery bags:
Issues and Impacts of Plastic Bags
*Plastic bags are not free. Conservative estimates show that Utah retailers spend over $13 million dollars a year on plastic bags.
*Utahns use almost 1 billion plastic bags every year.
* Plastic bags are made from oil—producing 14 of them uses the same amount of oil as
driving one mile.
*Just one percent of plastic bags are recycled; a much higher percentage ends up in
our waterways, which endangers wildlife and degrades water and soil
quality.
Regionally, nationally and globally impacts are also easy to learn about. Take a look at the news or do an internet search and there are always articles to be found showing how waste, particularly grocery bags, are negatively impacting our wildlife, the quality of the outdoors we like to enjoy, and even our own health.
‘Plastic Bag: Friend or Foe’ opens by stating these statistics environmental damage caused by plastic bags is enormous. Plastic makes up 80% of the volume of litter on roads, parks, and beaches and makes up 90% of floating litter in the ocean” Those numbers made me pause with my mouse mid click thinking about the impact that is (N.S. 2011).
Plastic bags were rare only a few decades ago and grew in popularity in the late 1970s and rapidly have replaced the paper bag. I read paper bags went away because “Compared to paper grocery bags, plastic grocery bags consume 40 percent less energy, generate 80 percent less solid waste, produce 70 percent fewer atmospheric emissions, and release up to 94 percent fewer waterborne wastes, according to the federation.”(Roach 2003)
In her article Morris states that ‘According to the Food Marketing Institute's Plastic Bag Backgrounder, "a paper bag requires four times more energy to produce than a plastic bag (2,511 BTUs vs. 594 BTUs) and the manufacturing process of paper bags generates "70 percent more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags."
‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ should be looked up by each of us on an internet search engine. “In the broad expanse of the northern Pacific Ocean, there exists the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a slowly moving, clockwise spiral of currents created by a high-pressure system of air currents.” (Silverman). It is a ocean desert caused by plastic and other waste that does not break down. Any time I need motivation I just look that up and remember that even if its one less bag, one less plastic bottle, its still one less that I can contribute.
Solutions
There are many solutions including reusing individually or by returning them to merchants. Various retailers accept used clean dry plastic bags, including shopping giants Target and Wal-Mart (Plastic Bag Recycling).
Individually reusing them can make a huge impact too and the numbers are the 76% do reuse them. An article
by Cathy includes some simple tips that include cleaning up after the four legged friends. One of her suggestions, to use a grocery bag as a litter liner, is one I hadn’t thought of before.
A more official solution that has been discussed is a tax on the plastic grocery bag. In Ireland, the Irish have imposed a tax of about U.S. 20 cents per bag and governments here are considering a similar, though lower rate of U.S. 3 to 5 cents per bag (Roach 2003).
In summary, if you do need to use plastic grocery bags, reuse them and if you don’t, use a reusable one. This is issue that impacts all of us everywhere as plastic grocery bags wind up all around the world. The situation is overwhelming but every single one of us can do something about it.
References
Cathy, ’50 Ways to Reuse Grocery Bags’ Individual Blog 11.2011 Web.
http://www.greenecoservices.com/50-ways-to-reuse-grocery-bags/
(N.S.) ‘Plastic Bag: Friend or Foe’Plastic Bag Economics 2011. Web.
http://www.plasticbageconomics.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=31
‘Marine Litter-trash that Kills’Web. http://www.unep.org/regionalseas/marinelitter/publications/docs/trash_that_kills.pdf
Morris, P. ‘About Plastic Bags’ Ehow Contributor 2011. Web.
http://www.ehow.com/about_4565070_plastic-grocery-bags.html
Silverman, J. “Why is the world’s biggest landfill in the Pacific Ocean?’ How Stuff Works n.d Web. http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm
‘Reusable Bag Campaign’ Salt Lake City Government, 2011. Web.
http://www.slcgov.com/slcgreen/recycle/reusableBag.htm
Roach, J. ‘Are Plastic Grocery Bags Sacking the Environment’ National Geographic News, 9.2003 Web. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags.html
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 2011 Web.http://dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/wm/recycle/issues/plasticbagsfaq.htm
In her article Morris states that ‘According to the Food Marketing Institute's Plastic Bag Backgrounder, "a paper bag requires four times more energy to produce than a plastic bag (2,511 BTUs vs. 594 BTUs) and the manufacturing process of paper bags generates "70 percent more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags."
‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ should be looked up by each of us on an internet search engine. “In the broad expanse of the northern Pacific Ocean, there exists the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a slowly moving, clockwise spiral of currents created by a high-pressure system of air currents.” (Silverman). It is a ocean desert caused by plastic and other waste that does not break down. Any time I need motivation I just look that up and remember that even if its one less bag, one less plastic bottle, its still one less that I can contribute.
Solutions
There are many solutions including reusing individually or by returning them to merchants. Various retailers accept used clean dry plastic bags, including shopping giants Target and Wal-Mart (Plastic Bag Recycling).
Individually reusing them can make a huge impact too and the numbers are the 76% do reuse them. An article
by Cathy includes some simple tips that include cleaning up after the four legged friends. One of her suggestions, to use a grocery bag as a litter liner, is one I hadn’t thought of before.
A more official solution that has been discussed is a tax on the plastic grocery bag. In Ireland, the Irish have imposed a tax of about U.S. 20 cents per bag and governments here are considering a similar, though lower rate of U.S. 3 to 5 cents per bag (Roach 2003).
In summary, if you do need to use plastic grocery bags, reuse them and if you don’t, use a reusable one. This is issue that impacts all of us everywhere as plastic grocery bags wind up all around the world. The situation is overwhelming but every single one of us can do something about it.
References
Cathy, ’50 Ways to Reuse Grocery Bags’ Individual Blog 11.2011 Web.
http://www.greenecoservices.com/50-ways-to-reuse-grocery-bags/
(N.S.) ‘Plastic Bag: Friend or Foe’Plastic Bag Economics 2011. Web.
http://www.plasticbageconomics.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17&Itemid=31
‘Marine Litter-trash that Kills’Web. http://www.unep.org/regionalseas/marinelitter/publications/docs/trash_that_kills.pdf
Morris, P. ‘About Plastic Bags’ Ehow Contributor 2011. Web.
http://www.ehow.com/about_4565070_plastic-grocery-bags.html
Silverman, J. “Why is the world’s biggest landfill in the Pacific Ocean?’ How Stuff Works n.d Web. http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm
‘Reusable Bag Campaign’ Salt Lake City Government, 2011. Web.
http://www.slcgov.com/slcgreen/recycle/reusableBag.htm
Roach, J. ‘Are Plastic Grocery Bags Sacking the Environment’ National Geographic News, 9.2003 Web. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags.html
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 2011 Web.http://dnr.wi.gov/org/aw/wm/recycle/issues/plasticbagsfaq.htm