Plastics Purge Part I: BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag)

Plastics are one of the most widely used materials in the world, with near ubiquitous application in our lives today. Used as far back as 1600 B.C. by ancient Mesoamericans to create figurines and bands, plastic has undergone a series of innovations and alterations over time, culminating in a seemingly infinite array of uses and applications. Consequently, the global production of plastics has increased steadily throughout history, reaching a staggering 280 million tons in 2016.

Plastics are light, cheap, and durable, making them widely used in a diversity of products. However, the cheap costs of plastics also allow them to be used only once before being disposed of, resulting in the generation of mass amounts of litter. This plastic litter ranges in size from macrodebris (such as plastic chairs and shoes) to microdebris (plastic fragments less than 5 mm in diameter) which accumulates in landfills, rivers, and oceans all over the world.

Although they are cheap, useful, and ubiquitous, because plastics are derived largely from non-renewable fossil fuels including natural gas and petroleum, they are inherently unsustainable and are sources of waste in our everyday lives that we should strive to avoid on our path toward greener living.

This week, I kick of a multi-part series I’m calling the “Plastics Purge” in which I highlight sources of plastic waste in our everyday lives and offer sustainable alternatives and strategies to avoid creating such waste in the first place.

This week’s focus is on eliminating the use of disposable plastic shopping bags.

These plastic bags may be convenient, but such convenience comes at a cost.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity:
- Americans use 100 billion plastic bags a year, which require 12 million barrels of oil to manufacture.
-The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year.
-According to Waste Management, only 1 percent of plastic bags are returned for recycling. That means that the average family only recycles 15 bags a year; the rest end up in landfills as litter.
-Up to 80 percent of ocean plastic pollution enters the ocean from land.
-100,000 marine animals are killed by plastic bags annually.
-Plastic bags are used for an average of 12 minutes.
-It takes 500 (or more) years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill! Unfortunately the bags don't break down completely but instead photo-degrade, becoming microplastics that absorb toxins and continue to pollute the environment.

An arguably superfluous product with such extreme negative environmental impacts should be avoided at all costs. Luckily for all of us, reusable bags work just the same, if not better, than plastic bags and can eliminate a lot of unnecessary waste in the process. These bags can be purchased (directly at grocery stores or elsewhere) or crafted on your own.   

Alternatives include:
-Purchasing reusable cloth or canvas bags and keeping these in your car so they’ll always be on-hand when you find yourself at the store
-Crafting your own reusable bags from old textiles (reusing and reducing!!) 
Here’s a great tutorial for easy, no-sew t-shirt bags, but there are tons of other designs available online as well, so feel free to do some research and craft/upcycle to your heart’s content 
-When in a pinch without your reusable bags, go without a bag

-Bring reusable mesh produce bags to avoid using the plastic produce bags offered in grocery stores, or let your fruits and veggies roam free (like I often do when I’m without a reusable alternative in the store)
-if you do end up with plastic bags at home, be sure to reuse them (as small trash bags, for picking up animal waste, etc.) and look to recycle any bags you may have by returning them to participating grocery stores. If you’d like to learn more about this option, not only for grocery bags but for other  “bag-like” products that are not accepted in the general recycling stream, check out Recycle Coach’s useful outline of what you can and cannot drop off in plastic bag recycling bins
-Use your reusable bags when shopping for anything and everything! Groceries, clothes, books—you name it! Reusable bags are durable, versatile, and more sustainable than their disposable plastic alternatives.

Some countries, states, and cities have banned or heavily taxed the use of plastic bags, which is one avenue by which to solve this issue. However, an easier and more immediate solution to the plastic bag issue is for consumers to change their behavior and voluntarily choose to use alternatives to single-use, disposable plastic bags. To learn more about your state or city's plastic bag legislation, or lack thereof, visit NCSL's plastic bag legislation website and consider taking action to ban the bag in your town using the Plastic Pollution Coalition's tips for getting involved.   

As someone who has long since used reusable grocery bags, I can assure you they offer larger, sturdier, and less environmentally-destructive transportation of your groceries (or whatever you may be purchasing). Most stores will even offer you a discount (usually 5-10 cents off) for each reusable bag. With a little planning and forethought (i.e. remembering to bring your reusable bags when you go shopping), we can play a major part in reducing the harmful impacts of single-use plastics. 

If you’re not convinced that our pervasive use of plastics poses a problem, I encourage you to think again and check out this recent 60 minutes report detailing the issue—this eye-opening piece is definitely worth a watch!

In the meantime, craft or get yourself some reusable bags and take this important first step in purging plastics from your life. Stay tuned next week for my look into plastic straws! (Spoiler alert: they totally suck!)

Until then,
  Happy holidays and best wishes on your journey toward greener living.
~Sam