Shopping has changed. No more do courteous sales assistants ask you if you would like a bag. You are either expected to remember to bring your own, or buy a “bag for life”. Enter the acute discomfort of asking for a bag, only to be met with a frown from the eco-sensitive sales assistant, or an additional charge.
This is all part of some mandate from on high that shops cease to provide plastic bags. As per usual, no sensible thought or recourse to proven science has been applied before shovelling out the legislation. Indeed, most of the data and statistics that exist regarding plastic bags and their damage to wildlife, ecology and marine habitats, are widely inaccurate or mis-reported.
The reality is that plastic companies had produced both bio-degradeable (degrades in the ground) and oxo-degradeable (degrades in the air) plastic bags long before this nonsense was introduced. Taking Tesco as an example, their plastic carrier bag will start to degrade after about 18 months and will be completely degraded in 2 years. I can confirm that this is 100% accurate. I have an old Tesco carrier bag in my garage that is starting to degrade and it literally disintegrates if you touch it. If one of these bags finds its way into the environment, it will degrade. This has significant benefits in particular for marine mammals. Fair enough, the oxo-degradeable bags won’t degrade in landfill, but that’s not really the point.
On the other hand, the big plastic/vinyl bag for life carrier bags are neither bio-degradeable or oxo-degradeable.
Sometimes I remember to take bags with me when I go shopping. Certainly, when we do our major household shopping each month, we take our own bags. But if you’re out and about and need to buy a few items for lunch, you may well be in need of a bag, and you shouldn’t be forced to pay for one, or be treated like an eco-villain for taking a fresh one.
These new degradeable plastics use very little energy to produce, when compared to the bags with the supposed longer life. They are made from a by-product of oil refinement that would be otherwise burnt off. They are easily recyclable, completely re-usable, not to mention lightweight and strong. If we all used plastic bags, and recycled them properly, this would be an ecologically sound proposition.
The problem is human laziness and the propensity of the powers-that-be to deliver over-the-top legislation that simply bludgeons the problem and only turns it into a slightly different problem. It’s nothing more than an over-reaction to inaccurate data, rather than a well thought out and scientifically relevant policy. I will continue to use, re-use and recycle my plastic bags, thanks very much.
Before anyone starts talking about the dangers to wildlife and marine mammals, you would do well to read the actual scientific evidence, rather than the false stats that Gordon Brown et al relied upon to make their shotgun decision.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,336189,00.html
It is true that plastic bags pose serious threat to our environment. but even after knowing its fatal results we can’t stop ourselves from its use. The option we have is to recycle them and make sure to avoid its usage as much as possible, by leaving our laziness behind. And if everyone will take pledge to save environment, this will become a better world to live in.
I was not knowing that oxo-degradeable (degrades in the air) plastic bags have also introduced in an attempt to save environment from polluting.
You have thrown a brighter light on this biggest evil environment has. Thanks for sharing it with us!