BLOG OF iECYCLE

Making our lives so much easier, yet destroying many of the lives around us, the plastic bag has become a large part of human life – nearly all over the world. I’m now living in Taiwan, where a convenience store is more common than a trash can on the street, and plastic bags are no stranger to this island (though there was supposedly a ban enforced in 2001). Given, this morning at the grocery store, I was asked if I needed a bag, and if so I was required to pay 1 NTDollar (3 cents) for it. Nonetheless, east Asian metropolitan culture’s fetish for small toys and trinkets yields a high level of over-packaging, and the many street food options always come in a to-go plastic wrap/bag (or three or four..)

I was impressed by my experience living in Dhaka, Bangladesh last summer, where plastic bags are outright banned (and it is enforced). Lest, the street and store patrons walk away with fish-net bag in hand, not inconvenienced in the least. I’ve heard that certain parts of China are hailing to do the same, but I cannot imagine full implementation; a Chinese ban will likely follow the path of Taiwan’s supposed ban.

Plastic bags, which came to existence in the late 50s, are often made from polyethylene, a long chain of ethylene monomers. Ethylene is derived from none other than natural gas and petroleum. So, you’ve guessed it – the whole plastic bag addiction is just one small part of modern man’s overarching petroleum addiction. By 1996, over 80 percent of all bags used were plastic, and I can only imagine the number has skyrocketed since then, even with the new ‘green bag’ craze in the USA.

Let’s first approach why a plastic bag is harmful. From its birth, the plastic production process is toxic and gives off toxic waste. The toxic chemical ingredients needed to make plastic produces pollution during the manufacturing process equal a huge production cost. The energy needed to manufacture and transport disposable bags eats up more resources and undoubtedly releases harmful carbon and other emissions. Upon production of this plastic in less-developed X country, the plastic bag is packed away with Y petroleum-based product and shipped across the globe to Z more-developed country. After distribution to your local grocery, odds and ends plastic shop or another harbinger of extreme capitalism, you take the bag home. If you’re somewhat conscious (or just a bit thrifty) you’ll use it again, maybe to pack a lunch or pick up do-do. Then, it’s thrown away.

But wait, let me extend Julia Butterfly Hill’s question of ‘throw away?’ Where is ‘away’? There is no away. The plastic bag is thrown into a landfill where it will accumulate and take up to 1,000 years to degrade. As litter, plastic bags break down into tiny bits, contaminating soil and water. this is not to mention the extreme risk plastic bags pose to animals all over the earth.

Now some of you are probably thinking, ah, yes – we shouldn’t send these bags to landfills – Let’s recycle them! Well, this likely wouldn’t work for physical reasons, but there is a more important flaw in this logic to be addressed. Recycling must never be the first thought if humans are indeed to return to living in accordance with Mother Earth. We must…
First REDUCE then REUSE then RECYCLE!

On the off chance that I’ve not brought a bag of my own and do accept a plastic bag, I make sure to reuse the bag later on – as a to-go bag for snacks or, more frequently, as a poop bag on dog walks.

Clearly the first step in becoming a more conscious being must be to reduce– before reusing. Though, while living in this modern world (and still shopping at markets rather than growing our own food), we must take the intermediary step of reusing. This holds true to combating the consumerist tendency driving the degradation of our natural world and, in turn, the well-being of ourselves and our overly-toxified cells.

***Don’t forget that local is always the best choice!

Also, look beyond the grocery store or gas station and into your kitchen, laundry room, bathroom cupboard and pocket – petroleum is everywhere, and every “disposable” plastic container you use and throw away continues to exacerbate our crippling reliance on foreign oil.

Sources:
http://culturechange.org/e-letter-plastics.html
http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=2
http://www.plasticbageconomics.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=39
http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=7
http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=5
See http://www.plasticbageconomics.com/ for more reading on the politics around the plastic sack.