Plastic bags (polyethylene) revolutionized the market and became popular for being a very "practical" invention, but because of that same popularity they have become a problem for some time now because they are not very environmentally friendly.
Countries such as Ireland, Singapore, Italy, Israel, Canada, India, Taiwan, Kenya, Mexico, Sweden, Germany and cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, and Barcelona have taken measures in this regard, such as prohibiting its free delivery or, in the best of cases, prohibiting its use.
In our country, it is estimated that around 2 billion plastic bags are consumed per year (that is, around 200 bags per person per year). These bags are used for less than 20 minutes on average, but with the exception of biodegradable ones (which are only a fraction of the total), they take more than 200 years to degrade.
Which type of bag is the best? To answer this seemingly simple question, Bounstead Consulting & Associates Ltd compared these 3 types of bags (Polyethylene, Paper, Biodegradable) during their life cycles, i.e. from their origin to their final disposal as waste.
The results show that plastic bags pollute less at the beginning of their cycle because:
They require less total energy used, use less fresh water, have lower production costs, and take up less space than the others.
But when considering the decomposition time, Polyethylene is the most harmful and the one that remains in the environment the longest, as it is reduced to small harmful particles that can remain in the environment for nearly 1000 years.
On the other hand, biodegradable plastic bags take about 2 years and paper bags only take 2 to 8 months to decompose.
What do we do then, if some contaminate before and others after?
The solution is the one that was used until not long ago: Reusable or Cloth Bags or Covers.
If each of us used one when shopping, we could save 4 plastic bags a week, which would be 16 a month, 192 bags a year. If we multiply this by the number of people who raise awareness about this issue, the figures become more interesting.
In Latin America, specifically in Mexico City, a measure recently came into effect that penalizes businesses that give away plastic bags to their customers, with fines ranging from $4.50 to $90,500, and seeks to limit the use of this type of bags and promote recycling to reduce environmental damage.
In our country, a few months ago, there was an attempt to do something similar, but it failed and there are no signs of any measures of this nature in the near future. Therefore, it is up to US as consumers to make the decision to reject them whenever we can, trying to explain why we do so. The multiplier effect is on us.
Your actions, each one, count.
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