 |
|
|
So, what are the alternatives?
Plastic bags consume 40% less energy to produce than paper bags
Plastic bags generate 80% less solid waste than paper bags
During their lifecycle paper bags produce 70 times more air pollutants than plastic bags
Paper bags produce 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags
Paper and Plastic bags have been very useful tools in our society and served their purpose well - it's time for a change.
The alternatives are reusable products!
|
|
 |
|
|
The Alternative
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
|
- It has been reported by the Sierra Club that if every New York resident reduced their consumption of plastic bags by just 1 per year it would reduce waste by 5 million lbs. and save $250,000 in disposal costs.
- The Sierra Club have also reported that reusing a bag meant for just one use has a big impact. A sturdy, reusable bag needs only be used 11 times to have a lower environmental impact than using 11 disposable plastic bags.
- International experience shows that the use of plastic bags can be substantially reduced in a very short period of time. Introduction of alternative reusable bags has shown to be an effective means by which to reduce consumption of plastic bags.
- This strategy has been most effective when combined with legislative pressure for supermarkets and non grocery distributors of plastic bags to impose a levy on customers who choose to use plastic bags instead of reusable bags.
The Irish Example
- The Irish public consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags during 2001. In 2002 the Irish government introduced a levy, called the PlasTax, and the consumption of plastic bags was reduced by 90%. It is estimated that this has saved 430,000 barrels of oil and thousands of pounds of greenhouse emissions in the form of carbon dioxide equivalents.
The Australian Example
- A report commissioned by the Australian government in 2002 identified that the use of reusable bags for a period of 1 year:
- consumed only 9% of the energy; and
- produced only 10% of the greenhouse emissions of standard plastic bags.
- In the three years after the introduction of the alternative shopping bags Australian consumption of plastic bags had reduced from 6 billion bags to 2.5 billion bags per annum. The reduction of 3.5 billion bags per annum equates to approximately 1.4 million barrels of oil and thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents.
The International Experience
- Other countries, including but not limited to, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Bangladesh, Vietnam, China, Japan and Taiwan have introduced some forms of governmental reforms aimed at reducing the country’s consumption of HDPE bags.
Shouldn’t we be doing something too? |
|
|
 |
