Before Plastic Bags

Products bought in stores, delis and meat markets used to be wrapped in yesterday’s newspaper or plain brown bag wrap. The environmentalists cried over the death of the trees that produced the paper pulp that became paper bags not to mention the little dweeby bug-owl that nobody has ever seen before, and then only in a black & white handbill image that made it look sad staring out of a knothole in some dead pine tree. They said these owls would become extinct in our lifetime as a result. The switch to plastic bags was deemed an eco-friendly move. So, -what happened?

 Paper is Bio-Degradable and Therefore, Better?

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I hear this excuse all the time and let me identify some problems with this fallacy. True, paper will decompose and become mulch over time but you would not want a lot of this in your garden and more than you’d want bagfuls chipped houseboards.

Buried in landfills where there is little oxygen (because it is buried) and very little movement in the water table, paper survives for decades. Landfills are placed exactly where they are because of these factors, little to no water-movement. This prevents any leachate from contaminating streams, lakes and other potable ground water. It was a common practice decades ago for disposing of daily newspapers to roll them tightly and bind with a string or cord before burial in the landfill. This action actually preserves the paper and some of the best excavated newsprint  papers have come from converted landfills going back into the 60s, 50s and even earlier. Have you ever seen those ads where you can buy a framed front-page newspaper from your hometown from the day you were born? Usually in fair-to-good condition? Yes, -those are reclaimed-from-a-landfill newspapers that someone salvaged (possibly by the hundreds or thousands for any particular day and any particular town or city) and found a very entrepreneurial way to profit from them.

The Switch to Plastic Bags, Bottles & Plastic Packaging

They use less material than cardboard boxes and bag combinations so it conserves disposable volume. Less mass to truck means saving over-the-road costs, fuel, and less space required for inventory. Reduced and minimized packing costs are an effective inducement for having switched to plastic bags, bottles and containers.

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Plastic bag containers are more sanitary than paper equivalents for many types of foods. They keep foods fresh longer, are more lightweight and can be formed to have handle for ease of carrying that surpass the ability of paper.  Concerns of a more recent nature are that of the possibility of malicious product tampering. Product tampering measures often involve a plastic seal that is created at the point of production and in not broken until the end consumer uses it. A plastic bag or other product that uses plastic sealing methods cannot be maliciously accessed without visible damage showing whereas paper by its nature, would have been folded and taped to some degree. The non-permeability of plastics alone makes its use for food and food products safer than paper which could absorb poisonous, toxic or any other liquid substances it could come in contact with. And of course if the plastic is of the right type, it can be incinerated in any waste-to-energy facility just like paper.

Lastly, if all else fails plastic bags buried in landfills would be stable and inert. The ultimate ‘do no harm’ would be achieved. It turned to behave more like paper, -it would remain ’stable’ for a very long time.

But the Problem with Plastic is…

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Improper disposal. Thrown onto the ground and left alone, it will not decay or break down easily and could lay there for hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years. Often, garbage that includes plastic bags, bottles and related plastic products ends up in the world’s oceans where they entangle and kill marine animals and birds. Sea Turtles will mistakenly eat plastic bags, probably thinking they are jellyfish or sea kelp. Doing so will in all likelihood cause the animal to die.

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Whales too could ingest the plastic items and become impacted and die from the obstruction in their intestinal tract. Birds will rest upon floating piles of plastic garbage seeking food and become ensnared, eventually drowning for the lack of ability to escape, die of hunger. Reports cite as many as ‘one-hundred  thousand deaths’ but there was never any scientific data to support this number given. Nolt for plastic bags, anyway. Lost fishing gears (nets, ropes, etc.) was the subject of that report.

Fish seeking shelter will hide amongst the plastic flotsam and become entangled, often carrying pieces of plastic string around their bodies which become tighter as the fish gains girth. The entangled plastic string, nylon rope or shards becomes a virtual plastic garrote which becomes tighter and tighter as the fish grows in size, torturing and maiming, eventually causing death. A fish or marine mammal such as a whale or dolphin might fail to mate under such an unnatural condition, depriving a future progeny. Or at least this is the oft-cited over-exaggerated claims. It is more a matter of discarded fishing nets and banding straps that do the actual killing, and not ‘plastic bags.’ We could still err on the side of correctness and not fill our ocean and cover our beaches with discarded plastic water bottles, though.

Waste Not or Have Not

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We can blame plastic for a multitude of environmental sins. But plastic is not the problem. People are the problem. With conscientious environmental awareness we are gradually moving away from plastic bags, but let’s not break an arm patting ourselves on the back just yet. The reusable products that are replacing plastic bags are, -plastic cloth-like bags! Plastic bottles and recycled plastics are being spun into new ‘eco-friendly’ carry-all totes, sandals and clothes but let’s not forget that these are still plastic. What are we going to do with these when they have outlived their useful life? Why, -throw them away of course! And then buy more, believing that because we are buying ‘recycled plastics’ again, we’re making a positive difference.