What’s wrong with plastic bags?

2008-06-20T02:18:00.001-07:00

Many of you will have seen the posters about our campaign to free Newington Green from plastic bags. But why do we want to do this?

Well, first of all let me give you a few facts about plastic bags.

This is Rebecca Hosking and Cynthia Vanderlip’s beautiful but horrifying picture of the stomach contents of an albatross chick. Yes, that’s right - a baby albatross. Can you see the toothbrush? How could it have eaten all this plastic?

Well, the answer is that there’s a lot of plastic in the oceans. I also have to thank Rebecca for all the meticulously researched scientific information in this article. All sources are listed at the bottom of the page, and all information comes from her brilliant Modbury website.

OK so here we go ...

Plastic bags kill at least 100,000 birds, whales, dolphins, seals, seal lions and turtles every year. How? Well, the animals choke on the plastic and die from internal infections and starvation.

And there’s a lot of plastic out there. 100 million tons of it has entered the world's oceans(Algalita). Just stop to think about that number. Plus, the amount of plastic doubles in the worlds oceans every three years (Greenpeace Ocean Defenders, NOAA). As a result, there are an estimated one million pieces of plastic litter floating near the surface of every square mile of ocean worldwide. Do we really want to contribute to this?

Plastic does not dissolve; it breaks into tiny pieces and stays around for up to 1,000 years (MSC, New Scientist, UNEP). It contaminates soil, waterways and oceans. Pesticides, pollution and poisons dumped in the ocean attach themselves to the plastic (Tokyo University Study), which is thought to be eaten by every single fish and bird in the world's oceans. Also, the stuff added to the plastic to make it flexible is now known to be carcinogenic (epa.gov, sciencelinks, The Ecology Centre). The fish in your fish and chips is likely to have eaten old plastic bags, which means that bits of contaminated plastic are probably in your stomach (source).

Why do we continue to poison the sea – and ourselves – with these things?

Some people have said to me: ‘But I’m not going to throw the bag into the sea!’ Well, unfortunately many end up there anyway. About four-fifths of the litter in the ocean comes from land (Algalita, UNEP). Swept by wind, or washed by rain off highways and city streets, down streams and rivers, and out to sea. Some is fly-tipped off cliffs and dumped off beaches.

So why isn’t central government doing anything about it? Isn’t it ‘their job’? Well, I don’t know why, but they’re not. Our local council IS helping, by giving us all free cotton bags. The only way to solve it is for us to work together as a community. So, we’re planning a

Plastic bag free week 13th – 19th July

What can you do? Well, first get yourself a shopping bag. Cotton, or even silk (they fold up into a tiny pouch which you can carry in your pocket). And we’ll be giving out some free cotton bags donated by the council during the plastic bag free week. Then, repeat to yourself every time you go out of the house

“keys … wallet … shopping bag!’

Never go out of the house without a bag! Then you won’t be caught out. Also, put the 13th – 19th July in your diary and come and volunteer! Contact us through the website http://plasticbagfreenewingtongreen.blogspot.com/

People who use plastic bags contribute to the killing of all those animals and general pollution. Soon, carrying a plastic bag will be like dropping litter on the street.

Modbury has just celebrated one year without plastic bags. If they can do it, so can we! We have already saved 100,000 bags in four months, and there’s already much press interest in our plastic bag free week 13th – 19th July. When we stop using them completely, it will help all of our traders and businesses. And we will have achieved it together! So, remember:

Take your suit bag to the dry cleaners and refuse the plastic garment bag
Encourage all our shops to stock cornstarch bags. These biodegrade safely.
Explain to those who still insist on carrying or giving out plastic bags how they are damaging the environment
NEVER leave the house without keys … wallet … shopping bag!

Let’s be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Orlando Jopling, 12th June 2008

SOURCES

MSC Marine Stewardship Council

New Scientist

UNEP The United Nations Environment Programme

Greenpeace Ocean Defenders

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Waste online

Algalita Algalita Marine Research Foundation (relevant page about plastics)

Australian Government Department for Water, Heritage, Environment and the Arts (!)

Conservation Science Insititute

Schools material

NOAA

The following is taken word for word - with many thanks - from the good researchers at Hebden Bridge.

Plastic Facts

80% of marine waste comes from land based sources and up to 80% of that is plastic.

Most of the marine debris in the world is comprised of plastic materials. The average proportion varies between 60 to 80% of total marine debris.

Gregory, M.R., Ryan, P.G. 1997. Pelagic plastics and other seaborne persistent synthetic debris: a review of Southern Hemisphere perspectives. In Coe, J.M., Rogers, D.B. (Eds.), Marine Debris- Sources, Impacts, Solutions. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp.49-66.

Nearly 80% of marine debris comes from land-based sources.

Faris, J. and Hart, K., Seas of Debris: A Summary of the Third International Conference on Marine Debris, N.C. Sea Grant College Program and NOAA, 1994, title page.

Most of the land-based rubbish is conveyed to oceans through storm drains. The main sources of plastic and other types of human-made debris in urban runoff include: litter (mostly bags, packaging and single-use disposable products), industrial discharges, garbage transportation, landfills, construction debris, and debris from commercial establishments and public venues.

Algalita Marine Research Foundation

The ocean is especially susceptible to plastic pollution. It takes longer for the sun to break apart plastic in the ocean than on land because of the oceans’ cooling capacity. Plastic pieces can attract and hold elements like PCB and DDT. PCBs are persistent organic pollutants and have entered the environment through both use and disposal. PCB’s are banned because they are carcinogenic. DDT is an organochlorine insecticide that was banned in the UK in 1984.

Algalita Marine Research Foundation

Sharks with plastic rings wrapped around their gills and mouths caught in southeast Brazil.

Sazima, I. Gadig, O.B.F. Namora, R.C. Motta, F.S. Plastic debris collars on juvenile carcharhinid sharks (Rhizoprionodon lalandii) in southwest Atlantic. Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 44, Issue 10, October 2002, pp. 1149-1151

The world produces over 200 million tonnes plastic annually. Around half of this is used for disposable items of packaging that are discarded within a year. This debris is accumulating in landfill and the problem is growing.

Dr Richard Thompson. Marine Ecologist at the University of Plymouth.

UK beaches contain on average 2000 pieces of litter for every kilometre.

Marine Conservation Society.

Globally, over 1 million and 100 thousand marine mammals and turtles die every year from entanglement or ingestion of plastic.

LAIST. 1997

Conservative estimates show 8 billion lightweight plastic carrier bags are issued in the UKannually.

DEFRA 2003

That’s approximately 166 bags per adult annually.

-on average we use each plastic bag for 12 minutes before disposing of it

United Nations Environmental Programme.

Orlando Jopling writes for Mildmay Community News

What’s wrong with plastic bags?