There’s a hypermarket in Terengganu (I shall not name names) that does NOT allow their customers to leave their premises unless they bag their items. Even if you bought only a bottle of mineral water, they would insist that you bag it. And their plastic bags are of such poor quality that you would need double bags most of the time.
So if you have a trolley-full of groceries, and double plastic bags for every 3-4 items, you’d probably use more than 20 plastic bags in each shopping trip. And that’s a lot, considering that you could actually avoid using any plastic bags at all, by using a box. Or two.
Worldwide consumption of plastic bags
- Do you know that each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide?? That comes out to over one million per minute. Californians themselves discard about 19 billion bags each year. And billions end up as litter each year.
- And according to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the United States (alone) each year.
- The Wall Street Journal documented that the United States goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually.
- Closer to home, Taiwan consumes 20 billion bags a year — and that’s 900 per person.
- And Down Under, Australians consume 6.9 billion plastic bags each year— and that’s 326 per person and an estimated 0.7% or 49,600,000 end up as litter each year.
So why are environmentalists sooo against the use of plastic bags?
- Because hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from ingesting discarded plastic bags mistaken for food. In fact, Environment California reports that plastic bags, and other plastic refuse that end up in the ocean, kill up to one million sea creatures every year, such as birds, whales, seals, sea turtles, and others.
- Moreover, plastic bags aren’t biodegradable, they photodegrade — breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.
- Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups, according to the nonprofit Center for Marine Conservation.
- Plastic bags wrap around living corals quickly “suffocating” and killing them according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
What can we, the consumers do?
- Refuse the use of plastic bags whenever possible. Always bring your own (cloth) bag whenever you go shopping. And if you happen to buy a lot of things, request for a box to hold your groceries.
- Reuse your plastic bags from your grocery-shopping as rubbish bin bags. That way, you save money by NOT buying bin bags.
And what are the solutions that we have, to date?
- In 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.
- In 2002, Ireland imposed a 15-cent tax on bags, which led to a rapid 90 percent reduction in use. Ireland uses the tax to help fund other environmental initiatives. Bags are also taxed in Sweden and Germany, and are set to be banned outright in Paris this year.
- July 2003, ReusableBags.com goes live, advancing the mainstream adoption of reusable shopping bags.
So how much plastic bags do you use daily/weekly? Do you bring your own bags when shopping? Would you refuse a plastic bag if you bought something which can be carried without one? And how successful have you been?
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We should all champion all corporations to use bio-degradable bags..
but some and most of them are very expensive to produce..
tom: Or we could just use cloth bags :) They’re cheap, and they’re reusable. And they can be washed too :)
I always use the cheapest one.. Just a plastic wat~~
Kenneth: Did you not read that hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from ingesting discarded plastic bags mistaken for food??!
Did you not read that plastic bags break down into smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest??!
Did you not read that plastic bags wrap around living corals quickly “suffocating” and killing them??!
So you see, it isn’t “JUST a plastic bag”. Respect the environment.
I try very hard not to get plastic bags, they do adventure home with me sometimes though! I have recently been trying out these to go shopping with. They can fold up small and you can carry them in other bags so it makes it easy to whip out where ever you are. But I think the bag is made out of a form of plastic, nylon, but they do have an entire page on reasons for choosing that fabric. I’m still thinking about it.
Cashiers do look at me funny when I say I will just carry out something I bought, but if its just one item or something I really don’t need a bag. If you have to get a bag, ask for paper. Paper bags are handy for a lot of things around the house and can be reused easily.
Costco has no bags, just boxes. They’ve been doing it for years, but I’m not sure if they did it for the environment or because they sell bulk items that would not fit in a bag.
GnomeyNewt: Cloth bags do the trick too. They can be washed and reused, and they’re cheap. If only other markets allowed the use of cloth bags.
Speaking of hypermarkets that do not use plastic bags. MAKRO used to use boxes too, at a time when entrance was only restricted to members. I’m not so sure about it now.
hi pelf… may be you should think about getting the word out to more people about this month long project participation you are doing…. let the blog action guys know - and it’s possible they’ll have your blog highlighted for everyone to see…. these are some amazing facts and reasons why we all need to actively participate in saving the planet…
I confess I don’t use the cloth bag, but I try and get paper bags as often as I can….. but there is so much more I could do… I’m really glad you stopped by and shared it with me!
Yes, all those plastic bags are indeed bad however, check out the post I linked to or go read the Plastic Ocean article for even more reasons to reduce the use of plastic in the form of bags or anything else.
Adam: Thanks for the informative links!
Hello, all. Yes indeed… for years I would request paper bags. Although the paper industry is dirty, the end product (paper bag) is not toxic.
For the last two years I stepped it up, and I just carry as much as I can in my hands, and use no bags, and have some nice conversations with checkout folks - many are supportive, but their jobs require them to bag or double-bag everything (unless the customer requests not to).
For larger trips I bring cloth bags. I do feel much better - make a little effort and one actually feels MORE free. It seems that happiness is not lack of responsibility and freedom to do whatever, it is taking on responsibility and making choices in which you believe.
re: “Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags.” And these are counted how? who counts them? Who pays to count them? How much fuel and carbon emissions are wasted in order to count them? And who preforms the autopsy on each one in order to find the “Cause of Death?”
Throwing a dart at a wall filled with numbers (ie: Hundreds of thousands) in order to attempt to make an emotional impact to make your point is blatantly misleading and should call attention to the motives, and also to what other facts are misrepresentated. If not purely ficticious.
Now, I agree that biodegradable products is by far better than plastic where the ecosystem is concerned. It’s just the figures that I find purely laughable and insulting.
For years prior to the use of plastic, the environmentalists and other groups where shoving the plastic bags onto us to protect the amount of trees being cut down. Now they’ve changed their minds?
They been shoving Bio-Fuels (from Corn etc) on us and what does it do? It causes food prices to increase as well as feed for livestock, lowers Vehicle MPG, and causes more polution to create than what it’s worth.
Dear Out of line (do you have a real name, and why do you use a non-existent email address?):
I hope I don’t sound rude, but if you want exact figures (since “hundreds of thousands” sounds like “throwing a dart at a wall”) perhaps you should look up scientific journals instead? If you want to know how much fuel and carbon emissions are wasted in order to count them, perhaps you should also seek some scholarly papers, instead of reading a blog?
For your information, Giving Hands is a simple-to-understand blog on matters concerning the environment, charity, volunteerism, etc. It is tailored for the laymen, who want and need only the most basic information.