“The plastic bag is an accepted a part of Canada’s procuring tradition, nevertheless it should not be. Yearly we use over 9 billion plastic procuring bags in Canada. That is 17,000 bags a minute.”
– Greener Footprints
Canadians use 9-15 billion plastic procuring bags yearly
To get a really feel for simply what number of bags that truly is, image this: if we tied 9 billion bags collectively, they might circle the earth 55 occasions (Greener Footprints).
Holy Dinah!
Yearly it is estimated between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are used throughout the globe. Though they weren’t extensively used till the Eighties, their impression has already been felt around the globe.
A fast stroll by your neighbourhood can typically reveal how pervasive plastic bags are in terms of the issue of litter. Hanging from tree branches or tangled in hedges, plastic bags have turn into a miserable fixture in city inexperienced areas like parks, schoolyards, and sports activities fields. Such litter will not be solely ugly; it will possibly additionally contribute to main environmental points.
Giant buildups of discarded plastic bags can clog drainage programs and contribute to main floods. Such flooding brought about widespread destruction in Bangladesh in 1988 and 1998. Manila has additionally been weak to flooding because of plastic-bag clogged sewers. In 2009, greater than 80% of the Philippines’ capital was submerged. A whole bunch have been killed and 1000’s extra have been left homeless when complete neighbourhoods have been swept away.
Different aquatic chaos created by plastic bags has confirmed lethal to those that dwell within the water as properly.
Roughly 100,000 whales, seals, turtles and different marine animals are killed every year by plastic bags, which may strangle their victims or trigger them to starve to loss of life, in accordance with Planet Ark, a world environmental group. A useless grey whale that washed ashore in Seattle in 2010 was discovered to have greater than 20 plastic bags in its abdomen.
A 2012 College of British Columbia research discovered that 93 per cent of beached northern fulmars (migratory seabirds associated to the albatross) had bellies filled with plastic – a considerable enhance from the final time they have been examined, in 1980.
Actually, plastic packaging is accumulating so rapidly, it is anticipated to outnumber fish within the sea by 2050, in accordance with a latest report by the World Financial Discussion board.
Yikes.
In line with the David Suzuki Basis, “Few plastic bags are recycled. Most are used for a short while to hold groceries, after which possibly re-used as rubbish bags or to wrap dog poop earlier than ending up within the landfill or the ocean. Some individuals argue that, as a result of they make up about one per cent of the quantity of waste in landfills, we should not fear. However one per cent of the large quantities of what is in landfills is quite a bit, particularly since plastic does not biodegrade.”
Most pliable bags are made out of polyethylene and may take a whole lot of years to decompose.
However steps are being taken to cut back the environmental footprint of plastic bags. Use of plastic bags is both restricted or utterly banned in over 1 / 4 of the world’s international locations.
China, Italy, Bangladesh, South Africa, and elements of Australia have banned plastic bags outright, whereas municipal bans exist in elements of India, Mexico, Britain, the U.S., and Canada.
Plastaxes – taxes on plastic bags paid by customers – and new recycling legal guidelines have additionally been introduced in to assist handle the difficulty.
In February 2016, Walmart Canada started phasing out one-use procuring bags at Canadian Walmart shops. Rather than these, prospects will probably be provided discounted reusable bags for 25 cents. However plastic bags will nonetheless be provided for 5 cents in an effort to cut back the variety of single-use bags they distribute.
In my neck of the woods (Sidney, British Columbia), the grocery retailer I frequent does not have plastic grocery bags however they do supply single-use brown paper bags – or, after all, you should use reusable grocery bags or a reusable cardboard box, particularly designed to carry the load of groceries. My private choice is a box and several other reusable bags.
Though my neighborhood is supposedly very environmentally-friendly, I must say that, primarily based on my private observations, the vast majority of the grocery retailer prospects nonetheless select the single-use brown paper bag over the reusable bag and/or box. And I am unsure why. Comfort, maybe?
What about these little produce bags?
Nevertheless, in terms of bagging my fruits, veggies and bulk meals, I nonetheless discover myself reaching for the small clear plastic bags off the roll-dispenser each time I’m going to the grocery retailer. So that is an space I will work on enhancing: remembering to carry again to the shop my plastic produce & bulk meals baggies so I can reuse them a couple of occasions, as an alternative of at all times getting new ones biodegradable trash bags B0B5FCNSF7.
7 Easy methods to cut back using procuring bags
1. Use reusable material procuring bags (hold them in your car or a spot the place you will bear in mind to make use of them)
2. Think about using a reusable cardboard box, particularly designed for carrying groceries
3. Seek the advice of customer support or ship a letter/electronic mail to shops to inquire about what they’re doing to cut back using plastic bags
4. Assess whether or not it’s good to use bags as rubbish liners – when you need not use them, then do not
5. Re-use plastic bags as a lot as doable
6. Recycle the bags you’ll be able to’t reuse by taking them again to the grocery retailer for recycling (or using different plastic bag recycling applications)
7. Keep away from pointless use by telling the cashier you do not want a bag for one or two objects
Reusable bags are the answer
A sturdy, reusable bag will final for years, and solely must be used 5 occasions to have a decrease environmental impression than a single-use bag.
It isn’t troublesome to make use of a reusable procuring bag… however it’s a option to make it a precedence.
The answer to lowering plastic bag waste is actually within the bag: use much less bags within the first place. And, when you do have to make use of one, then be inventive in getting a number of makes use of out of it. And when this is not an possibility, be sure you recycle it.