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This country banned plastic bags - should we all do the same? - BBC News

Kenya has the world's toughest ban on single-use plastic bags - you can be fined thousands of dollars or jailed for using them. The ban was introduced in 2017, so is it working? Please subscribe HERE http://bit.ly/1rbfUog

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This country banned plastic bags - should ... - SafeShare

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Kenya has the world's toughest ban on single-use plastic bags - you can be fined thousands of dollars or jailed for using them. The ban was introduced in 2017, so is it working?

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10 Reasons why plastic bags should be banned

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10 Reasons why plastic bags should be banned

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Plastic bags are a convenient way to carry our purchased goods when we go shopping. They are a part of our modern lives, and we don't tend to think much about them. In fact, it is estimated that up to 10 million plastic bags are used every minute around the world [1].

300 to 700 plastic bags pass through the hands of an average American in just one year [8] and a survey of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs concluded that the average household in the United Kingdom stores around 40 plastic shopping bags at home [2].

What about you? Do you also have that overflowing kitchen drawer full of plastic bags you bring from your shopping trips?

If the answer is yes, you should know that this inadvertent overconsumption of single-use plastic carries with it a very high cost to the environment, which in turn also negatively affects our health.

How? Well, let's have a look at the most important reasons why single-use plastic bags should be banned right now.

10 Good reasons why are plastic bags bad for us and for the environment

#1 Plastic bags pollute our land and water

Plastic bags are everywhere. Look around and you will notice that plastic bags are the most common litter. Tangled in trees and fences along roads, floating in water, lying on the ground in parks and forests, surrounding garbage bins, washed off on beaches...

Because they are so lightweight, plastic bags get easily picked up by wind and travel long distances by wind and water to pollute the nature.

Plastic bag litter has even caused great problems in some areas. For example, millions of discarded plastic bags clog water drainage channels and sewers in urban areas of Bangladesh. When the monsoon rains start, streets get waterlogged just after the first few minutes because the water cannot pass through clogged sewerage pipes.

For many of us it is hard to imagine that something as small as a plastic bag can actually cause flooding, but residents of some cities in Bangladesh have been struggling with this problem every monsoon season for the past two decades [3].

The Pasig River in the Philippines is another scary example of the negative effects of plastic bags on the environment. Some tributaries of the river have been filled with plastic waste to the level that you could almost walk across them without getting your feet wet. Unfortunately, such a high level of pollution doesn't come without consequences. The Pasig River is the eight worst source of ocean plastic pollution in the world.

#2 Plastic bags are made from non-renewable resources and contribute to climate change

We hear everywhere around us that we need to save energy. It is good for our environment, health and global climate. But only a few of us realize that each time we accept those disposable plastic grocery bags at store checkout, we actively participate in wasting energy and depleting non-renewable resources.

The majority of plastic bags are made of polyethylene, a substance that is derived from crude oil refining and natural gas processing.

Oil and natural gas are non-renewable fossil fuel-based resources and through their extraction and production, they emit greenhouse gases, which contribute to global climate change.

The production of these bags is very energy intensive. Globally, 8 to 10 percent of our current oil supply goes to a plastic bag manufacture [4]. In the United States alone, statistics reach up to 12 million barrels of oil that are used each year to produce even more plastic bags - 100 billion more, to give you the precise number [5].
To produce nine plastic bags, it takes the equivalent energy to drive a car one kilometer (more than 0.5 miles).
Using these non-renewable resources to make plastic bags is very short-sighted, considering that the typical useful life of each plastic bag is about 12 minutes and that the world's oil reserves contain enough oil to cover our needs through 2050, as the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates.

#3 Plastic bags never break down

Petroleum-based plastic bags are composed of very resistant synthetic polymers that may take up to 1,000 years or never until they completely degrade in natural environments [6]

What does occur in most instances is that when out in the environment, the plastic breaks up into tiny microscopic pieces that get deposited in soils (where we grow food) or contaminate waterways. These pieces can be so small that they are invisible to our eye.

You can be sure of one thing, though. Even when you don't see it, these indestructible particles are everywhere around us, including in the food chain.

Already in 2001, researchers found that the mass of microscopic plastic fragments in the North Pacific Central Gyre was 6 times higher than of plankton. The subtropical gyres of the North Pacific Ocean are also documented to contain the highest concentrations of plastic. It's because Asian and US coastlines release large amounts of plastic waste in the ocean [7].

But this comes along with many unanswered questions. We do not know the full impact of microplastics exceeding the mass of plankton in the ocean. We don't know how it will in the long term affect plankton-feeding species and their predators.

Scientists have recorded some species of zooplankton eating tiny plastic particles. Considering what important source of food plankton is for many other species, it is clear that plastic gets distributed across the marine ecosystem.

The truth is that we do not know yet the full scale of negative impacts plastic waste can have on marine and terrestrial environments because it hasn't been around long enough to allow us to assess possible scenarios of its influence on natural cycles.

However, one thing we know, is that by introducing a pollutant that may never break down in the environment can have implications that will far exceed any of our predictions.

#4 Plastic bags are harmful to wildlife and marine life

Have you ever seen endangered sea turtles hatch? They are tinier than a palm of your hand and appear so fragile when struggling across the beach to make it to the sea.

Even human footprints left in the sand represent mountain-like obstacles in their path and waves washing up on the beach are another challenge, as they thrust them back on the dry land to try once again before finally being picked up by a return current and start swimming for their life.

Since their birth, baby turtles have only one goal - to get to the sea and swim into deep waters where they will feed and if successful grow into adult turtles. On their long journey, they will encounter many difficulties and only a small portion of them will survive.

Sadly, one of their newly acquired enemies is created by us who should protect them instead. Plastic bags.

Plastic bags floating in the ocean resemble jellyfish, one of the main sources of food for some species of sea turtles, especially the critically-endangered Leatherback turtles.

According to a study carried out in 2013, up to 35 percent of turtle deaths were caused by plastic ingestion and the probability that sea turtles will consume even more plastic increases every year [9].

Sea turtles are not the only species suffering from plastic bag pollution of the environment.

Nearly 20 years ago, a dead pelican was found with its stomach filled with 17 plastic bags [10]. In 2008, a crocodile in Australia died because of 25 plastic bags filling its stomach [11]. A calf had to be put down because of indigestion caused by 8 plastic bags in its stomach. These examples could go on for a long time...

Plastic bags are often mistaken for food by animals, birds, and marine life. The consumed plastic congests the digestive tracts of these animals, and can lead to health issues such as infections, painful intestinal blockage, starvation or death by suffocation.

The most heartbreaking part of this is that the affected animals are not aware they eat something that will make them feel miserable and will slowly kill them.

Animals can also easily become entangled in this plastic waste. There were numerous cases of birds caught in plastic bags, unable to fly and feed, eventually strangling themselves to death.

Similar fate has met dolphins, seals, cats, dogs, deer and many other animals which got severely cut on their bodies due to plastic bag entanglement.

National Geographic made a video on how helpless it feels to be caught in a plastic bag. Have a look yourself to imagine the suffering of these animals.

Video credit: Youtube / National Geographic

A last example of a true horror caused by plastic has been discovered just recently. A 2018 study of coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific has confirmed that plastic waste deposited on coral reefs promotes outbreaks of diseases that gradually destroy whole reef colonies [12]. So, plastic waste only speeds up the destruction of these most biodiverse ecosystems on earth.

#5 Plastic bags are harmful to human health

Many of you may have heard it already. Tiny plastic particles have been found in human feces.

But is it really that surprising?

Microplastics were found in soft drinks like Coca Cola, in tap water, in seafood... It has contaminated our food chain, so it should not surprise us that it can be tracked in our body.
In fact, according to researchers, every second person on the planet could have some microplastic in the body [13].
The reason to worry is that scientists do not know how our metabolism and immunity will react to the increased concentration of plastic particles in our system. They suspect that it may add stress on the liver by introducing more pathogens into the body.

Additionally, plastics in our digestive tract may affect absorption of some important trace elements (like iron) which we need for maintaining proper health [13].

Plastic bags and plastic products overall contain substances that are harmful to our health. The most common are inorganic dyes that are added to change the color of plastic bags.

These dyes on their own can leach toxins, but they can also be contaminated with traces of heavy metals such as lead or cadmium, both of which affect kidney health and proper functioning of other organs.

Plastic fragments in the ocean such as those from plastic bags can absorb pollutants like PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and PAHs (Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) easily. These are known to be hormone-disrupting chemicals.

Another indirect danger of plastic bags has breeding ground in the pollution they create.

Plastic waste that clogs water drainage channels and river tributaries of many Asian cities increases exposure of residents to water-borne diseases, as it creates a toxic soup that remains stranded in one place for prolonged periods of time.

#6 Plastic bags are not easy to recycle

As plastic bags tend to get caught in recycling machinery, most recycling facilities do not have the capacity to recycle plastic bags and therefore do not accept them.

In fact, plastic bags are considered by many recycling facilities the number one contaminant and their removal from the recycling stream costs municipalities close to $1 million a year [18].

Since plastic bag recycling requires a specialized equipment that can break down the plastic and mold it into a new product, most municipalities do not have the budget to include their recycling in their waste management program. So, plastic bag recycling facilities are few and far between and transportation to one could be expensive.

As a result, the actual recycling rate for plastic bags globally is between 5 to 15 percent, while in the United States it makes only 1 percent a year [17].

An additional problem with plastic grocery bags recycling is their cleanliness. Ideally, to be suitable for recycling, bags need to be clean to be accepted, which is often a problem, considering that we use them to carry groceries and potentially leaky goods.

#7 Plastic bags are costly to pay for and to clean up after

If there is one piece of advice that everyone should remember, it would be that " nothing is for free" in this world.

While we may not pay for plastic bags directly when we go shopping, they are anything but "free."

On average, plastic bags cost retailers about 3-5 cents each. It may not seem like much, but when you imagine how many bags they have to provide throughout a year, you will quickly realize that plastic bags are costly. So, retailers incorporate this cost "hiddenly" into prices of other items sold at stores.

Additionally, someone has to pay the cost of dealing with plastic bags in the waste stream. This includes waste collection, regular cleanups to remove plastic bag litter along the roads or blown away from landfills and then even processing at landfill sites.

According to some estimates, the cost of plastic bag cleanup is about 17 cents per bag [14] and the cost is paid by us once again.

On average, taxpayers end up paying about $88 per year just on plastic bag waste [15].

So that "free" plastic bag isn't so free after all.

#8 Plastic bags have external costs

Beyond the costs associated with the production and purchasing of plastic bags by retailers, there are many external costs that are often not considered.

These costs include the true environmental costs of resource extraction and depletion, the loss of quality of life, economic loss from littering, and wildlife loss.

Unfortunately, such costs are typically not included in most economic analyses, as they are not easy to calculate because the equation would have to involve many indirect variables.

However, in 2014, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) supported the first project to calculate the "real" cost of plastic, including adverse environmental impacts of its production, use and disposal.

The resulting number is staggering. Plastic use costs approximately $75 billion a year [16].

#9 There are better alternatives available, and jobs to go with them!

The very best alternative is a reusable bag. Do you wonder why?

The explanation is quite simple. Reusable shopping bags are very durable and can be reused many times over the course of their useful life.

This means that you are not consuming more resources every time you need to carry your groceries home. Instead, you are actually reusing a product, and that means that you are utilizing earth's resources smartly, while at the same time reducing waste.

For example, a reusable jute bag should last at least 4 years, during which it can prevent the use of 600 single-use plastic bags.

Once a person gets into the habit of bringing reusable bags when shopping, it is not much of an inconvenience at all. After all, ask your grandparents, they will remember that during their time people were used to go shopping with their own bags or baskets.

The manufacturing of reusable bags or compostable alternatives to plastic bags offers a new opportunity to create sustainable products and provide jobs that go with them.

The trend has already started. There are some great initiatives that strive to provide jobs for women in rural communities with limited possibilities of securing monthly income.

#10 Other governments are banning plastic bags, so yours should too... or at least make people pay for them

To date, around 60 countries and municipalities around the world have instituted plastic bag bans, and additional seven countries are planning to enforce the law in the closest future.

Some countries have decided to do so after directly experiencing negative impacts of plastic bags, other countries have implemented the ban to reach their sustainability goals.

Let's see some examples:

The first country to ban single-use plastic bags was Bangladesh in 2002 when plastic bag litter clogged drainage channels and contributed to destructive floods.

Other country that has decided to enforce the country-wide plastic bag ban after suffering of negative consequences was Mauritania. The country instituted the ban in 2013 to minimize livestock deaths. Prior the ban, 70 percent of livestock losses were attributed to plastic bag ingestion [20].

In the United States, California has banned single-use plastic bags in 2016, but the city of San Francisco has locally issued this ban already in 2012 and consumers pay a little fee for other alternatives like compostable bags or recycled paper bags.

Another example of a locally issued ban is Seattle where not only single-use plastic bags have been banned but also single-use compostable and biodegradable bags. This measure should encourage people to switch to reusable alternatives.

For those governments that are opposed to full bans on plastic bags, another option is to institute a plastic bag tax, where consumers or retailers would pay a small fee for each plastic bag.

This strategy has been adopted by some countries and municipalities so far and has proven to greatly reduce plastic bag usage by consumers.

For example, in Botswana, the consumption of plastic bags dropped by 50 percent after the introduction of the tax in 2007. In Ireland, where this fee was instituted in 2002, plastic bag usage decreased by about 90 percent. This means that the average consumption of plastic bags per person dropped from 328 bags per year to just 21 [20].

While these countries and municipalities have been making strides in their part of reducing circulation of plastic bags, in total there are 195 countries in the world [19] and the issue of plastic pollution is still getting out of our hands. That is why the United Nations Environmental Programme Secretariat has recommended a ban on all plastic bags globally.

Steps towards a plastic bag free future: How to help ban plastic bags in your community?

Plastic bags have become such a nuisance because we as consumers use them excessively even when not needed and authorities haven't figured out effective ways of dealing with them as waste.
Until recently, the impact of plastic bags has been largely underestimated and overlooked.
Logically, the key to starting a change in your community is education.

This means that you need to first educate yourself about the problem. You need to know what effects plastic bags have on the environment and health. What is the root of the problem (consumers or municipal waste management)?

But you should also consider the other perspective - what effect single-use bags have had on the local economy and product affordability. You should examine what alternatives are available and whether local retailers, who often operate with a limited monthly budget, have the ability to make the switch.

By being aware about these issues, you will be ready to present some strong arguments why plastic bags should be banned in your area and answer questions of people who will become your ally if you will persuade them about your good intentions. Which brings us to the second part...

Second step is educating others.

Help raise awareness of fellow consumers - that means everyone when you think about it (unless they don't shop...ever).

Communities with good awareness about negative impacts of plastic bags have been more successful at enforcing the ban [20]. This is because the customers voluntarily reduce their consumption of plastic bags, which in turn provides enough time for retailers to find suitable alternatives and switch to them.

Once the wheel starts spinning, it leads to even more positive changes. The decrease in demand for plastic bags forces manufacturers to reduce their production and consider expanding in a supply of alternative products.

Additionally, awareness raising campaigns create a social pressure that should inspire local government and institutions to help in making changes at a bigger scale, like a regional ban or levy.

You as an individual have the power to make a gradual change in your community. Start from yourself and slowly expand to your family and friends. Individual actions can lead to collective actions.

How to stop using plastic bags?

The first answer to this question that comes to everyone's mind is to stop using plastic bags, right? Simply, refuse them when offered and bring your own reusable bag when shopping.

These steps are pretty straight forward and depend on your own initiative.

However, we are all too familiar with situations when a cashier automatically puts your items in a plastic bag before you can oppose it.

In many instances, it may seem too awkward for you to refuse the bag, so you accept it this one time, but you should know that it is fine to say no politely even at this stage if you don't want that bag. The cashier usually understands, only had to do what instructed and what most customers expect (unfortunately) from him or her. We all are just trying to do our job well.

In countries with a lack of awareness about negative impacts of plastic bags, a polite refusal might not be met with much understanding. Then, you should try to explain your reasons for not wanting your products packed in plastic bags.

Most retailers will get your point, but it can also happen that they will not be willing to sell you some products without placing it in their plastic bags because of having to oblige with some hygiene and sanitary standards (for example when selling meat products).

If this happens, there are a few scenarios you can follow:

You could either discuss with a store manager a possibility of bringing your own containers for these products.

Look for another place that does accept or use alternative packaging, such as small local stores that use paper wraps or compostable bags.

Or you may need to accept that plastic bag this time and then start campaigning for a plastic bag ban in your area 😊.

What to do with plastic bags you already have at home?

The best thing you can do with those old plastic bags that have been stashed in that overflowing drawer in your kitchen is to recycle them.

You cannot recycle them in the regular curbside collection of plastic, but you should be able to find many larger food stores and retailers (for example: Target, Walmart, Tesco, Morrisons, etc.) that do collect plastic bags and other plastic films and send them for proper recycling.

You can use some easy online locators to see the closest plastic bag drop-off. All you need to do is paste your ZIP code and then see the list of stores with bag drop-off in your nearest location.

Most drop-off collection points accept plastic bags made from high-density polyethylene (plastic number 2) and low-density polyethylene (plastic number 4). It means that most bags can be recycled.

This includes grocery plastic bags, Ziplock-type bags, dry cleaning bags and bread bags.

There is only one requirement - these plastic bags need to be dry and clean, otherwise they contaminate the entire batch and your effort will do more harm than good.

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10 Reasons Why Plastic Bags Should Be Banned | Greentumble

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Many countries have already put plastic bag restrictions in place. The following are a number of reasons why plastic bags should be banned.

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3 reasons why banning plastic bags is problematic

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3 reasons why banning plastic bags is problematic

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Three reasons why banning plastic bags is problematic - Environment - The Jakarta Post

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Latest research shows plastic bags make up only a fraction of marine debris in the waters of Greater Jakarta.

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What Is the Lifecycle of a Plastic Bag?

Five trillion disposable plastic bags are produced each year. That's a whole lot of bags using up a ton of resources, and they have some long-term severe environmental impacts. Check out our infographic to follow the life cycle of a plastic bag, and learn about the entire journey.

Help Us Spread The Message by Sharing the Infographic on Your Website or Blog Using this Code:

<a href="https://www.factorydirectpromos.com/life-cycle-of-a-plastic-bag" ><img src="http://static.factorydirectpromos.com/media/wysiwyg/Infographics/life-cycle-of-plastic-bag-large.jpg" at="Life Cycle of a Plastic Bag" title="Life Cycle of a Plastic Bag" /></a>

The Role Nonrenewable Resources Play In the Process

Disposable plastic bags are made using nonrenewable resources, like oil and natural gas. These materials are heated and processed into strings stretched to form a thin plastic film that is turned into ubiquitous plastic bags.

The bags are customized with branding and shipped off to retail locations where they are used to pack up customers' purchases and carry goods. On average single-use plastic bags are used for 20 minutes. It is frustrating to use nonrenewable resources to create bags that are used for a mere 20 minutes. When oil and natural gas are used, that's it - there is no more. There is a limited supply of these resources, so they need to be responsibly managed.

Recycling Disposable Plastic Bags Is Not Working

It is possible to recycle single-use plastic bags, but only a tiny percentage of the bags created are recycled. If most single-use plastic bags were recycled, that would change the conversation, and it would not be such a waste to use nonrenewable resources.

Some recyclable materials can only be recycled for a specific amount of time. Plastic can be recycled an unlimited amount of times. The hold-up when it comes to recycling plastic bags in the process.

The thin bags can easily become tangled in the machinery, which slows down and complicates the process. For this reason, most recycling facilities do not accept disposable plastic bags, and most people in the U.S. cannot simply toss their old disposable plastic bags in their curbside recycling bin.

Many grocery stores accept old plastic bags for recycling, but a lack of outreach prevents these programs from reclaiming anywhere near the amount of bags handed out.

The Reality for Plastic Bags Once They Have Been Used

Since recycling is not working, you may wonder where all of those plastic bags end up. Most plastic bags end up in landfills or as litter. Many people will reuse disposable plastic bags to line trash cans or clean up after pets, and in these instances, the bags typically end up in the trash and are trucked off to a landfill.

The problem with this turn of events is that disposable plastic bags do not break down. The bags will sit there in a landfill forever. Given time, the plastic will become brittle and break apart into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic.

Some plastic bags end up as litter because people carelessly toss a bag no longer needed on the ground. Sometimes single-use plastic bags end up as litter because a strong breeze lifts a discarded bag out of a garbage can or landfill and carries it off. Litter is a huge nuisance. It is an eyesore and poses a significant risk to animals and their habitats. Studies have shown that the oceans are drowning in plastic litter due to ineffective recycling efforts.

Make the Switch to Reusable Shopping Bags

From wasting nonrenewable resources to inflicting environmental harm, disposable plastic bags are not worth it. On the other hand, reusable shopping bags give you the same benefits and usefulness as single-use plastic bags, but without any of the hassle or harm. The durable construction of our reusable bags means they can be used for many years.

Suppose your business customizes one of our reusable bags to promote your brand. In that case, that reusable bag will be spreading your branding message for years, delivering a fantastic return on your investment.

If you have any questions about working with us or the process or need a quote, get in touch, and we can help you out!
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The Life Cycle of a Plastic Bag - Infographic | Factory Direct Promos

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What Is the Lifecycle of a Plastic Bag? Five trillion disposable plastic bags are produced each year. That's a whole lot of bags using up a ton of resources, and they have some serious long-term environmental impacts. Check out our info graphic to follow the life cycle a plastic bag, and learn about the entire journey.

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Plastic Bag Bans Around The World | AG Electronics Recycling

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Did you know that the U.S. uses an average of 380 billion plastic bags a year, while the rest of the world uses 500 billion? Keep in mind that the U.S. is just one country in a world of almost 7 billion. No matter how you look at it, we use far more than our fair share.

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The Statista "Chart of the Day" currently focuses on two sectors: "Media and Technology", updated daily and featuring the latest statistics from the media, internet, telecommunications and consumer electronics industries; and "Economy and Society", which current data from the United States and around the world relating to economic and political issues as well as sports and entertainment.

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Infographic: The Countries Banning Plastic Bags

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The Statista "Chart of the Day" currently focuses on two sectors: "Media and Technology", updated daily and featuring the latest statistics from the media, internet, telecommunications and consumer electronics industries; and "Economy and Society", which current data from the United States and around the world relating to economic and political issues as well as sports and entertainment.

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Every year, one trillion plastic bags - single use - are used, equating to 2 million per minute. Different countries have different usage levels, but the entire world has to commit to reducing this usage. A plastic bag is made from depletable resources, yet almost never breaks down.

The average plastic grocery store bag or takeout bag has an approximate 12-minute lifespan. After being tossed out, they clog storm drains and sewage, degenerate into toxic microplastics that fester for up to 1,000 years in our landfills and oceans.

Shoppers, as a whole, use approximately 500 billion single-use plastic bags each year, equating to 150 bags per individual, per year for each person on this plant - or enough to circle the planet 4,200 times.

Carl Heastie, New York Assembly speaker, told the Associated Press, "The convenience of plastic bags isn't worth the impact they have on the environment. By decreasing the state's usage, there will be less plastic pollution in the waterways and less litter in the communities."

Often described as the number one consumer product in the world, and the most ubiquitous, plastic shopping bags are now among the "most-banned" of the world. The United Nations, as of last July, counted 127 nations that taxed or banned plastic bags and bag regulations have grown so rapidly, particularly at the local level, that even a terrorist group, backed by Al-Qaeda, joined in and banned plastic bags because they considered them a serious threat to both humans' and animals' well-being.

To curb the consumption and production of plastic bags, in the year 2008, the Government of China:

Placed a ban on plastic bags thinner than 25 microns

Placed a levy on thicker plastic bags

Promoted the use of shopping baskets and cloth bags

There were exemptions for bags used to handle fresh food like noodles and raw meat for hygiene reasons.

A year following the introduction of the legislation, plastic bag distribution in grocery stores fell on average by 70 percent, which avoided the use of 40 billion plastic bags. Within seven years, the number of bags used by shopping malls and supermarkets shrank by two-thirds, avoiding 1.4 million tons of bags. But, plastic bags do stay common, particularly in farmers' markets and rural areas because of weak enforcement.

In January 2018, China introduced a ban on the plastic scraps import. The ban's impact on the global plastic recycling industry hasn't been estimated yet.

State legislatures have taken a number of measures into consideration for reducing the prevalence of plastic bags at supermarkets and other businesses.

Why Ban Plastic Bags?

Plastic bags are terrible for the economy and the environment. Reducing the use of bags can mitigate harsh impacts to:

It could also relieve pressure on waste management and landfills. While plastic bags, in theory, are recyclable, they're not in practice.

Straws, plastic bags and tiny plastic pieces known as microplastics collect in huge ocean garbage patches, the biggest of which is referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (the widening gyre). This trash-filled vortex is over twice the size of Texas. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch contains over 1.8 trillion floating plastic pieces or around 250 pieces of debris for each individual on the planet.

A pregnant sperm whale recently washed up on the Sardinia shores dead with almost 50 pounds of plastic in its belly. Another dead whale was found less than a month earlier due to ingesting 88 pounds of plastic.

If plastic enters the food chain, it can threaten human health. There are many ways plastic can enter the food chain, for instance, plastic is broken down and winds up in the ocean as well as the marine animals we eat. According to a small pilot study, tiny pieces of plastic have been found in peoples' waste in Russia, Europe and Japan. Water bodies contaminated with plastic and its byproducts is a huge hazard to the environment, according to the UN.

Since most recycling is single stream, the way recyclable objects are gathered together, plastic bags are processed along with stronger objects like:

Plastic bags can become tangled in the machinery, often leading to the machines breaking down.

The remaining majority of the plastic bags not making it into the recycling bin lead to hazardous landfill and incinerator emissions or wind up as litter on the streets, in the parks or in the oceans and rivers.

Each year, 100,000 marine creatures die because of plastic entanglement. Around one million sea birds also die because of plastic.

Here are only a few ways plastic bags harm our environment and our wallets:

Plastic packaging clogs city sewer systems, which leads to flooding. Leftover plastic goods create a breeding ground for mosquitoes and could leach toxic additives like benzene and styrene as they decompose.

Plastic bags wind up in landfills, where they're either burned in incinerators or buried. Towns, cities and businesses pay around $80 a ton for this.

Plastic bags are dangerous to the oceans and the creatures that live in them. Fish and other marine life will eat plastic bags because they think they're food. One study found a quarter of all fish sold in grocery stores contain some type of plastic debris. As plastic breaks down into small particles, it displaces plankton, the primary food source for whales and other large marine mammals.

Plastic bags aren't free. The bags are paid for by the retailers and the cost is passed on to consumers. Four billion is collected each year in profits by the plastic bag industry from U.S. retailers.

Bans and Fees

Eight states have a ban on single-use plastic bags. These states are:

California

California was the first state in August 2014 to impose a ban statewide on large retail store single-use plastic bags. The bill also demanded a minimum charge of 10 cents at certain locations for:

Reusable plastic bags

Recycled paper bags

Compostable bags

The ban was to go into effect on July 1, 2015, however, a referendum forced the problem onto the ballot in the election on November 2016. With 52 percent of the vote, Proposition 67 was passed which means the Legislature-approved plastic bag ban remains the law.

New York

New York was the third state to place a ban in 2019 on plastic bags. Effective March 2020, the law will apply to most grocery stores and other retailers' single-use plastic bags. Bags distributed at the bulk food section and meat or deli counter are exempt, along with:

The law allows counties the choice of charging a five-cent fee on paper bags with three cents going to the state's Environmental Protection Fund and two cents will go to local governments.

Hawaii

Hawaii has a statewide ban in effect since all of its large counties prohibit the use of checkout non-biodegradable plastic bags along with paper bags that contain less than 40 percent of recyclable material. Bans in Maui, Kauai and Hawaii counties took effect through the years 2011 and 2013. Honolulu became the last big county in 2015 to approve the ban.

In 2019, five other different states enacted legislation:

Along with plastic bags, there were also restrictions placed through Vermont's SB 113 on single-use straws and polystyrene containers.

The District of Columbia, in 2009, enacted legislation that required all businesses selling alcohol or food to charge five cents for each plastic or carryout paper bag.

Around 112 states, countries, and cities worldwide have already imposed a ban on a variety of single-use plastic items. Of these measures, 25 are in Africa and 57 are national. And the restrictions list continues growing.

Tackling Land-Based Plastic Pollution

Plastic bag bans have brought on bans of other plastic items, including:

This is part of an expanding effort for reducing single-use plastics that makeup around 40 percent of the plastics manufactured all over the world. But, whether or not bans can substantially reduce plastic waste, which eight million tons of it leaks into the oceans each year, remains to be seen, particularly when you consider that the production of plastic is forecast to double by 2040 and might account for 20 percent of the oil production in the world by 2050.

In the early 2000s, countries started to experiment with different measures of reducing plastic bag dependency and the most common is putting a limit on their free distribution in retail stores. These measures could be extremely effective. Australia reported recently its slow plastic bag ban led to an 80 percent decrease of use. Around 27 countries have placed a tax on plastic bag production and 30 charge their consumers a fee if they wish to use plastic bags.

Another way countries have tried addressing plastic waste pileup is by offering payments for plastic items returned. Twenty-three countries, mostly in the Pacific Islands and Europe, have established rebate schemes or plastic collections centers that enable individuals to earn small amounts of money by returning their plastic items. This strategy also helps countries with their plastic recycling targets and about 26 countries have implemented this strategy.

In some countries, individuals face jail time if they use plastic bags.

Why Plastic Pollution Continues

One reason plastic pollution is still ongoing is that plastic bag regulation is very uneven worldwide and there are many loopholes that exist. Other reasons why regulations for plastic bags aren't yet efficient in slowing ocean pollution down are:
1. Many Countries don't Regulate Plastic throughout its Lifecycle
Not many countries regulate the whole lifecycle of plastic bags - from production and manufacturing, distribution and use to disposal and trade. There are only 55 countries that comprehensively restrict retail plastic bag distribution together with restrictions on:

The rest include inadequacies which may fail to curb plastic pollution overall. For instance, China bans the importation of plastic bags and demands retailers charge their customers for bags, but doesn't explicitly restrict plastic bag production or exportation. EI Salvador, Guyana and Ecuador only regulate plastic bag disposal, but not their production, importation and retail use.
2. Countries Prefer Partial Bans
Eighty-nine countries favored partial bans or plastic bag restrictions over full bans. The partial bans include bag composition or thickness requirements. They regulate a range of biodegradability and thicknesses requirements. For instance, India, France, Madagascar, Italy and a few other countries don't completely ban plastic bags, but instead, they tax or ban plastic bags that's thickness is less than 50 microns.
3. Hardly Any Countries Restrict Manufacturing or Production of Plastic Bags
Manufacture volume limitations are the least used regulatory strategy. There is only one country that includes an explicit limit on production - Cape Verde. The country imposed a percentage reduction on the production of plastic bags, beginning in 2015 at 60 percent and growing in 2016 to 100 percent when it put into force its full ban.
4. There are Numerous Exemptions
Of 91 countries with bans on plastic bags, twenty-five include exemptions; some have several exemptions. For instance, cambodia exempts the import of smaller volumes of plastic bags from its ban for non-commercial reasons. Fourteen African countries have clear plastic bag ban exemptions. Exemptions might relate to certain products or activities. Common exemptions are:
5. Incentives Aren't Offered for Single-Use Plastic Bag Alternatives
Governments frequently fail to offer subsidies for bags you can reuse. They also don't require recycled content usage in biodegradable or custom recycled rpet plastic shopping bags. Only 16 countries had rules for the use of plastic alternatives or reusable bags, like plant-based material made bags.

Single-use plastic land-based pollution is a gradual-onset disaster demanding a global response. One attractive strategy is to pursue a law binding phase-out on a global level of most single-use plastics. This approach could help build on existing municipal and national efforts to eliminate single-use packaging, and could create opportunities for small and medium-sized companies to develop more benign alternatives.

About the Author

Douglas Lober Chief Product Specialist

Doug Lober is Co-Founder and Chief Product Specialist for ReuseThisBag.com. Lober is a passionate environmentalist with roots in the Southern California surf culture. Over the last 15 years, Lober has launched and supported a number of environmental initiatives around the land, sea, and air. Today, he continues to provide and support the use of eco-friendly promotional products for small, medium, and Fortune 500 companies. You can learn more about his extensive background in the industry on Linkedin.com, Quora.com, Instagram.com, Twitter and Alignable.com

View all posts by Douglas Lober

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Understanding Plastic Bag Bans Around the World [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Every year, one trillion plastic bags - single use - are used, equating to 2 million per minute. Different countries have different usage levels, but the entire world has to commit to reducing this usage. A plastic bag is made from depletable resources, yet almost never breaks down.

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A woman carrying a child stands in front of a giant mound of plastic waste in Bekasi, West Java. ANTARA FOTO/ Fakhri Hermansyah/pras

There has been a growing trend of restrictions and bans on plastic bag use worldwide. By mid-2018, over 127 countries had enacted regulations limiting their use, a more than threefold increase over the last decade.

The latest adherents are Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, the second-largest polluter of plastic waste into the oceans, and Japan, which ranks second for volume of single-use plastic packaging per person. On July 1, both Jakarta and Japan banned the use of free plastic bags at checkout counters.

These recent policies in Jakarta (an outright prohibition) and Japan (a surcharge) are important steps by politicians towards shifting away from a linear economy in which resources are often used once and then discarded. They should indeed decrease the number of plastic bags that end up in landfills, clog sewer systems, spoil our landscapes, degrade into secondary microplastic pollution and kill wildlife. They may also raise environmental consciousness among consumers.

Despite the good intentions of these new rules, plastic bag bans are problematic for a few reasons.

1. They are not the largest sources of plastic pollution

Plastic waste is indeed a very serious problem. Humans use as many as 1 trillion single-use "carrier bags", about 128 per person per year. The total for all single-use plastic is much greater, at 150 million tons per year. Think of this as 19.23kg of single-use bottles, cutlery, straws, packaging and more for every single person on the planet.

However, the latest research shows plastic bags make up only a fraction of marine debris in the waters of Greater Jakarta. Thin or thick plastic wraps and sacks constitute just over 13.5% of all debris items found and 8.5% of their weight.

In Japan, plastic shopping bags account for only about 2% of all plastic waste produced in the country.

Moreover, while plastic bags are visible to us all, we need to remember that what is in them is often more harmful to the environment than the bags themselves. For example, products with heavy plastic packaging and containers can weigh many times more than the bag. Or consider the actual items, from toxic cleaning solvents, to high-food-mile imported strawberries, to soda in an aluminium can.

2. Consumers may shift to worse alternatives

Evidence from previous plastic bag restrictions shows this does reduce their use, but sometimes leads to more environmental harm if customers switch to other materials with larger resource footprints.

Paper bags can require 400% more energy to make, not to mention the harvesting of trees and use of noxious chemicals in production. Growing cotton "requires land, huge quantities of water, chemical fertilisers and pesticides".

Plastic bags use fossil fuels, a nonrenewable resource, and are permanent, entering the waste stream forever. They may cause more pollution on land and in waterways, but have less effect on climate change and land use than other types of bags.

Biodegradable bags, perhaps surprisingly, could be "the worst option" in terms of their impact on climate, harm to soil, water pollution and toxic emissions.

In the end, a decision on the type of bag becomes about which particular environmental issue takes priority.

3. Consumers, who feel good about not using plastic bags, may do more harm in other ways

Researchers in psychology have observed people often harm the environment when they try to save the planet. For example, they might buy more of a product, like groceries, because they are labeled as eco-friendly.

This is related to the concept of compensatory behaviour.

For example, people may feel that, since they recycle, they don't need to consider the extra meat they ate that week. Or because they walked instead of driving to the store, they deserve to buy an extra piece of clothing.

Sometimes compensatory action takes the form of attempts to account for previous harms. For example, buying carbon offsets for flying might make a passenger feel good, but from an environmental perspective it's less desirable than not boarding in the first place.

The point here is that reducing plastic bag use might grant people mental licence to take other actions that are more detrimental to the environment.

So where does this leave us, and what should we do?

What's next?

Ultimately, the greatest gain from plastic bag bans and pricing is probably in shifting environmental outlooks.

Research connects charges for plastic bags to attitudinal changes among consumers, including support for additional environmental policies.

There can be broader shifts in norms, as " the emergence around the world of an anti-plastic bag norm has been rapid and widespread ". The hope is that increased consciousness in this part of our lives will raise awareness about environmental impacts and alter behaviour in other ways.

This leads to some insights about bags.

For example, according to the UN Environment Program, a cloth bag used between 50 and 150 times will have a lower climate impact than a single-use plastic bag.

When it comes to a plastic bag, if you want to want to halve the environmental harm, use it twice. Drop it to 25%? Use it four times. Reduce the impact by 90%? Use it ten times.

And if we do get reusable bags, we really need to re-use, re-use and re-use them. As an article in Popular Science has pointed out: "Regardless of the material, the best bags are the ones you already own."

In the end, should plastic bag bans be banned? Not exactly, but the entire story of their effects must be more closely considered.

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Three reasons why banning plastic bags is problematic

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[Voice over]

Did you know close to 1 billion single-use lightweight plastic shopping bags are used in Queensland each year.

That's a lot of bags!

Up to 16 million of these bags end up as litter.

That's about 96 tonnes just in Queensland alone, the equivalent in weight of about 96 average small cars.

That's a lot of litter!

For retailers and consumers, plastic shopping bags are convenient.

But plastic bags have a big impact on our environment and pose a significant threat to our marine wildlife, which can mistake bags for floating jellyfish.

Millions of dollars are spent each year in litter cleanup costs.

Experts rate plastic bags as one of the top marine debris threats to wildlife.

Marine wildlife can swallow or become entangled in bags causing injury or death.

Research found that 90 percent of all seabird species and 30 percent of all sea turtles had ingested plastic debris.

And biodegradable bags are just as harmful.

The harmful impact of plastic pollution is a concern to Queenslanders.

During the public consultation on the lightweight plastic shopping bag ban, the government received more than 26,000 submissions!

Over 96 percent of Queenslanders supported implementation of the ban.

63 percent of Queenslanders supported banning biodegradable plastic shopping bags.

And we know from bans in other Australian states and territories, that customers are ready and willing to make the change to reusable bags.

What is the government doing?

As part of its plastic pollution reduction plan, the government is introducing a ban on the supply of single-use lightweight plastic shopping bags.

Including biodegradable bags from the 1st of July 2018.

Some major supermarkets have already committed to stop supplying lightweight plastic shopping bags.

Key points.

The ban will begin on the 1st of July 2018.

From this date, retailers will not be allowed to supply lightweight plastic shopping bags to customers.

The ban will only apply to lightweight single-use plastic shopping bags.

Barrier bags, dog poo bags and bin liners will not be banned.

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plastic bags; lightweight supermarket-style plastic shopping bags; 1 july 2018; all retailers; penalties; transition period; consultation paper; 35 microns in thickness; compostable;  degradable and biodegradable bags; entanglement; ingestion; litter;

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This About the plastic bags ban page will provide a clear picture of why the Government is introducing the plastic bags ban, when, and generally which bags are included, as well as consultation on the ban.

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“California’s Bag Ban Hurting the Job Market” (video from Fox News interviewing AmericanProgressive Bag Alliance Chairman Mark Daniels.) (0–1:38); (2:40–3:09)

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“California’s Bag Ban Hurting the Job Market” (video from Fox News interviewing AmericanProgressive Bag Alliance Chairman Mark Daniels.) (0–1:38); (2:40–3:09)

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California’s bag ban hurting the job market? | Fox Business Video

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“Are Reusable Bags Dangerous?” (Time for Kids)

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“Are Reusable Bags Dangerous?” (Time for Kids)

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Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Plastic retail bags - the kind you get from your grocer or at the corner store - are being targeted for bans and taxes in communities around the country, regardless of the unintended consequences. Bans and taxes have a negative impact on working families and seniors on fixed incomes, but they don't help the environment in any meaningful way-in fact they can cause bigger problems.

Banning and taxing recyclable, reusable products doesn't make sense, even in the most well-intentioned scenarios. Keep reading to find out why.

Environment
Plastic bags are the most environmentally friendly option at the checkout. Find out the surprising green truth for yourself.

Recycling
Plastic bag recycling is simple and effective, thanks to thousands of recycling drop-off locations across the country.

Jobs and Economy
Bag bans and taxes make trips to the grocery store more expensive, especially for low- and fixed-income families - with no meaningful impact on the environment to back them up. They also threaten thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

Health
Be mindful with your reusable canvas and non-woven bags. Without frequent washing and appropriate storage, reusable bags can harbor dangerous bacteria.

Reuse
Nearly 90% of Americans reuse plastic bags. What do you do with yours?

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Bans and taxes have a negative impact on working families and seniors on fixed incomes, but they don't help the environment in any meaningful way-in fact they can cause bigger problems.

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Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

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online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

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Should plastic bags be banned? Book Collection on Epic

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Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started