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Single-Use Plastic - Explained in Stop-Motion (12)

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Single-Use Plastic - Explained in Stop-Motion (12)

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Single-Use Plastic - Explained in Stop-Motion

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India to Ban Six Single-use Plastic Products from October 2 (11)

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India to Ban Six Single-use Plastic Products from October 2 (11)

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10 most common plastic objects found on European beaches (10)

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10 most common plastic objects found on European beaches (10)

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Plastic is a truly extraordinary substance with many useful applications but it does not make sense to produce it for just a single use when it is so long-lived, persistent, and toxic in the wrong environment.

Disposable plastic shopping bags take around 20 years to break down in the ocean - leaving chemicals and toxic particles (microplastics) behind. A bottle that holds one drink and is disposed of immediately after consumption will take an incredible 450 years or more to break down into microplastic. The majority of all marine litter is plastic and comes from use on the land, traveling via wind and river until it reaches the sea. The energy and economic cost of recycling it is immense and less than 10% is recovered, with 50% going into landfill, some being made into durable goods and much of the rest ending up in the ocean ¹.

Millions of tonnes of plastic floats in the ocean in giant islands of plastic trash. Unknown quantities have broken down into tiny toxic microplastic particles that act in the same way as micro beads, attracting and binding other pollutants and making themselves more toxic in the process. While it floats and degrades, the plastic leaches marine-toxic chemicals into the water.

The effects of plastic bags and bottle caps on seabirds, turtles, seals, whales and other species is graphically illustrated by their deaths from starvation after mistakenly consuming the plastic or from getting tangled up in it.

MarineSafe is involved in #OneLess, a campaign to reduce single-use plastic water bottles in London. ( ZSL.org/oneless )

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Plastic is a truly extraordinary substance with many useful applications but it does not make sense to produce it for just a single use when it is so long-lived, persistent, and toxic in the wrong environment. Disposable plastic shopping bags take around 20 years to break down in the ocean - leaving chemicals and toxic ...

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Single-use plastic: China to ban bags and other items (5)

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Single-use plastic: China to ban bags and other items (5)

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China, one of the world's biggest users of plastic, has unveiled a major plan to reduce single-use plastics across the country.

Non-degradable bags will be banned in major cities by the end of 2020 and in all cities and towns by 2022.

The restaurant industry will also be banned from using single-use straws by the end of 2020.

China has for years been struggling to deal with the rubbish its 1.4 billion citizens generate.

The country's largest rubbish dump - the size of around 100 football fields - is already full, 25 years ahead of schedule.

In 2017 alone, China collected 215 million tonnes of urban household waste. But national figures for recycling are not available.

China produced 60 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2010, followed by the US at 38 million tonnes, according to online publication Our World in Data based at the University of Oxford.

The research was published in 2018 and said the "relative global picture is similar in projections up to 2025".

What has changed?

The National Development and Reform Commission on Sunday issued the new policy, which will be implemented over the next five years.

Plastic bags will be banned across all cities and towns in 2022, though markets selling fresh produce will be exempt until 2025.

The production and sale of plastic bags that are less than 0.025mm thick will also be banned.

The restaurant industry must reduce the use of single-use plastic items by 30%.

Hotels have been told that they must not offer free single-use plastic items by 2025.

China looks to clean up act on illegally produced wood too

By Roger Harrabin, BBC environment analyst

The broadcaster David Attenborough has warned that the planet can't be protected unless China changes its polluting ways.

Suddenly that's just starting to happen.

Following Beijing's clampdown on plastic, there's now to be a ban on illegally produced wood.

For 20 years, China's demand for raw materials has been a massive driver of illegal logging, especially in South-East Asia and Africa.

It's said to be the single largest international consumer of illegally-felled wood.

Now Beijing has amended its law to help timber-producing countries trying to tackle corruption in forestry. It says it aims to protect forestry resources and supports a ban on the cutting of natural forests.

The UK-based Environmental Investigation Bureau said the news was thrilling, but critics will note that the central government tried to force provincial governors to stop building coal-fired power stations - but failed to impose its will.

This isn't China's first campaign against the use of plastics.

In 2008, the country banned retailers from giving out free plastic bags, and banned the production of ultra-thin plastic bags.

And in 2017, China - once the world's largest importer of plastic waste - announced that it would ban the import of foreign plastic waste.

China is not the only country in Asia that has cracked down against single-use plastics.

Thailand announced earlier this year that single-use plastic bags would be banned in major stores, with a complete ban across the entire country in 2021.

Indonesia's capital Jakarta also is banning single-use plastic bags in department stores, supermarkets and traditional markets by June 2020.

The Indonesian island of Bali has also banned single-use plastic.

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Separately, Malaysia has sent back 150 shipping containers of illegally imported plastic waste back to their countries of origin.

"[We] will take the necessary steps to ensure that Malaysia does not become the garbage dump of the world," Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin said on Monday.

She added that there were plans to send back further containers in the near future.

Wealthier countries have been sending plastic waste to Malaysia since 2018, but officials say they are struggling to cope with the amount that is being brought in illegally.

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Single-use plastic: China to ban bags and other items

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China, one of the world's biggest users of plastic, has unveiled a major plan to reduce single-use plastics across the country. Non-degradable bags will be banned in major cities by the end of 2020 and in all cities and towns by 2022. The restaurant industry will also be banned from using single-use straws by the end of 2020.

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Green for Whom? Injustice in Environmentalism (4)

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Green for Whom? Injustice in Environmentalism (4)

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"I went to a really progressive all-girls school in LA. That seems like an oxymoron, but it was actually a very liberal, cool school that taught feminist studies as well. That was kind of my first introduction to these issues."

Since these early beginnings, Christina Roh has wholly immersed herself in activism.

In her day-to-day life, Roh wears many hats. She is an intern at the Women's Center, an all-campus resource that places the experiences of diverse women at its core, and the director of Civil and Human Rights at the Student Sustainability Collective, an Associated Students-funded, student-run collective that heads projects related to eco-friendliness. The position centers around bringing an intersectional approach to sustainability - a role that seems like it was perfectly created for the 4th year Environmental Systems student activist.

The concept of "eco-friendly" is never framed in the context of race, gender, and class, Roh tells me. Roh explains the problem of environmental racism, a type of racism that occurs via environmental policy and decisions, and why the sustainability movement can sometimes be unfair to certain marginalized groups.

This would culminate in her proudest achievement at UC San Diego to date: a panel exploring the hypocrisy of green energy in America. Roh gushes about mentor and role model Leslie Quintanilla, leader of the UCSD Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice and professor in the department of ethnic studies, who she collaborated with on this panel.

For context, Roh tells me of Central America's "Holy Trinity:" Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile, home to the richest lithium deposits in the world. Lithium is highly valuable in the U.S. as the main component of rechargeable batteries - such as the ones in Tesla cars. Tesla, whose stated mission is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy, has seen an increase in popularity in recent years as a valid alternative to gasoline cars. In response to this demand increase, Tesla has begun sourcing lithium from the Holy Trinity, attempting to buy the property rights to lithium rich lands from their governments. Colonialist implications aside, this poses a considerable environmental problem: the lithium deposits are in lake beds, accessible only by evaporating whole lakes.

And the racism problem? Indigenous peoples have lived off the land for generations, relying on those lithium-rich lakes for water supply.

The true cost of environmentalism comes out. This debacle illustrates Roh's message perfectly; in Tesla's journey to transition rich environmentalists to sustainable energy, they have trampled the lives of innocent people.

The irony of destroying ecosystems in another country in the name of preserving the environment in our own is not lost, either. It is classism and racism neatly justified as environmentalism for the select few.

"Green for whom? That's what I always ask," Roh said. "Yes, it's green for us, but it's also killing people."

A joint SSC and CIEJ event organized by Roh and Quintanilla brought four indigenous leaders from Holy Trinity countries, Chile and Argentina specifically, to UCSD to speak about their experience with the depletion of their land and resources and ways they continue to fight back against corrupt governments who value money over the well-being of its people.

"The connection to the environment from indigenous people is so different from how we perceive it here," Roh said. "A lot of how we view sustainability is really not close to being as sustainable or as well rounded as indigenous practices at all. It was beautiful to hear them talk about the stories they had with nature, and all the stories they passed down through generations ... I was beyond thrilled. There was so much love in the air and in the room."

The power imbalance in the environmentalist movement today is not new and has long standing roots.

"I did an event about why the outdoors industry is so white. Like, when did becoming interested in the outdoors become such a white thing?" Roh asked.

It's because environmentalism has an unfortunate history of excluding people of color, she explains. This pattern can be traced back to Madison Grant, eminent conservationist and close friend of Theodore Roosevelt. Grant was also a supporter of eugenics who published "The Passing of the Great Race," a manifesto warning of the decline of the Nordic race if the gene pool was not properly maintained. Roosevelt, who later founded the National Park Service, praised the book.

"Hitler called that book his Bible," Roh added helpfully.

To these men, the great outdoors was a mark of aristocracy, and its preservation crucial to the preservation of the aristocratic race. Even though environmentalism has come a long way since its founding by racist activists, it's not hard to see the outstanding bias.

Green for whom?

Roh wants to open up the outdoors to such historically excluded groups - beginning with her own. The Korean-American activist is currently in contact with Outdoor Asian, an organization that primarily focuses on getting Asian communities more involved with the outdoors and more involved with the environment. Roh hopes to start a chapter of Outdoor Asian in her hometown of Los Angeles, where she lives with her mother and younger sister. The mission of Outdoor Asian is particularly relevant to Roh, as an Asian-American for whom appreciation for the outdoors was an acquired taste. Roh's mother once scoffed at the idea of camping, seeing no intrinsic value of paying money to sleep on the dirt outside. "I've kind of internalized this, and this seems to be a common experience among many of my Asian-identifying friends," Roh said. Nevertheless, Roh does lightheartedly note that there is a significant population of Korean grandmas that frequently go hiking together in LA. Roh hopes Outdoor Asian will help get more of that going.

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Environmentalism has other barriers for entry, and Roh has also been doing research specifically on barriers to sustainable menstruation products. One of Roh's long-term projects is trying to determine how to make sustainable menstruation products, such as menstrual cups and fluid-absorbing period underwear, more widely adopted and if factors such as price, stigma, or education play a role in their accessibility. While she hopes to work with local homeless shelters and organizations outside of UCSD to reduce menstrual waste, Roh acknowledges that it is difficult to expect people without consistent access to clean water or laundry facilities to switch to reusable options.

"This isn't just an environmental issue, it's a human rights issue. People don't even have enough tampons or pads ... [they should have] literally anything so these people can just go on with their lives without getting toxic shock syndrome."

In addition to her Civil and Human Rights programming at SSC, Roh also plans and leads Gender Buffet at the Women's Center, a weekly informal discussion about social issues. This week's topic was De-Stigmatizing STIs, but previous Gender Buffets included a movie and craft session for Valentine's Day, and a panel with several black activists at UCSD.

"We usually like to bring in other orgs, give them a spotlight, give them a platform, and go from there," she said.

After all, the crux of intersectionality is stepping down and allowing others to speak up, and Gender Buffet was where Roh first learned about intersectionality; she came to one Week 2 of freshman year and has since been hooked.

"I'm not gonna lie, I was ignorant when it came to a lot of issues specifically regarding race; I was super into 'end sexism' without talking about the racial aspects. When I first started getting interested in racial politics and intersectional feminism, it was through the Women's Center."

Roh has stepped into the shoes of those before her. Candidly admitting that she has re-shaped her activism over time, she is dedicated to creating a space at the Women's Center where all are welcome as long as they are open to learning and occasionally confronting uncomfortable truths.

And that's just the nature of activism.

"It's kind of disheartening sometimes, I feel like a lot of people often question - why does this matter, why do you care so much, why are you trying to make this so political? And I tell them that they have the privilege to experience these things without it being political. I mean, do you not care about other people?"
Photo courtesy of Christina Roh.

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Green for Whom? Injustice in Environmentalism - UCSD Guardian

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"I went to a really progressive all-girls school in LA. That seems like an oxymoron, but it was actually a very liberal, cool school that taught feminist studies as well. That was kind of my first introduction to these issues." Since these early beginnings, Christina Roh has wholly immersed herself in activism.

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What Are Single-Use Plastics?

Put simply, single-use plastics are goods that are made primarily from fossil fuel-based chemicals (petrochemicals) and are meant to be disposed of right after use-often, in mere minutes. Single-use plastics are most commonly used for packaging and serviceware, such as bottles, wrappers, straws, and bags.

Though plastic-a chain of synthetic polymers, essentially-was invented in the mid-19th century, it wasn't until the 1970s that its popularity skyrocketed. Manufacturers began replacing traditionally paper or glass staples with lighter or more durable and affordable plastic alternatives; plastic jugs replaced milk jars, for instance. Since the 1950s, 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics have been produced, and half of that in the past 15 years alone.

There are many uses for plastic that are not only reasonable but important, such as surgical gloves, or straws for people with disabilities. But these cases make up a small fraction of single-use plastic. According to a 2017 study, more than half of non-fiber plastic, which excludes synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon, comes from plastic packaging alone, much of which is for single-use items.

Why Is Single-Use Plastic Bad?

Single-use plastics are a glaring example of the problems with throwaway culture. Instead of investing in quality goods that will last, we often prioritize convenience over durability and consideration of long-term impacts. Our reliance on these plastics means we are accumulating waste at a staggering rate. We produce 300 million tons of plastic each year worldwide, half of which is for single-use items. That's nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population.

Reducing plastic use is the most effective means of avoiding this waste (and the impacts linked to plastic production and use). Carrying reusable bags and bottles is one great way to avoid single-use plastics in our day-to-day lives; more on preventing plastic waste can be found below.

Recycling more plastic, more frequently, reduces its footprint. Polyethylene terephthalate, one of the most commonly recycled plastics and the material that makes up most water and soda bottles, can be turned into everything from polyester fabric to automotive parts. But a whopping 91 percent of all plastic isn't recycled at all. Instead it ends up in landfills or in the environment. Single-use plastics in particular-especially small items like straws, bags, and cutlery-are traditionally hard to recycle because they fall into the crevices of recycling machinery and therefore are often not accepted by recycling centers.

Left alone, plastics don't really break down; they just break up. Over time, sun and heat slowly turn plastics into smaller and smaller pieces until they eventually become what are known as microplastics. These microscopic plastic fragments, no more than 5 millimeters long, are hard to detect-and are just about everywhere. Some microplastics are even small by design, like the microbeads used in facial scrubs or the microfibers in polyester clothing. They end up in the water, eaten by wildlife, and inside our bodies. They've even made their way up to the secluded Pyrenees mountain range and down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. For wildlife, microplastics can be particularly dangerous; when eaten they can easily accumulate inside an animal's body and cause health issues, like punctured organs or fatal intestinal blockages.

Single-Use Plastics and Pollution

Although single-use plastic pollution accumulates most visibly on our streets, in fact our water suffers even more. Litter can be the first stage in a waste stream that enters waterways as plastics tossed on the street are washed away by rain or travel via storm drains into rivers and streams. Our waterway plastic pollution is particularly concentrated: Just ten rivers carry 93 percent of the world's total amount of plastic that enters the oceans via rivers each year.

In 2015 researchers from the University of Georgia estimated that between 4.8 million and 12.7 million metric tons of plastic per year make their way into the oceans via people living within 30 miles of a coast. The majority of this pollution-dominated by single-use plastic waste-comes from countries lacking infrastructure to properly manage waste, particularly in Asia. India, for example, generates 25,940 tons of plastic waste every day but collects only 60 percent of it. (It's also important to remember that waste management is just one part of the global materials cycle. For instance, a lot of the plastic produced in Asian countries is for products that serve U.S. demand-and the United States often sends plastic waste back to these countries for recycling.)

Marine animals bear the burden of this influx of garbage into their habitats. Beached whales have been found with stomachs full of plastic trash. And recent studies found plastic in the guts of 90 percent of the seabirds tested and 100 percent of the turtles. Alarmingly, scientists estimate that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by weight in 2050. Not only is plastic estimated to kill millions of marine animals and seabirds each year, but it's also contaminating seafood that humans have relied on for millennia, particularly with microplastics in animals' guts.

Our addiction to plastic also has negative impacts on the climate. A recent report showed that plastic production contributes to planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions at every point in its life cycle. The process of drilling for plastic's source materials, oil and gas, leads to methane leaking and flaring and is often combined with clearing forests and wetlands that otherwise would have sequestered carbon. Refineries where crude oil is turned into plastic make up one of the most greenhouse gas-intensive industries in the manufacturing sector. And "cracker plants"-which break, or "crack," ethane molecules, a component of natural gas, into the chemical building blocks of plastic products-are energy intensive and highly polluting. In 2015 a mere 24 of these ethane cracker facilities in the United States had the combined carbon output of 3.8 million passenger vehicles. And the recent fracking boom, resulting in a surplus of oil, is fueling a subsequent rise in cracker plants, too. That's bad news for our carbon reduction goals: if plastic production continues unabated, its greenhouse gas emissions could reach 1.34 gigatons per year by 2030 -equal to adding nearly 300 new coal-fired power plants-even as the need to curb global climate change becomes more urgent.

Plastic pollution-whether in our oceans, piling up on our coastlines, or contributing to our climate crisis-impacts vulnerable communities first. Even if plastic doesn't end up in the ocean, recycled plastic is often exported from high-income countries to developing countries to process. But the sheer amount of plastic waste inundates communities until they are drowning under thousands of tons of plastic trash. This is the case particularly in Southeast Asia, which has begun to import much of the plastic that used to go to China for recycling. Not only does the waste destroy the land itself, but when plastic is incinerated (as is the case for unrecyclable plastic at some illegal facilities) its toxic fumes quickly become a health hazard for residents, leading to everything from skin rashes to cancer. Such is the case with many environmental crises: the worst effects are pushed onto overburdened communities with the fewest resources to fight back.

Should We Ban Single-Use Plastics?

Plastic is putting a strain on waste management systems, our oceans, and vulnerable communities the world over. A wave of single-use plastic bans is sweeping the country and the globe-most often on plastic bags, straws, stirrers, and takeout clamshells. (Some places are going so far as to ban single-use plastics entirely; most notably, India intends to go this route by 2022.) Among the U.S. cities to outlaw plastic straws are Malibu, Berkeley, Seattle, and Miami Beach. Plastic bag bans-ideally accompanied by a fee on paper bags-are also catching on. New York State and Hawaii just passed theirs, set to go into effect in 2020, and California's bag ban, which was passed in 2014, has been shown to have reduced plastic bag usage by 85 percent (with some customers opting to pay a 10 cent fee for thicker plastic bags) and has reduced coastal pollution.

What do the bans accomplish? They prevent millions of tons of plastic from entering the waste stream each year. And when it comes to waste that lasts forever, every ton counts. In New York, 23 billion plastic bags are used by residents each year. Not only does banning single-use plastic reduce pollution, but it also reduces demand for plastic production that's contributing to global climate change. But beyond these impacts, the bans have cultural effects. Companies are forced to innovate, rethinking their designs and sourcing sustainable materials. And they help shift consumer mind-sets, as people begin to recognize that exorbitant and avoidable waste is not sustainable.

Large producers of single-use plastics can make a big environmental impact. As part of the Break Free From Plastic movement, Greenpeace volunteers conducted an audit of plastic pollution along coastlines, sifting through tens of thousands of individual pieces across 42 countries to identify the pollution's sources. They discovered that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé products were found most often. Coca-Cola has said that it alone produces three million tons of plastic packaging each year, equivalent to a terrifying 200,000 plastic bottles per minute. Policies like bottle bill laws-which generally require retailers to add a fee on individual bottles, which can then be partially redeemed by customers when they recycle-are a way to increase corporate responsibility for waste while providing a monetary incentive to recycle. In Taiwan, which was once overflowing with so much trash that it spurred public protest and the nickname "Garbage Island," companies now either manage their own waste or subsidize government-run infrastructure. Accompanied by high social accountability and musical garbage trucks, that strategy has proved wildly effective: the island now reports recycling rates above 50 percent.

Some companies are taking initiative on their own. McDonald's swapped its plastic straws for paper at its United Kingdom and Ireland restaurants. Disney is eliminating single-use plastic straws and stirrers at all its theme parks, resorts and properties. And Starbucks, which uses an estimated one billion plastic straws per year, is phasing them out in favor of paper ones. These actions are a response to calls for change and shifting consumer habits.

Avoiding Single-Use Plastics

Individual choices -and the collective shifts they bring about-add up quickly. Making just one simple swap, like purchasing a reusable water bottle, can spare the environment hundreds of plastic bottles each year. Here are a few more tips for ridding your life (and your community) of single-use plastics for good.

Always pack a reusable bag when shopping. (And yes-reusable totes are better for the environment than plastics, recent media claims aside.)

Cook more often, to reduce your use of plastic-heavy takeout containers.

Buy in bulk. Avoid individually packaged goods, like snack packs.

Though buying online sometimes has a lower carbon footprint than shopping in a store (skip the express delivery option, if you can), online shipments are still chock-full of plastic. Your best bet to reduce your footprint and plastic waste? Walk, bike, or take public transit to buy in-person.

Avoid plastic wrap altogether by storing leftovers in reusable containers. Try reusable and compostable beeswax wrap for an easy and decorative option.

Buy a metal or bamboo reusable straw. Pack it alongside reusable cutlery (like wood, bamboo, or metal chopsticks) for sustainable eating on the go.

Talk to the owners of the restaurants you frequent. Ask if they have nonplastic alternatives to plastic straws, stirrers, or bags.

Speak out in support of local plastic bans, whether by calling your local government representative, submitting an op-ed to your city's newspaper, or simply starting conversations with neighbors.

Let companies that make your favorite products know that you care about the packaging. Tweet, call, or send letters to these companies to ask them to switch to more durable, recyclable, compostable, renewable, and/or recycled-content packaging with less fossil fuel-derived plastic.

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Here's everything you need to know about the most ubiquitous (and avoidable) kind of plastic waste: the kind made to be tossed in mere minutes.

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Sustainability Issues We Don't Talk About Enough (3)

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Sustainability Issues We Don't Talk About Enough (3)

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Sustainability Issues We Don't Talk About Enough

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What Are Single-use Plastics and Should They Be Banned? (1)

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What Are Single-use Plastics and Should They Be Banned? (1)

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In early January 2020, China joined the growing movement of more than 120 countries pledging to ban single-use plastics. The country of 1.4 billion citizens is the No. 1 producer of plastic waste in the world. It topped 60 million tons (54.4 million metric tons) in 2010 based on a September 2018 report titled " Plastic Pollution."

But China announced it plans to outlaw the production and sale of non-degradable bags by the end of 2020 in major cities (and everywhere by 2022), as well as single-use straws by late 2020. Markets selling produce will have until 2025 to follow suit.

The push to ban plastic took center stage in 2018 with massive promotions like the award-winning # StopSucking campaign, which featured stars like NFL quarterback Tom Brady and his wife Gisele Bündchen and Hollywood actor Adrian Grenier pledging to give up single-use plastic straws. Now countries and companies are saying no to plastics by the dozens, and consumers are following along with them.

As the plastics-ban movement hits major milestones - such as China's latest announcement - we decided to define the bottles, bags and straws that are causing this global stir.

What Is Single-use Plastic?

True to its name, a single-use plastic is disposable plastic that's designed to be used once then tossed or recycled. This includes everything from plastic water drink bottles and produce bags to disposable plastic razors and plastic ribbon - really any plastic item you use then immediately discard. While these items can be recyclable, Megean Weldon of the blog and waste-prevention shop Zero Waste Nerd says that's hardly the norm.

"In reality, very few plastic items can be processed into new materials and products," she says in an email. "Unlike glass and aluminum, plastic isn't processed into the same item it was when it was collected by a recycling center. The quality of plastic is downgraded, so eventually, and inevitably, that plastic will still end up in a landfill."

Take a plastic water bottle. Most bottles say they can be recycled - and based solely on their easily recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) composition, they could be. But nearly seven out of 10 bottles end up in landfills or tossed as litter. This problem increased when China decided to stop accepting and recycling plastic in 2018. For municipalities, that meant recycling became significantly pricier, according to The Atlantic, so many municipalities are now simply opting for the budget-friendly landfill over recycling.

Pair this landfill-first approach with the world's ever-growing plastic consumption - humans produce almost 20,000 plastic bottles per second, according to The Guardian and America's waste grew by 4.5 percent from 2010 to 2015 - it's no wonder the world is overflowing with plastic waste.

Plastic Could Outlive Us All

Think banning all of this plastic is overkill? There are some very solid reasons why it makes sense. First, plastic in landfills just doesn't go away. According to Weldon, a plastic bag takes 10 to 20 years to degrade, while a plastic bottle takes almost 500 years. And, even when it's "gone," its remnants remain.

"Plastic never breaks down or goes away; it only breaks into smaller and smaller pieces until they're so microscopic they can be found in our air and our drinking water," Kathryn Kellogg, author and founder of the waste-reduction website Going Zero Waste, says via email.

Some grocery stores have switched to biodegradable plastic shopping bags as a way to meet consumers in the middle, but research shows this is hardly a savvy solution. One study from researchers at the University of Plymouth in England analyzed 80 single-use plastic grocery store bags made of biodegradable plastic over the course of three years. Their goal? Determine just how "biodegradable" these bags really were. Their findings were published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Soil and seawater didn't lead to bag degradation. Instead, three of the four types of biodegradable bags were still sturdy enough to hold up to 5 pounds (2.2 kilograms) of groceries (as were the non-biodegradable bags). Those exposed to sun did break down - but that's not necessarily positive either. The small particles from degradation can quickly spread through the environment - think air, ocean or the belly of hungry animals who mistake plastic fragments for food.

Can't We Just Reuse Single-use Plastic?

Another reason many countries are prohibiting single-use plastics is because they shouldn't be reused, despite our best intentions. As many municipalities forego recycling, it's tempting to take matters into your own hands by reusing (and therefore "recycling") plastic bottles and containers. Sure, this may work for bags, but experts say to take caution when it comes to plastic bottles or food containers. One study in Environmental Health Perspectives showed that all plastics used in food containers and plastic bottles could release harmful chemicals if used repeatedly. (This includes those said to be free of bisphenol A [BPA] - a controversial chemical that's been linked to hormonal disruptions.)

While researchers are still analyzing the safety of repeated plastic reuse, experts recommend glass or metal to avoid potentially harmful chemicals. And according to Weldon, it's time we adopt a reuse mindset - be it cotton produce bags, stainless steel straws or a full-on zero-waste.

"The worst thing about any single-use item is that we devalue something to the point that we intend to throw it away," she says. "The convenience culture has normalized this destructive behavior and as result, we produce millions of tons of it every single year. If we change our mindset on what we consume, we will be more aware of the single-use plastic we use and how we can avoid it."
This story is a part of Covering Climate Now's week of coverage focused on Climate Solutions, to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration committed to strengthening coverage of the climate story.

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What Are Single-use Plastics and Should They Be Banned?

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In early January 2020, China joined the growing movement of more than 120 countries pledging to ban single-use plastics. The country of 1.4 billion citizens is the No. 1 producer of plastic waste in the world. It topped 60 million tons (54.4 million metric tons) in 2010 based on a September 2018 report titled " Plastic Pollution."