Plastic shopping bag

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Plastic shopping bags/Carrier bags are a common type of shopping bag in several countries. These bags are typically manufactured from HDPE plastic (recycling code 2).

Composition

Plastic shopping bags are most often made of polyethylene, (low-density or high-density).

Although not in use today, plastic shopping bags could be made from Polylactic acid (PLA) a biodegradable polymer derived from lactic acid. This is one form of vegetable-based bioplastic. This material biodegrades quickly under composting conditions and does not leave toxic residue. However, bioplastic can have its own environmental impacts, depending on the way it is produced.

Bags made of biodegradable polythene film, which decompose when exposed to sun, air, and moisture, and are also suited for composting have been proposed as an alternative to conventional plastic shopping bags. However, they do not readily decompose in a sealed landfill and represent a possible contaminant to plastic recycling operations.

Environmental issues

Plastic shopping bags have advantages and disadvantages when compared to alternatives such as paper bags. All disposable bags are problematic from an energy use and disposal perspective.

Advantages

The durability, strength, low cost, water and chemicals resistance, welding properties, lesser energy and heavy chemicals requirements in manufacture, fewer atmosphere emissions and light weight are advantages of plastic bags. Many studies comparing plastic versus paper for shopping bags show that plastic bags have less net environmental effect than paper bags, requiring less energy to produce, transport and recycle; however these studies also note that recycling rates for plastic are significantly lower than for paper. Plastic bags can be incinerated in appropriate facilities for waste-to-energy. Plastic bags are stable and benign in sanitary landfills.

Disadvantages

In 2002, a National Packaging Covenant Council plastic bags working group in Australia identified four main concerns with plastic shopping bags:

1. Plastic bag littering, and associated indiscriminate waste disposal and consumer behaviour;
2. Resource consumption issues, including reduction, reuse and recycling;
3. Plastic degradability issues relating to littering and resource use;
4. Social issues, community education and awareness, and consumer perceptions.

The following disadvantages have also been identified:

• Plastic bags are made of petrochemicals, a nonrenewable resource.
• Plastic bags are flimsy and often do not stand up as well as paper or cloth.
• When disposed of improperly, they are unsightly and represent a hazard to wildlife.
• Conventional plastic bags are not readily biodegradable under any normal circumstance.
• Plastic bags can cause unsupervised infants to suffocate.

Reduction

Reduced plastic shopping bag use can either be achieved by reusing the bags themselves or by shopping with other types of bags. Durable bags brought from home are the most environmentally-friendly alternative. Paper shopping bags may or may not be a better alternative to plastic, depending on the environmental effect considered most important.

Recycling

According to the United States EPA, only 1% of of plastic bags were recycled in 2000. When one ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil is saved.

According to the UK government department for environment (DEFRA), there are several problems with plastic recycling, and in particular plastic bags:

• the high volume to weight ratio of plastic means that the collection and transport of this waste is difficult and expensive
• there are often high levels of contamination in plastic making the recyclate less usable, especially where food products are involved
• there is a very wide range of plastics in use and segregation is difficult
• the market for using recycled plastic is underdeveloped

Solutions by country

Australia

In Australia shoppers are now encouraged to buy bags called "green bags" which cost a few dollars, but can be reused many times. The bags are coloured depending on the company that sells them. Some "green bags" are insulated for the carrying of hot or cold items. Locally, the town of Coles Bay banned plastic shopping bags in April, 2003.

Bangladesh

Plastic shoping bags are banned in Bangladesh, where they are thought to causing flooding during monsoons by clogging drains.

Ireland

On March 4, 2002 the Republic of Ireland introduced a 15 cent levy on every plastic shopping bag. This led to a 95% reduction in use and increased use of reusable bags. The money gathered by the levy was used to raise money for environmental initiatives. Many retailers in Ireland switched to supplying (untaxed) paper bags, or simply stopped supplying bags. Most supermarkets continued to supply plastic bags, subject to the tax. The charge was increased to 22 cents on July 1, 2007.

France

Growing awareness of the ecological impact of plastic bags have lead main mass retailers to force customers to buy reusable plastic or nonwoven bags. This has been adopted by supermarkets (like Carrefour) - they manage out of that scheme to improve their image and save millions on the purchase of the former plastic bags. Nonfood related retailers (like Cloth) tend to prefer to switch to paper bags that allows them to match the ecological demand & updgrade their image on two aspects: ecology & quality. In Paris, a ban on plastic bags will take effect in late 2007; a nationwide ban is scheduled to rake effect on January 1, 2010.

Germany

Generally, most German supermarkets charge between 5 and 25 cents per single-use bag, depending on the type of bag. Most shops also offer cloth bags or sturdier, woven plastic bags for about €1, encouraging shoppers to re-use them. Many high-street retail shops will provide bags free of charge. Most people will re-use single-use shopping bags, i.e. for collecting deposit bottles or using them as bin liners.

Japan

Almost any store you visit in Japan, from convenience stores to street vendors, will also net you a free plastic bag for your purchase. Although there are some supermarkets (like Kyoto Co-op) which charge for plastic bags, this is by no means the norm. Many supermarkets (like Izumiya) will give you extra points on your point-card if you bring your own bag.

New Zealand

In recent years cloth bags have been promoted and sold by some supermarkets as an alternative to plastic bags. In August 2006 the Collingwood community in Golden Bay declared itself shopping bag free by a group of local residents who promoted the idea. In early 2007 a nationwide campaign was kicked off with the aim of introducing a shopping bag levy similar to Ireland's.

South Africa

Mohammed Valli Moosa, the Environment and Tourism Minister of South Africa, jokingly named them the "national flower" of that country, and worked to introduce a minimum legal thickness of 30 micrometres to increase their cost, reusability, and recyclability. They may not be legally given away to shoppers, and must instead be sold, however this rule is not always enforced strictly.

Taiwan

Plastic shopping bags are banned in Taiwan.

United Kingdom

Growing awareness in the UK of the problems caused by indiscriminate use of plastic bags is encouraging some large retailers to reward customers who bring their own bags or who reuse or recycle existing bags. This has been adopted by Tesco, who call it the 'Green Bag Scheme'. This scheme gives the customer a "Green Clubcard Point" (see Tesco Clubcard), which has the monetary value of 1p, for every bag they reuse (or indeed if they use any bag that isn't taken from the Tesco bag holders, such as a backpack they own). Retailers in Modbury have voluntarily eliminated usage of plastic bags, the first town in the country to do so. The Saffron Walden branch of Waitrose has eliminated free carriers completely, only supplying bags for life, with other branches within the chain trialling individual "green tills" where no free bags are supplied.

A campaign called morsbags.com has started in the UK and is spreading around the world. It involves making shopping bags out of recycled, unwanted material and handing them out for free. It is known as 'sociable guerilla bagging'.

United States

Plastic bags largely displaced paper bags as the most common type of shopping bag during the late 1980s and early 1990s. There has been no broad government action against the litter problem, although some local governments have enacted ordinances, and many stores allow customers to return the bags for recycling. Empty bags carried on the wind are popularly known as "urban tumbleweed."

On March 27, 2007, the City and County of San Francisco became the first city to ban common plastic shopping bags. Starting July 2007, all large supermarkets in the state of California will be required, by law, to take back and recycle plastic shopping bags.

Portland Oregon is next to ban Plastic bags according to Thanh Tan of news Channel KATU. See the news video Video. Currently Trellis Earth Products of Portland Oregon is one of the only manufacturers of corn based Bio bags.

Plastic shopping bags are banned in at least 30 villages and towns in Alaska, including the towns of Emmonak, Galena, and Kotlik.

Ikea, the home furnishings retailer, imposes its own charge for plastic shopping bags in the US — charging $0.05 to any customer who wants a plastic sack. A similar charge has been in place since spring 2006 at Ikea stores in the UK, and the company says it has reduced use of bags in UK stores by 95 percent. Ikea hopes the 5-cent fee in the U.S. cuts bag use in half, from 70 million bags a year to 35 million.

Zanzibar

The island of Zanzibar banned the import and use of plastic shopping bags in November, 2006. The bags had been responsible for a significant litter problem, and government officials enacted the ban to protect tourism, an economic mainstay for the island..

See also

• Bioplastic
• Plastic bag
• Environment
• Litter
• Bin bag
• Plastic recycling
• Biodegradable polythene film
• Biodegradation
• Photodegradation
• Refuse-derived fuel
• Trash bag

Books

• Selke, S, "Packaging and the Environment", 1994, ISBN 1566761042
• Selke, S,. "Plastics Packaging", 2004, ISBN 1569903727
• Stillwell, E. J, "Packaging for the Environment", A. D. Little, 1991, ISBN 0814450741
• Scheirs, J., "Polymer Recycling: Science, Technology and Applications", 1998, ISBN 0471970549

External links

• www.progressivebagalliance.com[2] The Progressive Bag Alliance is dedicated to ensuring that plastic bags are recycled, reused and disposed of properly.
• [3], up-to-date international news regarding regional and country-wide bans of plastic shopping bags.
• [4] 10 ways to reduce your carbon emissions