Solving the Epidemic of Plastic Bags
By: Gowri Gopakumar
Every year we use 5 trillion plastic bags. That is 160,000 bags per second. It takes around 1,000 years to decompose a single plastic bag. How can something as simple as a plastic bag cause so much harm?
The real problem lies in that “only 5% of plastic bags are recycled”. These plastic bags when not properly recycled end up in our oceans. In fact, “by 2050, the world's oceans could contain more plastic than fish measured by weight.” The plastic remains in the ocean slowly breaking into smaller pieces. These plastic pieces are consumed by fish, which eventually ends up in human consumption. According to PBS, “There are 13,000 chemicals that are used to make plastic. We know that a quarter of those are hazardous to human health. Half of them haven’t even been tested yet, so we do not yet know what they do to human health. She (Dr. Warner) explained, “They’re trade secrets. They don’t have to tell us what chemicals they’ve added to the plastic that we’re using.” Dr. Warner said that we know much more about the harms from the chemicals that are added to plastic than we do about the microplastics that end up in our bodies. She described a host of known diseases from exposure to these chemicals including harm to our reproductive system, cardiovascular health, kidneys and nervous systems.”
Health scares concerning the plastic bag epidemic have pushed the social movement against single use plastics. Multiple states have taken action against the use of single use plastic, including plastic bags, plastic water bottles, etc. As of January 2024, Florida has become the newest state to take a stance to ban certain plastic use. Resulting in “13 states now ban the use of plastic carryout bags statewide, according to the Retail Industry Leaders Association. That same organization says that Florida is among 19 states that have placed limitations on regulating plastic carryout bags, either in state statute or in their constitution based on July 2023 data.” Even on the federal level, the Department of Interior has taken action “Issued on June 8, 2022, Secretary's Order 3407 (SO 3407) aims to reduce the procurement, sale and distribution of single-use plastic products and packaging with a goal of phasing out all single-use plastic products on Department-managed lands by 2032. SO 3407 is part of the implementation of President Biden’s Executive Order 14057, which calls for federal agencies to take actions to reduce and phase out procurement of single-use plastic products to the maximum extent practicable.” The Biden Administration under the growing pressure of the newer generations, have taken serious considerations to implement such plastic recycling plans, including the introduction of renewable plastics into mainstream use.
However, while we wait for these big action plans to set into effect, we as a society can take small steps to fight against the harmful effects of single use plastic. This all begins with the choice of recycling our plastic. At the end of day, it always comes back to “Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.”
Sources:
https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/waste/plastic-bags-used-per-year
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/case-redesigning-single-use-plastic-benjamin-hogan-cfa/