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Single Use Plastic Bags or Durable Enviro Bags? |
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Single use bags being phased out
Plastic bags used by shopping centres are such a major environmental problem in Australia and around the world (1-10) that many countries and cities are taking steps to ban them (11-16).
Since single use plastic bags may be discarded into the environment after just one brief use these types of bags are considered to pose the biggest environmental threat (17-19).
While single use bags may have a very short life as a carry bag for one trip from the supermarket back home, they may then have a very extended second life as pollutants in the environment.
Furthermore, the constant production and disposal of these single use 'throwaway' bags is extremely wasteful of resources.
Reusable enviro bags to reduce consumption
For these reasons the current trend is to develop and use more reusable enviro bags which will significantly cut bag consumption because such bags may be reused, perhaps for 2-3 years (9,20-24).
One reusable bag which is constantly reused for its normal life of 2 years may replace 1000 single use bags consumed during the same period.
Experts also worry that even single use biodegradable or compostable bags may increase consumption and waste resources because of their short life (25-28), hence the current trend to use more reusable bags.
Only by repeatedly reusing our bags can the issue of consumption be addressed.
See our article about Reusable Bags for more details.
Plastic shopping bag free communities
As the consequences of pollution from single use plastic bags becomes clearer more businesses and communities are voluntarily choosing to ban such bags and utilize more environmentally friendly alternatives, especially reusable bags (29-39).
Non woven polypropylene plastic or compostable enviro bags?
Currently non woven polypropylene plastic is the most popular material for reusable bags because of its durability, water resistance, recyclability, and low cost.
However, from a purely environmental perspective there is no doubt that reusable bags manufactured from natural plant fibres such as jute or organic cotton are much superior to bags derived from synthetic plastics such as non woven polypropylene.
Unlike non woven polypropylene bags, natural fibre bags made from jute or cotton are 100% biodegradable and compostable.
The use of single use biodegradable or compostable bags on the other hand, remains somewhat controversial because of concerns about increased consumption and littering as compared to reusable shopping bags (25,26,27,28).
For a detailed look at the advantages of natural fibres as compared to non woven polypropylene see our in depth article Natural Jute Shopping Bags or Synthetic Polypropylene Plastic?
or check our article on Jute and the International Year of Natural Fibres and don't miss our jute video!
Non woven bags and the environment
The fact that non woven polypropylene bags degrade into tiny pieces of plastic and are not compostable creates somewhat of a less visible problem than that posed by single use plastic bags. Concerns are increasing about the possible consequences of environmental plastic pollution from minute pieces of plastic,
which because of their minute size, are impossible to remove from the environment (3, 40,). The possible environmental effects of these microscopic plastic pollutants are of course totally unknown.
Since experts did not predict the environmental effects of single use plastic bags then we must all wait to see the eventual environmental impact of microscopic plastic pollution from non woven shopping bags. It is an experiment which, like it or not, we are all part of.
While the use of non woven polypropylene addresses many of the current environmental concerns about single use shopping bags, it remains the responsibility of everyone to minimize pollution by reducing consumption, increasing recycling, and disposing of litter properly.
Enviro bags will never be a substitute for responsible behaviour.
For reusable bags, check our range of non woven bags and natural bags made from natural jute fibre.
Sources
1. No Bag Thanks, Karen Pearce, ABC.
2. The Indestructibles, ABC.
3. Beyond guilt's horizons a plastic invasion fleet gathers, Brisbane Times, Catherine Cheung | June 14, 2008.
4. Reusable Bags.
5. The battle of the bag, Sydney Morning Herald, February 28, 2008.
6. Plastic bag damage goes beyond visual pollution, Herald Sun, Jill Singer, January 14, 2008.
7. Victorian Government's plastic bag trial- Use Less Plastic Shopping Bags, Sustainability Victoria
8. Wikipedia, Plastic Shopping Bags.
9. Plastic Shopping Bags – Analysis of Levies and Environmental Impacts, Final Report, NOLAN-ITU Pty Ltd for Department of the Environment and Heritage, australian Government, 2002.
10.Say No to Plastic Bags, Clean Up the World Pty Ltd.
11.S.F. FIRST CITY TO BAN PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS, San Francisco Chronicle, March 28, 2007.
12.SA to ban plastic shopping bags in 2009, Sydney Morning Herald, June 18, 2008.
13.China bans free plastic shopping bags, New York Times.
14.Councils ready to ban plastic shopping bags, The Guardian, Tuesday 13 November 2007.
15.Plastic left holding the bag as environmental plague, Seattle Post Intelligencer, July 21, 2004.
16.Irish bag tax hailed success, BBC News, 20 August, 2002.
17.Analysis of the Issues Regarding Single-Use Retail Carryout Bags, CITY OF PALO ALTO, March 2008.
18.Why Plastic Bags are a Problem, Voctorian Litter Action Alliance, 2003.
19.Plastic R etailC arry BagU se 2002-2005 Consumption, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government, 25M ay 2006.
20.New Focus in The Bag Market – Reusable Bag.
21.BUY PLANET ARK REUSABLE BAGS.
22.No Plastic Bags.
23.Dirty old bags, The Age, June 29, 2004.
24.Plastic Shopping Bags in Australia, National Plastic Bags Working Group Report to the National Packaging Covenant Council, 6 DECEMBER 2002.
25.Are biodegradable plastic bags the answer to cutting waste?, Food Production Daily, 19-Nov-2004.
26.The impacts of degradable plastic bags in Australia, ExcelPlas AustraliaCentre for Design at RMIT Nolan-ITU, September 2003 (minor revisions applied April 2004).
27.What About Biodegradable Bags?.
28.What about biodegradable plastic check-out bags?,Planet Ark.
29.Modbury, Great Britain's First Plastic Bag Free Town.
30.Welcome to Modbury. Just don't ask for a plastic bag, The Guardian, 28 April 2007.
31.THIRTEEN VICTORIAN COMMUNITIES GO PLASTIC BAG FREE, Media Release, Office of Premier, April 19, 2006.
32.Make Emsworth Plastic Bag Free!
33.REMOTE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES SAY NO TO PLASTIC BAGS.
34. Tips For Councils And Towns,Planet Ark.
35.Plastic Bag Free Towns, . Planet Ark.
36.Victoria Pushes Ahead Without Plastic Bags, Media Release, Office of Premier, May 29 2006.
37.The Gascoyne Growers Market Plastic Bag Free Initiatives, Towards Zero Waste in Western Australia, Department of Environment and Conservation.
38.Bamboo, Hemp and Plastic Bags, Mogo Goes Bag Free First.
39.Plastic check-out bag use in non-supermarket retail outlets, Planet Ark Environmental Foundation for the Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government, March 2005.
40.Plastics 'poisoning world's seas', BBC News, 7 December 2006.
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Shopping Bags