We all know the disadvantages of plastic, and how it is bad for our planet.
It’s becoming painfully obvious to everyone that plastic is bad news for the planet.
The adverse impacts of plastic bags are undeniable: When they’re not piling up in landfills, they’re blocking storm drains, littering streets, getting stuck in trees, and contaminating oceans, where fish, seabirds, and other marine animals eat them or get tangled up in them.
Reportedly, In 2014, plastic grocery bags collected in large amount during the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, behind smaller debris such as cigarette butts, plastic straws, and bottle caps.”
The New York City Sanitation Department spend $12.5 million a year to dispose of plastic bags they collect more than 1,700 tons of single-use carry-out bags every week which is very large in amount.
It is a good move to ban plastic bags, but it raised a question that it will have any real effect or not? And there are warnings the reusable alternatives can be worse for the environment, and we’re one of the problems.
“The single-use plastic bag ban is a positive step to try and reduce resources but that’s tempered by the fact people need to use reusable bags wisely,” Trevor Thornton, a lecturer in hazardous materials management at Deakin University, told news.com.au.
A 2009 report produced for Woolworths by researchers at RMIT calculated the environmental impact of single-use carrier bags versus their reusable counterparts.
The classic supermarket bags, which are banned, is made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE). In a comparison of other bags, it’s not that great environmentally, but it certainly doesn’t have the worst impact.
Other research has said light density polyethylene (LDPE) bags, the thicker type available for a few cents at the supermarket, are generally worse than their thinner counterparts.
Green bags made from polypropylene (PP), needs fewer materials but produce a lot of waste, but still, they are better than HDPE bags.
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