Plastic Bags

transcript

Plastic BagsEnvironmental Foes and Oil Consumers

Why Plastic Bags?

Five long winter months watching an entangled plastic bag

Why Plastic Bags?

Final destination: Bob Marshall Wilderness or Swan River

Why Plastic Bags?

Final destination: Bob Marshall Wilderness or Swan River

Before leaving MT: canvas bags, backpacks, & supersized leather purse

Plastic Bags are an environmental

nuisance

nuisancePlastic bags often blow away from landfills

Difficult to recycle = $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags = sold for $32

“Recycled” or shipped to India?

Materials constructed from recycled plastic bags are typically headed for the landfill within a year

Plastic bags pose a particular threat to

Sea Turtles

Marine mammals

Plastic bags in the ocean

Northern Pacific Gyre - six times as much plastic as biomass

Plastic bags in the ocean

Northern Pacific Gyre - six times as much plastic as biomass

46,000 pieces of plastic litter per mile of ocean

My guiding questions

Every plastic bag is a threat

Guilt versus pocketbook/Missoula think tank

How much oil do I personally consume with my use (misuse) of plastic bags?

Fred Meyer offers $0.05 per reusable bag at checkout.

How much money can I save in a year?

Methodology

Tracked number of plastic bags consumed during the course of two weeks

1 plastic bag = 0.0043 g of oil

1 doggie bag = 0.00215 g of oil

Calculated gallons per year

analysis

Fig. 1 Ann's oil consumption through plastic bag use.

1 year 5 years 10 years 50 years

Time (Years)

analysis

Average gallons per year = 4 g

10 years = 1 barrel

416 plastic bags and 988 doggie bags per year

Save $20.00 on groceriesFig. 1 Ann's oil consumption through plastic bag use.

Time (Years)

analysis

Fig. 2 Juneau's consumption of oil using plastic bags

100000

120000

140000

160000

Time (years)

Juneau

analysis

42 g to a barrel

Juneau may consume almost 3000 barrels of oil per year through plastic bag use

29 million barrels per year in the U.S. or 12 million barrels?

Fig. 2 Juneau's consumption of oil using plastic bags

100000

120000

140000

160000

Time (years)

Juneau

Conclusions

Reusable bags and biodegradable doggie bags

$0.99 or $0.89 at Fred Meyer

http://globalgoodspartners.org/cart/results.cfm?cat=s8

Plastic over paper and RECYCLE (despite pitfalls)

Questions for Further Study

American Chemistry Council and Save the Plastic Bag

Do biodegradable bags really biodegrade?

Garbage bags, bread bags, plastic packaging

Ireland, Bangladesh, South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan, China, and some U.S. cities ban plastic bags

Resources

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/us.html

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/11/28/green-magic-swiss-company-can-turn-used-plastic-bags-into-diese/

http://fooddemocracy.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/plastic-bags-and-oil-consumption/

http://www.booknoise.net/garbageland/index.html

http://www.enviroliteracy.org/article.php/1188.html

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/10/plastic_bags/print.html

http://green-mommy.com/2008/02/plastic-soup.html

Resources

http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_plastics/doc.asp?CID=1106&DID=7938

http://savetheplasticbag.com/ReadContent461.aspx

http://www.blueoceansociety.org/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-royte/why-the-bag-backlash_b_46200.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags_2.html

http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=5

Plastic Bags

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