By Marlo Heresco
I could easily
turn this blog topic into a thesis, so I will bite my tongue for the most part and get straight to the facts. A matter I am very sensitive about is our current pandemic situation on environmental waste and irresponsible consumers. It picks me in all the wrong places when I see PDL’s – public displays of laziness.
My reference of PDL’s is aimed specifically at people who throw unwanted single-use items on the ground, or empty their pockets or hurl things out car windows – and that includes cigarette butts. Really, have some respect. The earth is not your ashtray.
Aside from the inexcusable ignorance of the litter group comes the real issue of today’s rant. It has been brought to you courtesy of the Associated Press and their story on California’s rejection on plastic shopping bags.
If passed, Bill AB1998 would have seen plastic bags banned in all supermarkets and large retail stores by 2012 and then trickled over into smaller retail stores by 2013. In all fairness, there are several parts of the state that have done something to deter the use of single-use plastic bags, however, there are still more than 19 billion plastic bags being dumped into California landfills at an annual cost of $25 million to taxpayers.
Fact: The average single-use plastic bag is used for approximately five minutes – the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Fact: US retailers alone spend more than $4 billion a year on plastic bags; they pass the fees along to shoppers through inflated product costs.
Fact: There were 2,480,000 tons of plastic bottles and jars disposed of in 2008 in the United States.
Fact: ‘Free’ single-use plastic bag consumption is guesstimated to have a worldwide use of between 500 billion and 1 trillion each year.
Fact: Plastic bags are not free. They come with as high of a cost to our environment as nuclear waste. Plastic is toxic. It is comprised of non-renewable resources, mostly petroleum and natural gas, which need to be prospected and retrieved, causing havoc on nature’s ecosystem. Then factor in the cost of dealing with it, hauling it and eventually getting rid of it.
It is estimated to take between 100 and 500 years for one plastic bag to decompose. That’s at least ten generations of your family’s life for one plastic item that was used for five minutes.
However, when these bags begin to break down, the smaller particles become a threat to all animals and marine life. Sea turtles, for instance, mistake floating plastic for jellyfish, which is their main source of food.
Decomposing plastic releases deadly compounds of PCB’s and DDE’s, a by-product equivalent of DDT, which then leaks into natural soil and water sources.
What Can You Do?
Refuse to use single-use bags. I have reusable bags that cost me less than $2 each and I have been using the same bags for more then two years. I cannot begin to think of how many plastic bags I’ve kept out of landfills.
If you’re wondering what you can do with the plastic you have now, this is a great website full of helpful facts and ideas ReuseIt.com
Other Ideas:
- Take them to one of the thousands of strategically placed recycle bins.
- Use your bags when traveling to protect shoes, cosmetics, and to keep wet or soiled clothing separate from clean clothing.
- Crumple plastic bags for packing material when sending a fragile gift item.
- Use crumpled plastic bags or styrofoam peanuts in the bottom of larger plant pots. The pots are lighter and you need less soil and water.
- Always keep extra bags in your vehicle as they are good for most mess disposals.
- Use them for items such as kitty litter, garbage or plant clippings that cannot be composted.
- If you are painting and need a break, wrapping the brush in a plastic bag will prevent it from drying out sometimes for up to one full day.
- Food grade bags can be re-used once as “mitts” when you need to mix hamburger, cookie dough, or other messy items by hand. Just turn the bags inside out and mix.
