Do you need another plastic bag?

(Courtesy of Change 4 Chalfont’s web site, www.change4chalfont.org.uk)

The plastic bag is the most ubiquitous example of disposable plastic. We see it handed out with abandon by some shops, our cupboards are full of them, and we can’t avoid seeing them scattered throughout the urban landscape and the countryside blowing gently in the wind.

10 million plastic bags are used in the UK every day, with an average user life of ….20 minutes. Worldwide, we use 1 million per minute.

This has loads of implications; firstly, what a waste of the materials that go to make these bags. Secondly, the manufacturing process is fuelled by oil – and we don’t have a whole huge amount left, so maybe we should be more careful with it. Finally, plastic bags are often disposed of carelessly, and even when they are thrown away properly, they take a long time to break down, and when they do, they don’t biodegrade – they photodegrade, which basically mean that they break down into very small particles which get absolutely everywhere. So however carefully you get rid of your plastic bags, and unless you recycle them, then chances are that they will get into the eco-system and pollute it hugely. The water that we drink contains tiny shards of plastic; it is in our crop fields and in the sea. Inevitably, we consume it.

This all begs the question – when we throw something away – where is ‘away’? It doesn’t cease to exist, it just moves to where we can’t see it. Except in the case of plastic bags, of course, which we usually can.

We know that many of us now use our own non-disposable bags when shopping, but this is just a reminder to think again before accepting another plastic bag!

Have a look at this mockumentary…( made in USA) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw