Plastic harms coral by depriving it of light and causing toxin release, which enables pathogens to invade it, causing disease. Coral serves as natural barriers against hurricanes and tsunamis, as Coral reports. In addition, coral reefs provide compounds that are already being used in medicine to treat illnesses such as cancer. Plastic contains pollutants like polychlorinated biphenyl that disrupt human hormones and these make their way up the food chain.
After fish has consumed bits of plastic containing these toxins , the chemicals find their way through the food chain until they reach humans who consume the fish. In addition, chemicals that are found in plastic can alter the behavior of marine animals.
Within 20 minutes, the petri dishes had an average of 14 microplastics on them, a study in Environmental Pollution found via Science Direct. Because of how easily they are carried by the wind, plastic bags can end up clogging stormwater drains. This is already happening in countries such as India and Bangladesh, where plastic bags cause flooding in this way.
While recycling plastic bags can help to prevent the problems associated with plastic, the sad truth is that only one percent of the plastic bags that are manufactured get recycled, as Waste Management reports.
In addition, there are over 50 different types of plastic, which makes it difficult to process and sort them out when compared to other recyclable items, as Mitte reports.
If you currently have plastic bags in your home, the best thing you can do is stop buying plastic bags and re-use the ones you have for as long as possible. Someone has to deal with them, but this cleaning task is really expensive. The overall cost of cleaning up plastic bags is a whopping 17 cents for every single bag, 1 Bag At A Time reports, and taxpayers are the ones who have to shell out money for it. If you consider how one plastic bag costs a few cents, then this amount really hits home.
This includes waste collection, regular cleanups to remove plastic bag litter along the roads or blown away from landfills and then even processing at landfill sites.
According to some estimates, the cost of plastic bag cleanup is about 17 cents per bag [14] and the cost is paid by us once again. Beyond the costs associated with the production and purchasing of plastic bags by retailers, there are many external costs that are often not considered. These costs include the true environmental costs of resource extraction and depletion, the loss of quality of life, economic loss from littering, and wildlife loss.
Unfortunately, such costs are typically not included in most economic analyses, as they are not easy to calculate because the equation would have to involve many indirect variables. The resulting number is staggering. The explanation is quite simple. Reusable shopping bags are very durable and can be reused many times over the course of their useful life. This means that you are not consuming more resources every time you need to carry your groceries home. For example, a reusable jute bag should last at least 4 years, during which it can prevent the use of single-use plastic bags.
Once a person gets into the habit of bringing reusable bags when shopping, it is not much of an inconvenience at all.
After all, ask your grandparents, they will remember that during their time people were used to go shopping with their own bags or baskets. The manufacturing of reusable bags or compostable alternatives to plastic bags offers a new opportunity to create sustainable products and provide jobs that go with them. The trend has already started. There are some great initiatives that strive to provide jobs for women in rural communities with limited possibilities of securing monthly income.
To date, around 60 countries and municipalities around the world have instituted plastic bag bans, and additional seven countries are planning to enforce the law in the closest future.
Some countries have decided to do so after directly experiencing negative impacts of plastic bags, other countries have implemented the ban to reach their sustainability goals. For those governments that are opposed to full bans on plastic bags, another option is to institute a plastic bag tax, where consumers or retailers would pay a small fee for each plastic bag. This strategy has been adopted by some countries and municipalities so far and has proven to greatly reduce plastic bag usage by consumers.
For example, in Botswana, the consumption of plastic bags dropped by 50 percent after the introduction of the tax in In Ireland, where this fee was instituted in , plastic bag usage decreased by about 90 percent.
This means that the average consumption of plastic bags per person dropped from bags per year to just 21 [20]. While these countries and municipalities have been making strides in their part of reducing circulation of plastic bags, in total there are countries in the world [19] and the issue of plastic pollution is still getting out of our hands.
That is why the United Nations Environmental Programme Secretariat has recommended a ban on all plastic bags globally. This means that you need to first educate yourself about the problem. You need to know what effects plastic bags have on the environment and health. What is the root of the problem consumers or municipal waste management?
But you should also consider the other perspective — what effect single-use bags have had on the local economy and product affordability.
You should examine what alternatives are available and whether local retailers, who often operate with a limited monthly budget, have the ability to make the switch. By being aware about these issues, you will be ready to present some strong arguments why plastic bags should be banned in your area and answer questions of people who will become your ally if you will persuade them about your good intentions.
Which brings us to the second part…. Communities with good awareness about negative impacts of plastic bags have been more successful at enforcing the ban [20]. This is because the customers voluntarily reduce their consumption of plastic bags, which in turn provides enough time for retailers to find suitable alternatives and switch to them.
Once the wheel starts spinning, it leads to even more positive changes. The decrease in demand for plastic bags forces manufacturers to reduce their production and consider expanding in a supply of alternative products. Additionally, awareness raising campaigns create a social pressure that should inspire local government and institutions to help in making changes at a bigger scale, like a regional ban or levy.
You as an individual have the power to make a gradual change in your community. Start from yourself and slowly expand to your family and friends. Individual actions can lead to collective actions. Simply, refuse them when offered and bring your own reusable bag when shopping.
However, we are all too familiar with situations when a cashier automatically puts your items in a plastic bag before you can oppose it.
The cashier usually understands, only had to do what instructed and what most customers expect unfortunately from him or her. We all are just trying to do our job well. In countries with a lack of awareness about negative impacts of plastic bags, a polite refusal might not be met with much understanding. Then, you should try to explain your reasons for not wanting your products packed in plastic bags. Most retailers will get your point, but it can also happen that they will not be willing to sell you some products without placing it in their plastic bags because of having to oblige with some hygiene and sanitary standards for example when selling meat products.
The best thing you can do with those old plastic bags that have been stashed in that overflowing drawer in your kitchen is to recycle them. You cannot recycle them in the regular curbside collection of plastic, but you should be able to find many larger food stores and retailers for example: Target, Walmart, Tesco, Morrisons, etc. There are better alternatives available, and jobs to go with them!
Reusable shopping bags are very durable and can be reused many times over the course of their useful life.
You must be logged in to post a comment. For now, these meetings are digital, via Zoom. To join one, please contact clerk GreenActon. Evidence from previous plastic bag restrictions shows this does reduce their use, but sometimes leads to more environmental harm if customers switch to other materials with larger resource footprints.
Plastic bags use fossil fuels, a nonrenewable resource, and are permanent, entering the waste stream forever. They may cause more pollution on land and in waterways, but have less effect on climate change and land use than other types of bags. In the end, a decision on the type of bag becomes about which particular environmental issue takes priority.
Researchers in psychology have observed people often harm the environment when they try to save the planet. For example, they might buy more of a product, like groceries, because they are labeled as eco-friendly. Or because they walked instead of driving to the store, they deserve to buy an extra piece of clothing.
Sometimes compensatory action takes the form of attempts to account for previous harms. The point here is that reducing plastic bag use might grant people mental licence to take other actions that are more detrimental to the environment.
Ultimately, the greatest gain from plastic bag bans and pricing is probably in shifting environmental outlooks.
0コメント