Plastic bags are a huge threat to the environment as an estimated 1 trillion bags are consumed worldwide every year.
Plastic bags are one of the most objectionable types of litter in urban areas.
The sheer volume of plastic waste generated coupled with energy and material resources required for production, as well as emissions resulting from these processes paint a grim picture of the environmental havoc created by plastic bags.
Threats to the Environment
Plastic bags are notorious for their interference in natural ecosystems and for causing the death of aquatic organisms, animals, and birds. In 2006, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) estimated that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating in every square mile of ocean. At least 80 percent of marine debris worldwide is plastic which is responsible for the death of more than a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals each year from starvation, choking or entanglement.
In fact, there is a huge floating dump in the Pacific Ocean called the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” which is hundreds of miles wide and consists mostly of plastic debris caught in the ocean’s currents.
Plastic bags are mistakenly ingested by animals, like cows and camels, clogging their intestines which results in death by starvation. In addition, plastic bags clog urban drainage systems and contribute to flooding, as seen in Mumbai, Dhaka, and Manila in recent decades. Moreover, toxic chemicals from single-use bags can enter the food chain when they are ingested by animals and birds.
Unfortunately, only a small percentage of these bags are recycled each year. Most float about the landscape and create a tremendous burden in clean-up costs.
Several countries, regions, and cities have enacted legislation to ban or severely cut the use of disposable plastic shopping bags. Plastic bag litter serves as a floating transportation agent that enables alien species to move to new parts of the world thus threatening biodiversity.
The Way Forward
Environmental education at workplaces, schools, and residential areas is a vital tool in the fight against plastic bags. Empowering people to take proactive actions and encouraging them to be a part of the solution can also be helpful in reducing the reliance on single-use plastic bags.
Municipalities can make use of 5Rs of waste management: Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover.
This strategy encourages safe disposal of plastic bags which may be facilitated by mass deployment of plastic bag collection systems and recycling facilities at strategic locations.
Some of the alternatives are cloth-based bags, such as jute and cotton, which are biodegradable and reusable. In fact, the range of durable fabric shopping bags is growing each year in the Western world, including those that can be conveniently folded up into a pocket.
The introduction of “plastic bags tax” can also be a handy weapon in restricting the use of plastic bags. For example, Ireland introduced a plastic bag charge called PlasTax ten years ago which has almost eliminated plastic bags in the country.
Salman Zafar is a renowned expert in waste management, renewable energy, environment protection, and sustainability. He is the Founder of EcoMENA, one of the most popular sustainability initiatives in the Middle East. Salman is proactively engaged in creating mass awareness on clean energy, environment, and sustainability through his websites, blogs, articles and projects. Salman is a prolific professional cleantech writer and has authored many articles in reputed journals, magazines, and newsletters. Salman holds Masters and Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering and can be contacted on salman@ecomena.org or salman@bioenergyconsult.com. Read other articles by Salman.
