New Technologies in Plastic Bag Manufacturing Can End the Pollution Insanity
It can take a 1,000 years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill. Unfortunately, the bags don't break down completely but instead become microplastics that pollute the environment and our bodies.
Every year, around 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. That's a lot of bags. So many so that over one million bags are being used every minute and they're damaging our environment. Of those 500 billion bags, 100 billion are consumed in the United States alone.
Plastic type bags are very difficult and costly to recycle (about one in every 200 ever find their way to a re-cycling unit) and most end up on landfill sites where they take around 300 years to breakdown into tiny toxic particles referred to as micro-plastic that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them.
But the problems surrounding waste plastic bags starts long before photodegradation.
Our planet is becoming increasingly contaminated by our unnecessary addiction to plastic bags. Heavy contractor can liners, take-out food bags, plastic carrier bags with advertising logos, clear sandwich bags, specimen and sampling bags and a variety of other forms are all polluting our environment. They're lightweight, handy and too easily discarded.
While polyethylene bags were rarely around during the 60s and 70s, their usage has increased at an alarming rate since they became popular during the 80s replacing paper type bags, and they're currently wreaking havoc on our environment. Polyethylene bags:
- Release toxins into the ground water from landfill sites
- Stay in the environment for hundreds of years while they break down
- Get into the food chain through animals that ingest small particles of plastic
- Waste energy during the manufacturing process
- Kill many of the estimated 100,000 marine animals that die each year of plastic pollution
Just take a look around you. Plastic bags can be seen hanging from the branches of trees, flying in the air on windy days, settled amongst bushes and floating along rivers. They clog up gutters and storm drains causing water and sewage to overflow and become a breeding ground for germs and bacteria that cause disease.
NEGATIVE IMPACT
Plastic bags are now amongst the top 12 items of debris most often found along our waterways. Animals and sea creatures suffer damages or are killed every day by discarded poly bags when they mistakenly ingest a plastic bag as a food source where it clogs their intestines leading to slow starvation. Others become entangled in plastic bags and many other animals drown.
An enormous amount of energy is used every year in order to manufacture these petrol bags and it's no surprise that pressure is being put on governments to make changes and for consumers to re-think their attitudes.
IMPROVING THE ENVIRONMENT: BIO-PLASTICS
Because plastic bags take hundreds of years to fully break down, anything society can do to reduce consumption is a good thing. To combat the plastic bag problem, innovative manufacturers are attempting to divert plastic landfill and plastic pollution by adding proprietary additives or creating new bio-based plastic substrates produced from plants such as corn into their manufacturing processes.
These new “environmentally friendly” bags feature special technologies that enable bags to decompose into practically nothing within a few years and are making a considerable difference to the pollution problem. They may cost a little more than conventional poly bags but selecting an Eco-friendly or biodegradable style bag for your operation will have a profound affect on our environment, your brand and the creatures we share our planet with for future generations.
By refusing to serve plastic bags, you can make a huge difference to the pollution problem, landfill volume and the lives of future generations.
