In Australia good people now carry green bags to the supermarket and come away with their groceries in the green bags – rather than plastic bags.
I inspected my ‘Go Green’ bags this evening and found they are all made in China from polypropylene.
I googled ‘Go Green’ and discovered that 10c of every Go Green Bag is donated to the go Green Environment Fund which supports initiatives of Clean Up Australia, Landcare and Planet Ark. I wonder how much these charities will make this year out of the initiative?
There is a global campaign against plastic bags that seems to be really gathering momentum. I have learnt from WorldWatch that:
“Plastic bags start as crude oil, natural gas, or other petrochemical derivatives, which are transformed into chains of hydrogen and carbon molecules known as polymers or polymer resin.
The first plastic ‘baggies’ for bread, sandwiches, fruits, and vegetables were introduced in the United States in 1957.
In January 2002, the South African government required manufacturers to make plastic bags more durable and more expensive to discourage their disposal-prompting a 90-percent reduction in use.
Ireland instituted a 15c-per-bag tax in March 2002, which led to a 95-percent reduction in use.
In the early 1990s, the Ladakh Women’s Alliance and other citizens groups led a successful campaign to ban plastic bags in that Indian province, where the first of May is now celebrated as Plastic Ban Day. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Philippines, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom also have plans to ban or tax plastic bags.
Supermarkets around the world are voluntarily encouraging shoppers to forgo plastic bags-or to bring their own bags-by offering a small per-bag refund or charging extra for plastic.”
This is all very interesting information. But I am also keen to understand the extent of the environmental harm caused by plastic bags and the overall environmental benefit in switching to, for example, ‘Go Green’ bags.
Can someone provide me with some links or references?
I am particularly interested in any studies that quantify the impact of plastic bag use on the environment and the benefits of switching away from plastic bans?
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Owners of the monolithic Cairns Central Shopping Mall, Lend Lease, gave impetus to propylene with complementary bags for every ten dollar purchase at various outlets.
Some of the more familiar proprietors have since followed up the initiative by actually asking why I have not brought the reusable bags on subsequent visits.
The unfortunate reason is that they are invariably destroyed by fawn-footed melomys, probably in part for food particles held within the mesh and perhaps also for nesting material.
I have wondered ever since about the harm to native fauna which require protection under Australia’s highest obligations and the relative order of benefit for sea-turtles and other marine fauna unable to distinguish plastic bags from jellyfish.
Hi Jennifer,
There are acuality quite some publication about plastic bags and their environmental impact just one is here
Marine debris and human impacts on sea turtles in southern Brazil
Author(s): Bugoni L, Krause L, Petry MV
Source: MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN 42 (12): 1330-1334 DEC 2001
I am sure if you search the net, you will find more. Anyhow, that was not really your question. An analysis of plastic bags and alternatives can be found here:
http://www.deh.gov.au/settlements/publications/waste/plastic-bags/pubs/analysis.pdf
For me the most important thing is that using reusable bags gives everybody the possibility to be resourceful. Not just buying and throwing away.
What I don’t understand about the whole green bag thing is why do they make them out of polypropylene if the goal is to be more friendly to the environment? Why not promote heshen bags, or something similar?
In my household, the use of plastic bags balances out nicely. Every one that we source at the supermarket balances out in the disposal of household garbage. The latter covers perishables which are hygienically collected in the kitchen bin lined with the bag before being tied off in the bags and deposited in the wheelie bin. This practice seems to be followed in most households. OK the plastic bag ends up in the Council refuse collection point, but it is not dispersed into the community or the environment at large. As such the bag has served a useful and hygienic purpose. What will happen after the total banning of these bags? Why, the public will go out and buy more of this type of bag from the supermarket shelves in order to line their kitchen bins. Are there biodegradable alternatives with the same properties as the plastic bags e.g. wet strength and odour retention? Maybe, at significant cost. Watch out that we do not unwittingly create a public health nuisance by banning the use of plastic bags. Cause and effect is seldom worked out well by people promoting their pet solutions for perceived problems.
Yes, the reuse of plastic bags for household garbage does need to be considered, as davidm points out.
For years, my sharehouse re-used plastic bags for garbage. However, we have always accumulated more plastic bags than we used for the garbage, and as a result, we had one cupboard totally full up with probably close on one hundred bags.
In the last year, I got and my flatmate got ourselves some green-bags. I found a couple that zip up, so they are about wallet size, and fit in the bottom of my work bag.
We still get plastic bags if we happen to need a spur-of-the-moment shop and don’t have any green bags on us.
The end result is that we use a lot less plastic bags, no longer have a cupboard full of them, but still seem to have enough to line our garbage bins.
At first i was concerned that the green bags would end up only moderately less disposable than typical plastic bags. But so far i have been using the same two zip-up green bags all year, without any bother.
Different story if they were banned altogether i guess. While bin bags would use plastic and seem similar to shopping bags, there would probably be less of them blowing about in the street and into the ocean – i think they would be more under control than shopping bags.
A couple of comments sent to me offline:
“So why doesn’t Australia do this. Surely it’s much better than those absurd green monstrosities that they are pushing at the moment:
In mid-October the French parliament voted to ban all non- biodegradable plastic bags by 2100. The move is expected to provide French Farmers with new non-food outlets for produce, such as corn starch, which can be used to make biodegradable plastic.
New Scientist, Oct. 22, p. 7.
Cathy”
And
“You asked for info on the plastic bag “problem”, and get sent a reference to a 100 page consultants’ report which, like most such reports, is a travesty.
One paragraph discussing anecdotal evidence for damage to marine life, with at most one reference which is anyway obviously overgeneralized, plus some bland statements elsewhere about litter.
And that is enough for govt. to (i) pony up the substantial sum that they will have paid for the report, and (ii) in due course, I have no doubt, introduce restrictive legislation.
The common thread to ALL these environmental deified cows is the
complete lack of intellectual rigour in assessing the actual risks or damage of the perceived offence against the (usual) benefits.
Anon”
Why burn oile in power plants, when you can make use of it as plastic bags one, two or may be three times and burn it after used it.
Paper bags may take up water. The bagbottom then brake and the content may run out. Better use a plstic one.
It takes more energy to make a paper bag than to make a plastic one.
I am a bit of a ‘plastic bag sceptic’ and think that the media and comsumer hype around the use of plastic bags has more to do about ‘feel good consumer welfare’ than any constructive environmental benefit.
A classic example presented itself to me the other day when I was castigated by my ‘pro-green bag’ house mate after I returned from the shops with a hand full of groceries in plastic bags. For the next 15 minutes he gave me the run down on resource waste, refuse problems, marine pollution and ‘just plain common sense.’ After unpacking the groceries he noticed that I had missed a few essential items so he grabbed his green bag (one of the dozen which litter the top of our fridge), got in his car and drove the 500 meters down the road.
I then used my plastic bags to line the scrap bucket bin, wrap my lunch for the next day and store that nights left overs.
While my house mate may feel ‘warm and fuzzy’ about his green bag I assume that his 500 meter drive to the shops would have burnt more fuel than 1000 plastic bags and ain’t much good for storing potato peels.
I am also very sceptical about ‘banning’ anything. If it is such a concern or problem it will either phase itself out or be resolved by market processes.
The last people I want to tell me how to live are the greens- especially when they are sponsored by large retail food chains!
And the pretty green bags are also made from plastic but are a bit of an overkill for wrapping the garbage in.
What else are the greenies going to think up to keep themselves in a job? I re-use every plastic bag from the supermarket, mostly for lining my kitchen bins. Does this now mean I will have to buy plastic liners? What about all the other plastic bags that are used outside of supermarkets, i.e., department stores and shops. Will they start using paper bags instead, resulting in another environmental problem. Keep the plastic supermarket bags, they’re clean, efficient and practical. The benefits far outweigh any disadvantages. Would it be that hard to educate people to re-use their plastic bags? I guess in the future there’ll be another lot of research carried out at great expense into the advantages/disadvantages of the green bags, you can keep going on forever really. As I said, jobs for the greenies.
There are plenty of other far more worthwhile projects the greenies should be targetting.
I recently got interested in the Enviro friendly bag debate and found the following:
1. they can now make disposable biodegradable bags from natural products much cheaper than GO-GREEN bags
2. Supermarkets have a 50percent markup on the bags, they are making a fair profit on this even after the charity component is removed
3. It seems the only real benefit now is to make people feel good.The whole
The arguement for wrapping putrescible waste in plastic bags is bullshit. Cut out meat and mininise putrescible waste. A vegetarian diet is also better for the environment and your health. Put your veggie scraps in the compost, and you also get rich vermicast for your garden. Buy in bulk and reduce packaging. What little rubbish is left won’t need a bin liner to protect your bin. If you recycle, and compost it will take you about 10 times longer to fill your landfill bin, it won’t be smelly either. Easy.
Hehe, Geoff, I used to slave away at making compost. Then I realised there was a much more efficient way to do it, i.e. chuck it in the bin and let it compost in a landfill!
I really don’t know what I used to think I was preventing by composting at home instead of throwing in landfill. It’s a bit like green rubbish bags or the Toyota Prius. It’s more about making a gesture towards something you’ve been made to feel guilty about, rather than looking at it pragmatically and taking the winner of a thorough cost-benefit analysis.
Jennifer is correct, plastic bags are manufactured from oil and natural gas by-products. As such they are composed of both carbon and hydrogen elements among others. When plastic bags break down they give of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses. I dont want my plastic bags to break down at all. I want my old bags to stay stable for 1,000 years. Preferably in landfill where thay are protected from UV degradation. Its the same with organic composts, when they decompose they give of CO2 and recent research has shown that by far the biggest contributor to greenhoude gasses is decaying organic material in forests and any help we give by composting waste in our homes actually adds to green house gas emissions. People should learn to think outside the box and not just parrot populist views from some who have hijacked the global warming debate with simplistic views.