Plastic Bags effect in the Environment

        Approximately 40 percent of autopsies done on turtles confirm the death being due to plastic bags stuck in their intestinal tract. When plastic bags float on the water, they look very similar to jellyfish which are a favorite food source for some turtles.

        A devastating number of turtles, birds, whales and other animals are killed yearly due to plastic bags being mistaken for food like jellyfish. Once a plastic bag is ingested by an animal, it cannot be digested so it sits in the animal's gut, preventing other food digestion and resulting in an extremely painful and slow death.

It is estimated that over 100,000 marine creatures are killed each year because of plastic pollution. These animals are not dying instantly, they are suffering. Imagine not being able to digest any food and then not being able to eat because of it and literally just starving yourself to death all because of plastic bags and other plastic products. Every time consumers go to the store they make a conscious decision to either use a reusable shopping bag or not. It is not understandable why anyone would still choose to use traditional bags, knowing the harm that they are creating.

         It is not uncommon to find flamingos, platypus and other animals, strangled from getting tangled in plastic bags and not being able to twist their way out. In Australia in 2008, a crocodile was found dead with 25 plastic bags in its stomach. Additionally, pelicans, seagulls and other birds are found daily with the same cause of death.
         

          Due to these figures and other environmental concerns, many countries such as Bangladesh, Taiwan, China and Italy have either banned plastic bags completely or have issued laws to charge for them, making reusable bags the primary choice.

Plastic bags litter the landscape. Once they are used, most plastic bags go into landfill, or rubbish tips. Each year more and more plastic bags are ending up littering the environment. Once they become litter, plastic bags find their way into our waterways, parks, beaches, and streets. And, if they are burned, they infuse the air with toxic fumes.

Plastic bags kill animals. About 100,000 animals such as dolphins, turtles whales, penguins are killed every year due to plastic bags. Many animals ingest plastic bags, mistaking them for food, and therefore die. And worse, the ingested plastic bag remains intact even after the death and decomposition of the animal. Thus, it lies around in the landscape where another victim may ingest it.

Plastic bags are non-biodegradable. And one of the worst environmental effects of plastic bags is that they are non-biodegradable. The decomposition of plastic bags takes about 1000 years.

Petroleum is required to produce plastic bags. As it is, petroleum products are diminishing and getting more expensive by the day, since we have been using this non-renewable resource increasingly. Petroleum is vital for our modern way of life. It is necessary for our energy requirements – for our factories, transport, heating, lighting, and so on. Without viable alternative sources of energy yet on the horizon, if the supply of petroleum were to be turned off, it would lead to practically the whole world grinding to a halt. Surely, this precious resource should not be wasted on producing plastic bags, should it?

So, What Can be Done about the Use of Plastic Bags?

Single-use plastic bags have become such a ubiquitous way of life that it seems as if we simply cannot do without them. However, if we have the will, we can start reducing their use in small ways.

·         A tote bag can make a good substitute for holding the shopping. You can keep the bag with the cahier, and then put your purchases into it instead of the usual plastic bag.

·         Recycling the plastic bags you already have is another good idea. These can come into use for various purposes, like holding your garbage, instead of purchasing new ones.

While governments may be working out ways to lessen the impact of plastic bags on the environment, however, each of us should shoulder some of the responsibility for this problem, which ultimately harms us.

The number of humans on this planet, and the ways we manipulate our environment to suit ourselves, are having an unprecedented impact on the natural world. One of the environmental sins that has been prominent for quite some time is plastic bags. People have been arguing over their benefits to business and impact on the environment for decades now. In fact, it has been so long that many people are simply 'bored' of the debate! In reality, ditching the plastic shopping bag is one of the simplest things we can do on a daily basis to help the environment. Today we look at the statistics that explain why environmental bags are one of the major pillars of our natural-world protection strategy.

Extent of plastic bag use in Australia

The Clean Up Australia commission states that Australians use more than 6 billion plastic bags per year. Not million... billion. That represents 272 bags per year, for every single man, woman, baby, grandparent and toddler in the country. Of all of those bags that are consumed daily, only a tiny proportion are recycled (more on that later). Every year on Clean Up Australia Day, more than half a million plastic bags are collected from parks and waterways - they are a major source of litter.

Petroleum and resources used in manufacturing

Plastic bags are produced with ethylene, a by-product of oil and gas production. It is wonderful that the resource doesn't go to waste, but there are actually new plants being built across the world to keep up with polyethylene demand - it is not simply saving a resource from landfill. Over 50% of the ethylene in the world is used to make polyethylene, primarily made into shopping bags, trash liners and product packaging. Polyethylene could be much more effectively used to make long term-use environmental bags for shopping.

Impact on wildlife

Wildlife worldwide is already under intense pressure from the proliferation of humans on the planet, which reduces their available habitat. Add the problem of plastic bags, and many threatened species are dealt another unnecessary blow. Turtles in particular are vulnerable to plastic bags in the environment. Turtles feed on jellyfish, and plastic bags resemble these when floating in the ocean. The plastic bag doesn't break down in the turtle's stomach, however, but takes up all available room and starves it to death. When the turtle dies, the body decomposes faster than the plastic bag, and it is released into the water to do the same thing to another animal. You will not see this happening with environmental bags!

Landfill impact

Global estimates of plastic bag usage are in the range of 500 billion to a trillion every single year. Of these, only 14% are recycled, and around 1-3% end up in the litter stream outside landfill - ie, clogging drains, sea turtle bellies and empty corners. This leaves between 415 and 830 billion plastic bags to go into landfill each year. It takes somewhere between 3 months (for compostable bags) to thousands of years for these to break down, unlike much other landfill material.

Non-recyclable shopping bags - Low Density Polyethylene

The higher quality shopping bags - the shiny, less readily crinkled and slightly heavier bags that more exclusive retailers give out contribute their entire population to landfill - they are made of Low Density Polyethylene, and cannot be recycled.

Although we don't often have the option in Australia, paper shopping bags are little better than plastic. They use a gallon of water to create, per bag, and recycling figures seem to be similar across both mediums. The solution, of course, is to go back to the old days and make things to last... like environmental bags.

Albury Enviro Bags provide a range of green bags and custom printed wholesale bags. Invest in a reusable green bag that is made from environmentally friendly fabrics. For more information or to place an order, visit Shopping Bags.