What’s with the controversy surrounding plastic and paper disposable bags? You may have heard in the news over the last several years that we need to think twice about using plastic and paper grocery bags. Why is that? Why should you go out of your way to avoid using disposables, and start using eco friendly reusable bags? Prior to diving into any movement or cause, it is significant to understand precisely how your commitment should create a positive impact on the environment and our planet. In today’s article, we will analyze some key environmental concerns and problems linked with disposable shopping bag usage.
The Environmental Literacy Council does a great job of educating people about the negative effects of both plastic and paper disposable bags at EnviroLiteracy.Org. We will commence with the environmental impact of creating plastic and paper bags from production to delivery. Plastic bags are produced using oil, and so the environmental consequences of creation includes all things from retrieving the oil, to the separation of chemicals in the oil refining process, to the plastic manufacturing process, and the energy used up and emissions created to distribute the bags to stores. So the truth of the matter is that the production of plastic bags (as a result of and by our demand as customers) is a contributory factor to our addiction to oil. Paper bags, are of course produced from trees and contribute to worldwide deforestation and reduction of life habitats all over the earth. Moreover, the sum of energy used to fabricate and dispense paper bags and the carbon emissions produced is worse than that of plastic bags. The reality is that neither paper nor plastic bags are a healthy product for our environment, especially compared to eco friendly recycled grocery bags.
Of course, as you likely know, another fundamental issue with disposable bags is the widespread pollution and litter concern, in particular, connected with plastic bags. Plastic bags are like the “modern tumbleweed” blowing down the road. They show up everywhere and often end up in ponds, creeks, rivers, lakes and in the ocean. As I was researching this article I discovered some surprising material at 5gyres.Org, which teaches people concerning the 5 gyres in our earth’s oceans. Here’s an excerpt: “At sea floating plastics are swept up into slow moving currents. These currents are called ‘gyres’. Our Oceans are dynamic systems…. made up of complex networks of currents… Large systems of these currents, coupled with wind and the earth’s rotation, create ‘gyres’, massive, slow rotating whirlpools in which plastic trash can accumulate.” The most famed of these is the North Pacific Gyre, which has also been called the “great pacific garbage patch”, has been researched the most and is an mass of trash and plastic approximated by many to be twice the size of Texas.
What so many folks don’t know is that there are really 5 gyres spread throughout our world’s oceans where rubbish, and principally plastic is accumulating at a fast rate. One of the scariest parts about all this is that nautical mammals often ingest this waste floating in the sea and suffocate or starve to death as a result. By remembering to use green shopping bags, instead of disposable paper or plastic bags, our individual actions lend to the resolution rather than the problem.
The ecological predicament our planet finds itself in now demands that we take prompt action. You now can plainly see, the widespread use of plastic and paper shopping bags adds up to major environmental problems that won’t just disappear. We have to modify our personal habits by remembering to use reusable eco shopping bags every chance we get. When we take a stand against the regular pollution problem brought on by plastic and paper shopping bags, we are creating a cleaner world one choice at a time.
