Plastic Bags and Their Environmental Impacts

Blog One: Plastic Bags

Plastic bags are a very common thing in our lives that we encounter almost everyday. We may not realize all the environmental impacts that plastic bags have. One local impact of plastic bags is their effect on the oil industry. Plastic bags are made out of oil. According to the documentary, "Battle of the Bag" plastic bags account for 4% of natural gas and oil. Although this may seem like a very small fraction of the total natural gas and oil we produce, it has significant impacts on the environment. The oil for the creation of plastic bags is manipulated and massaged until it becomes polyethylene. This is a plastic that is almost impossible to destroy as it resists degradation. As a result, plastic bags can take anywhere from four hundred to one thousand years to disintegrate. Since they take so long to disintegrate, they cause many problems for the environment and animals. 

Plastic bags that are not disposed of properly or taken to the landfill often end up drifting through the wind and find their way into the water or into fields. These are prime animal habitats and these animals will eat the plastic bags. Sea creatures, especially turtles, will eat the plastic that ends up in the ocean. According to a research study done by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), "A turtle had a 22% chance of dying if it ate just one piece of plastic. Once a turtle had 14 plastic items in its gut, there was a 50% likelihood that it would die." (https://www.wwf.org.au/news/blogs/plastic-pollution-is-killing-sea-turtles-heres-how#gs.vyybrc) This is significant because the amount of plastic in the oceans is extremely high and just one small piece of it can kill several animals. Turtles are sometimes fooled and mistake the plastic for jellyfish, which is one of their favorite foods. Numerous turtles and other animals die from ingesting this plastic as it causes blockages within their digestive systems. 

There are many ways in which people have attempted to solve the local impact of plastic bags. One of the most common ways that this is happening is through bans. Most people use a plastic bag once and then throw it away. They tend to use plastic bags out of habit, because its faster and easier and it is often all that is offered and they don't have any other choice. Imposing bans requires companies to provide other types of bags or requires people to bring their own reusable bag when they go to the store. In some places in the world there are bag police that go around to different stores to ensure that they are using the proper bags and not ones that are banned. If they find bags that are banned, that company faces major fines and can ruin their reputation. 

The infographics below show places in the United States and around that world that currently have bans or taxes in place, cities that have this pending and proposed, as well as ones that have rejected a bag ban or tax. In the United States map we can see that half of the country has taken steps to ban plastic bags. The places that have successfully enacted these bans tend to be in major cities and along the coast lines. This makes sense because bigger cities would produce more plastic waste due to the number of people that live there. It also makes sense that coastal cities have enacted bans due to the environmental impacts that plastic has on sea life. In the world map we can see that several countries have bans in place, especially in Europe, China, and India. This is significant because these countries account for a vast majority of the world's population. The world map also provides environmental and economic impacts that have resulted from the ban or tax.  

Bag Bans in the United States

https://www.reusethisbag.com/articles/plastic-bag-bans-worldwide/

Bag Bans Worldwide

https://www.reusethisbag.com/articles/plastic-bag-bans-worldwide/

According to Canadian Plastics Industrial Association, "Reuse and recycling is a better approach than banning or taxing." I would agree with this statement and I think that the reuse and recycling should be done on a local scale. Plastic bags that are already in circulation can be recycled and used to make other plastic bags. I think that this would be successful if the user had some sort of incentive to motivate them to do this. If these bags are able to be reused, they can be broken down into their original compounds and then created into new bags that are made from natural products that decompose easier. The manufacturing process of bags is also significant because it keeps over 7,000 people working. In a day and age where unemployment rates are a big concern I think that it is necessary to keep businesses open and people employed for as long as possible. If the reusing and recycling program doesn't end up working on a local scale then I think that something needs to be done on a global scale because the impacts of the plastic bag waste affect the whole world.

Overall, there are many environmental impacts that occur as a result of plastic bags. Steps need to be taken to control the problem before it gets more out of hand and reaches a point where nothing can be done to solve these problems.