Plastic bags when disposed of can become unsightly and a danger to wildlife. Governments and Councils are getting on the bandwagon to ban the single-use plastic bag.
But is a ban really going to help?
Oh, here we go again!! Everyone’s on the bandwagon, waving their green credentials in the air - “ban the evil-all-polluting-plastic bag”!! As if banning the plastic bag is the be-all and end-all of all environmental issues!! I can see it now, home-counties housewives driving to Waitrose in their petrol-gussling 4 x 4s, but don’t worry, they’ve got their re-usable shopping bags with them! - Oh, that’s all right then, the planets saved!! Woohoo!
Plastic bags don’t pollute the environment - people do! It really is as simple as that. Every plastic bag that damages wildlife, or looks unsightly in a place of beauty, got there because someone didn’t recycle it.
Look, I will not argue that plastic bags let loose in our environment are not only unsightly but are also a danger to wildlife. I also would not argue against the fact that they are made (often as a by-product) through the processing of fossil fuels such as oil and gas and these are not sustainable resources. I would also not argue against the policy of re-use, that’s just a no-brainer but do we really need a plastic bag tax or for Governments to dictate to us on these issues?? NO WE DON”T!!! What we need is information to make intelligent choices and have an infra-structure with excellent recycling facilities. We don’t need political chat and totalitarian interference!!
Lets just take a moment and think about the plastics we use; there’s the humble single-use supermarket or grocery bag, the other store bags from clothes shops etc and then there’s the bin liner, the disposable lighter, single-use rubber gloves, the throw-away toothbrush and the list goes on.... So how does all this plastic get into our environment? We pop it in the rubbish bin, it gets taken to a landfill site, and in the case of the plastic bag, they start to degrade in the sun and wind, they tear loose, blow away and find their way into our fragile eco-system.
You may have heard that it can take “thousands of years” for a plastic bag to bio-degrade - what a load of old twiddle!! - Manufacturers had to make bags with sun block as they disintegrated too easily in the sun! Most plastic bags will take somewhere between 6 months to 100 years to degrade; why so long? Because its a durable material made from long chain hydrocarbon polymers that are very tightly bound, which makes them very difficult to break down and plastic bags don’t degrade well in landfill sites. Why? Because they can be devoid of oxygen and so the microbial microbes required for biological degradation are not present. And by the way, bio-degradable bags don’t degrade in land fill very well either!!
So, is the cure to ban the plastic bag? Perhaps tax them? No, these are just typical knee-jerk reactions made by people who really don’t have much of a clue but think if they get on the bandwagon they may win a few votes and will also keep the environmental-lobbyists happy! So I guess its the toothbrush, rubber gloves and the bin-bag are next on the list then?
Ok, so I agree that anything single-use is a waste of resources, but more important is attitude. We must move away from being a throw away society. We must re-use, recycle and re-think what we do with our rubbish. So, will banning the single-use plastic bag make a difference, yes, probably a small one, certainly made a difference to the 20,000 people in China who lost their jobs when their Government banned the plastic bag [Gaurdian.co.uk 22nd May, 2009].
And lets remember that plastic is 100% recyclable and is cleaner to produce and easier to transport than paper bags and doesn’t require the chopping down of untold trees! In fact plastic is great stuff, we just need to be sensible with it and make sure we recycle all of it.
I live in a democracy (well, at least I thought I did) and I don’t think banning single-use plastic bags is going to solve our problem, they are really only a drop in the ocean. What we need to do is reduce the amount we use, re-use what we do have and then recycle when we have finished. We need manufacturers to be responsible in what they produce and how they produce it and we need a Government and Councils that invest in a recycling infra-structure.
Come on, with a bit of effort we can do it, we don’t need Government controls and bans, we need Government help and support in setting up excellent recycling facilities and providing incentives to help us modify our behaviour...
Some useful links to information and resources:
The story of the white rhino is a conservation success story, only 100 years ago they were on the brink of extinction with only around 100 individuals [savingrhinos.org], their population is now up to around 17,500 although nearly all of this population resides in South Africa.
I have been back to Kenya several times now and have just got back from another trip where I was lucky enough to come across two groups of white rhinos where I took this shot with Lake Nakuru in the background...
