Listen to this PodcastMore 60-Second Earth
Thin plastic bags are the ultimate throwaway item. Used once to tote groceries, the thin white bags often go on to second lives as permanent pollution and an eyesore. So a host of countries, cities and other governments have banned them or forced consumers to pay for them. The largest such country, by far, was China.
The regulations went into effect last June before the Olympics and the track record is mixed. Bai si wu ran or "white pollution" seems to have visibly declined but that may have more to do with tidying up garbage than any ban.
Even government officials admit the thinnest plastic bags, which were banned outright, are still in use, particularly in remote areas. Small workshops that churn out the contraband bags are easy to set up and hard to police. Small vendors, for their part, seem to think that the rule is no longer enforced and hand them out even in Beijing.
Yet, a survey by the International Food Packaging Association found that the number of plastic bags making their way into garbage had declined by 10 percent over the last year and the Chinese government claimed that supermarkets alone reduced such bag use by 66 percent—some 40 billion fewer plastic bags to get caught in trees, riverbanks or elsewhere. The ultimate hope of the Chinese authorities is for the bags that are used to be recycled.
Plastic bags may not disappear anytime soon but they're getting harder to spot.
—David Biello
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23 Comments
Add CommentBan or charge, there are pros and cons for both. In 2002, the Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to charge for plastic bags - a policy which cut usage by 90% almost overnight.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlthough the scheme has been beneficial for the environment, the measure was initially introduced to reduce litter. So Ireland scored a double, less litter and less landfill.
If I used plastic bags for all my shopping and saved them all, I'll bet I end up with less than a pound of plastic after a year. I use that much petroleum equivalent in a few miles of driving. Why this is such an issue escapes me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut banning plastic bags is contrary to the science. http://www.iowaenvironmentallawupdate.com/2009/07/articles/going-green/sure-plastic-bags-are-better-but-is-that-the-real-question/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut banning plastic bags is contrary to the science. http://www.iowaenvironmentallawupdate.com/2009/07/articles/going-green/sure-plastic-bags-are-better-but-is-that-the-real-question/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSoccerdad, if every American uses one pound of plastic (bags) that is about 300.000.000 pounds of plastic! And the oils used for the driving is used no matter what type of bags you use.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo Gray:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI read the article you recommended. I have to say there is some points I cannot agree. At least it is saying that neither paper nor plastic bag will degrade is definitely not true. Paper will degrade way faster than plastic bags. It is true that if you recycle the plastic bags it will save at lease 90% of the energy to make a new one but the problem is mast people don't recycle them. It claims that the plastic bags will not kill animals. It is true that we don't have direct evidence that plastic bag kills animals but the toxic in the plastic will stay in the animal's bodies and not be metabolized. Those toxic will stay and accumulate in the food chain. That means the top of the food chain will suffer the most from it. Who is on the top of the food chain? It is us, humane!!
It's sad now little science is involved in debates like this, especially on the Scientific American site. Critical thinking seems to have all but disappeared in this country. This fact that this debate over something with such low environmental impact has become such a big deal points to the fact that Americans have very little understanding of scientific method and thought.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGray - thank you for pointing out some reality
Soccerdad - you would actually end up with about 5 lbs of plastic over a year, but that still pales in comparison with the approximate 4.5 lbs you generate every day.
Jurgen - do the math, math is your friend. I terms of the solid waste stream, plastic bags make up about 1/3 of 1% of all garbage. And recycling rates are rising.
Here's the thing... reducing use of plastic bags seems like a good thing that would have a huge impact. But the actual science doesn't show that. Experience also doesn't show that. San Francisco's ban resulted in a complete switch to paper bags, which may seem better because they are "natural" and more easily biodegrade, but paper also requires far more energy (oil) to produce, and causes far more pollution. So San Fran is now consuming more oil, and polluting more, but they have taken plastic bags off the street! Oh, wait... a recent report shows that San Francisco has more plastic bag litter than they did before the ban, and litter reduction was the main point.
Let's give the poor plastic bag a break and start looking at real environmental issues like reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emmissions, and promoting alternative energy creation.
Chemist tobe - you are missing an important point, which the story doesn't make completely clear. In a LANDFILL nothing degrades quickly. Dig down 4o years in a landfill and you can find newspapers that are as fresh as the day they were printed. Landfills are protected from elements that enable things to break down. When organic matter biodegrades it give off toxins - methane gas, leachates, etc. Biodegrading paper in landfills has a much larger environmental impact than the plastic that is not degrading since it contributes directly to global warming. In landfills, plastic is fairly inert.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSure, plastic bags CAN kill animals, and probably do, but certainly not in the numbers that get reported on the internet. Those numbers are greatly exagerated and come from a report that was misquoted.
Yes... plastic isn't recycled in huge numbers, but those numbers are growing all the time. Paper recycling rates are much higher, but paper recycling has also been around far longer. And you don't improve recycling rates by eliminating the products that get recycled.
And you make a huge leap to how plastic affects animals. What is missing are the words "IF INGESTED".
Student develops method to decompose plastic bags
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAn Ontario high school
student has discovered a way to
break down the pesky plastic in a
matter of months.
Daniel Burd, a 17-year-old
student at Waterloo Collegiate
Institute, took home the top prize at
the Canada-Wide Science Fair in
Ottawa for his project. The prize
earned him $10,000, as well as
several other awards
Burds hypothesis was that if
plastic bags do eventually break
down, it should be possible to
isolate and concentrate the
micro-organism responsible for the
decomposition, thus speeding up the
process.
Burd concluded that a
combination of two types of
bacteria - Sphingomonas and
Pseudomonas - was most effective
at breaking down the polyethylene.
After isolating these two
bacteria, combining them with
some sodium acetate and
incubating the solution at 37 C,
Bard was able to degrade the
plastic by 43 per cent in six weeks.
He figures the solution would
entirely break down plastic bags in
a matter of three months.
Burd said his findings could
have a real impact on the amount
of garbage that ends up in landfills
- or as litter in our oceans and on
our streets.
He envisions what he calls
"recycling stations" for plastic
bags, which would essentially act
as large composters.
The article about the student plastic decomposition method was published in Seniors Alive! Newsletter August 2008 Issue. .......
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisseniorsalive@gmail,com
Someone in high school figured this out? Wow. What the heck was I doing in high school?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI use plastic bags from the store as garbage bags. So if they ban plastic bags, I am forced to buy plastic garbage bags, which I have heard are even worse. Not to mention that re-usable bags are often made of cotton, which is grown using considerable amounts of pesticide. So maybe this switch from plastic bags is just displacing which industry contributes to overall pollution levels?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTurtles are getting tangled in plastic bags and are suffocating. The bags inflate into balloons in the water and the turtles think they're food and bite into them. If you insist on using plastic bags, please at least tear them up into small pieces before discarding.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOnce again, soccerdad proves he is an idiot. Have you ever been to Mexico? Or California? Or Nevada? Bags everywhere.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI left Mexifornia and now live in America. Glad you don't live here.
Pollution in China has reached a critical stage. Banning the use of plastic bags, notably the thin ones, is one of the commendable yet positive moves toward the right direction.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe ban would not be expected to bear fruit overnight, but the constant reminder to fight for a cleaner-cum-greener environment and the consciousness thus gained among the massive people could mean a lot to the world’s most populous nation.
i remember when i was little,i saw people around me all using "cai lan zi", a basket weaved with bamboos,they used it to carry vegetibles ,fruits or meats, or even they could put a duck or chick in it. a family usually had one or two bamboo baskets which could be used for several years or more than a decade. a kind of iron trash tool was used to take the garbage to the publich garbage station, the tool could be used many years for a family. now, all of the endurable tools carrying and disposing things have been taken place by plastic bags. and people have been used to using these convenient bags. it'll take a long time for them to change their habits, or if possible they will be persuaded to use the bamboo baskets again. maybe elder people could accept it easily, but for young people,i think it could be a little bit of embassing to carry a bamboo basket to go to a supermarket. coz the basket is somewhat a symbol for jobless housewives and old people whose main job is to make meals and take care of children. paper bags are not a good idea,either. since they can't be used repeatedly,when you do a grocery shopping, you still use a lot of them.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI really doubt it would be less than a pound of plastic. Why don't you try it, Soccerdad? It's not the carbon... how about the fact that they clog up sewers, harbour all kinds of nastiness, and end up eventually in the ocean's garbage patches.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJennyrunning and Tan Boon Tee...Thank you for your insight. There is a growing movement here in America for re-usable shopping bags. Some stores charge extra for the plastic bags or give a discount for using your own bags. They are generally made of light canvas and shoppers like my wife are proud to use them. Chinese culture is fascinating and your comments add greatly to the discussion. I also use large baskets to pick our fruit from the orchard and our vegetables from the garden. But I have to admit that we need a few plastic bags for the dog poop while walking in the neighborhood.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisit's a good policy which can reduce the use of plastic bags.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Earth has been facing immense pollution from our garbage and consumption. The latest deadly pollution is plastic bags that fill up the landfills. With plastic bags becoming a growing concern, <a href="http://www.ecotrendbags.com/products.html">cotton canvas bag</a> has become the new way to help stop the pollution.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWith plastic bag pollution being a rising concern, many shoppers need to start using reusable cotton <a href="http://www.ecotrendbags.com/products.html">canvas bags</a> in order to stop the pollution.
Plastic bag pollution is very deadly and takes hundreds of years to break down. Even if the component is broken done, the deadly chemicals will go into the ground and water system. By reducing the usage of plastic bag, Earth can recuperate. That's why cotton bags should be used world wide to help reduce the pollution.
It is our generation to stop the pollution and start using cotton <a href="http://www.ecotrendbags.com" >canvas bags</a> as the solution. With global warming going out of hand from gas exhaustion, we don't need any more problems especially plastic bags that are harmful when broken down naturally. These broken down elements cause sickness and destruction to the air, soil and water system.
Use cotton canvas bags starting today as a way to stop the plastic pollution that is becoming a major threat to the environment. Our lives are threatened ever more from the growing usage of plastic bags. It is time you bring a canvas bag to shopping the next time you go to a supermarket.
Please learn more at http://www.ecotrendbags.com/
The Earth has been facing immense pollution from our garbage and consumption. The latest deadly pollution is plastic bags that fill up the landfills. With plastic bags becoming a growing concern, <a href="http://www.ecotrendbags.com/products.html">cotton canvas bag</a> has become the new way to help stop the pollution.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWith plastic bag pollution being a rising concern, many shoppers need to start using reusable cotton <a href="http://www.ecotrendbags.com/products.html">canvas bags</a> in order to stop the pollution.
Plastic bag pollution is very deadly and takes hundreds of years to break down. Even if the component is broken done, the deadly chemicals will go into the ground and water system. By reducing the usage of plastic bag, Earth can recuperate. That's why cotton bags should be used world wide to help reduce the pollution.
It is our generation to stop the pollution and start using cotton <a href="http://www.ecotrendbags.com" >canvas bags</a> as the solution. With global warming going out of hand from gas exhaustion, we don't need any more problems especially plastic bags that are harmful when broken down naturally. These broken down elements cause sickness and destruction to the air, soil and water system.
Use cotton canvas bags starting today as a way to stop the plastic pollution that is becoming a major threat to the environment. Our lives are threatened ever more from the growing usage of plastic bags. It is time you bring a canvas bag to shopping the next time you go to a supermarket.
Please learn more at http://www.ecotrendbags.com/
I'm knotting the plastic bag, basically a simple a pretzel knot and discarded, why? Well the mass is concentrated to prevent air pollution (airborn bags), landfill fly away. Consequently minimizing size and overall impact.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlastic pollution in China is serious.Banning the use of plastic bags is positive moves toward the right direction.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou can get many eco-friendly bags here:http://www.wholesalebagsbest.com