Americans throw away one hundred billion polyethlene bags a year: They choke thosands of marine animals annually; the inks used to print all those smiley faces break down in landfills and create a toxic seep. Though plastic bags take up less than 4% of all landfill space (they're easily compressed), estimates on how long they take to decompose range from a hundred years to a thousand.
-From onearth. "It's Not My Bag, Baby!" by L.J. Williamson.
Treehugger: "Ban or No Ban: The Debate over Plastic Bags in LA" by Jeremy Elton Jacquot
World Is Green: "...Is there an Alternate Solution?" (Green Economics)
9 comments:
Rachel Less
11/4/08
Section 5
The question between paper and plastic bags has been long disputed. In reality, it really depends what you do with them when you’re done using them. Paper is bad because of the amount of trees that have to be cut down to produce them, but plastic is also bad because they take hundreds of years to decompose and use a non-renewable resource (where paper bags come from a renewable resource. Plastic bags, however, are more likely to be reused as trash bags, doggy bags, etc. where paper bags are more likely to be thrown out. If you are the person who throws away plastic bags, then you should use paper. However, if you reuse plastic bags, then paper is probably not the best option and you should use plastic. I reuse both paper and plastic as trash bags and in other ways so I tend to be fine with getting both. As long as everyone can find a way to reuse their bags, whether plastic or paper, then the issue of paper vs. plastic will be a lot less of an issue.
http://www.elephantjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/plastic-bag-in-landfill.jpg
I agree with what Rachel said about how plastic bags tend to become an object of recycling more often than paper bags. I personally have a drawer devoted to saving plastic bags, and I hardly ever have to buy garbage bags for small waste baskets because I can just use the leftover plastic grocery and shopping bags. It really is a difficult choice to make, especially after Professor Trumpey explained that many people thing paper is better but sometimes it really isn't. I whether we use paper or plastic, the main point to focus on is that they should both be reused. A bag lends itself to being reused because it is so functional and many times durable. I think it is also important to note that paper bags can be broken down more easily and recycled into other things made out of paper products, when plastic take almost a thousand years to decompose and pose threats to marine mammals. I am actually employing the plastic bag in my group project by creating an installation sculpture made out of plastic bags. Using these types of materials in the arts is also a great way to recycle things we would normally discard of. Our view of things like plastic bags is usually that it is garbage, but if we take a second look and use our visual way of thinking, this "garbage" can be turned into something beautiful and serve as cheap material to create art.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/139/326330504_82dc48e7d7.jpg?v=0
Lindsay Bienick
Section 5
Response #11
For years, my family has always chosen paper bags over plastic at the grocery store. For the most part we reuse these paper bags to carry things, put compost in, and take out the paper recycle in. However, plastic bags were often times unavoidable when going to places other than the grocery store. Thus, we have always reused our plastic bags as garbage can liners and doggy bags. For the longest time I thought we were being as eco-friendly as possible when it came to bags, but it wasn’t until I began to take this class that I realized even paper bags are not as friendly as we’d think. In fact, they are about the same in harm to the environment due to the amount of trees cut down for paper bags, and the amount of resources it uses to make plastic bags, plus how long they take to decompose. Part of me questions if I will ever be able to make the right choice and if people will ever be educated enough to know which choice is the better. Nevertheless, my family and I have recently switched to using canvas bag almost everywhere we go not to shop. I noticed that these bags are not only gaining popularity in terms of sustaining the environment, but they are also extremely convenient when it comes to shopping. I realize that I am starting to buy less do to the fact that my bag is about one forth the size of a shopping cart and they are much easier to carry verses a paper or plastic bag.
Thankfully there is still hope for those plastic bag users though. I’ve been noticing more and more of these plastic bag collectors located in grocery stores and such. Hopefully these collections will help get these urban tumbleweeds off the streets or out of the garbage cans and put into these bins to be recycled properly.
Check this blog out about these urban tumbleweeds:
http://mslk.com/reactions/?p=1447
http://mslk.com/reactions/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/collectionbox_mslk.JPG
Jayme Rosenstock
Most Americans are poorly educated on the harmful effects polyethylene bags have on our environment. If you ask most people which is better for our environment, plastic or paper bags, my guess is the average person would answer paper bags. But do they really know? It takes four times more energy to manufacture a paper bag compared to a plastic bag. In America during 1994, 14 million trees were destroyed in order to manufacture 10 billion paper bags. Besides the lost of those trees, the production of the paper is causing global warming. This is due not only because of loosing the trees but we also are loosing the ability to absorb the gases emitted during the production of making these bags since trees are a major absorber of these gases.
Air and water pollution are created during the making of both types of bags. There is a lot of chemical toxicity occurring during both the manufacturing and the degrading process. Many people think that recycling might be the answer to help us save our environment. It takes 91% less energy to recycle a pound of plastic compared to a recycling a pound of paper. Recycling isn't answering everyone's green wishes. Newspaper printers and many grocers are two examples in which they use new paper versus recycled paper since new paper offers better strength and elasticity.
Both paper and plastic don't degrade well in landfills. The temperatures aren't ideal plus there isn't enough of water, light and oxygen in these land fills, so they degrading process isn't completed for hundred of years. We know people are using bags, so just imagine how many plastic bags will end up in the landfills as everyone keeps using plastic bags. Next time you or someone you know is going to the grocery store, educate them on using reusable shopping bag.
Come on now Ashley, you know 1000 years is no big thing in the grand scheme- the universe has been here for 14 billion years! Dang!
Im just kidding.
I used to work at a grocery store as a cashier. I think everyone should. I didn't realize what a huge impact it had on me until I kept bringing it up in my sociology class freshmen year. You really learn a LOT about people working in a place like that. The kind of things you really won't learn anyplace else. Because, lets face it...not everyone shops at American Eagle. But everyone needs groceries. That actually used to be my complaint whenever this one particularly insane woman would come through my lane, yelling at me for whatever. I used to let her steal all the time. She'd be carrying a bottle of soda and I just wouldn't ask to scan it because I was so terrified of her wacko outbursts.
Moving on.
Evil grocery store. Totally evil. They encouraged us to push people towards plastic. We were supposed to hide the option of paper by phrasing the question in this manner: "IS PLASTIC OKAY?" And get real pushy and shit. I had this manager who seemed sooo nice and had these beautiful white teeth who was actually a huge dick and he would get so pissed at me when I would gladly present the option of paper. I always felt so good about my little eco-friendly rebellions against that prick. The thing was, plastic was way super cheaper. And I felt like people didn't know how bad it was for the environment, because they always took plastic. Thats something I always got bitter about. "Stupid WASPs" I would think, secretly considering myself superior because I was catholic and liberal and my dad drove a Prius. He always insisted on paper.
I took my parents to Trader Joe's recently. They had never been, and they thought it was very exciting. They bought themselves a couple of reusable Trader Joes bags to show off to the plebians at Meijers. Ha, they would think, we care. We're going to go put our organic milk in the trunk of our hybrid car. Neener.
I do remember one dude who was totally on the level with the whole plastic bag thing. He insisted on paper and then he smiled at me and said something like "Because trees are at least renewable". He was cool yeah.
Sadly enough, I am one such American. In my family, we keep used plastic bags after shopping for groceries and use them as trash bags. We throw away over 5 bags of trash per week; imagine if the rest of the world were like us!
This is also the reason why I prefer paper bags over plastic bags--because I know to recycle paper bags.
...What a sad reason.
Tae Hyung Kim
12/13/08
ADP 3: Section 5
Plastics bags are regarded as commodities and also represent the culture of American consumerism. They are easily accessible and more importantly, "free of charge." I can get a free plastic bag in bookstores, markets and fast-food restaurants. Despite knowing the long period of degradation, people still use plastic bags unconsciously. I feel that plastic bags should be re-used, and this can be promoted by charging every plastic bag you purchase. For instance, I have to pay about a twenty-cent to get a plastic bag, and realizing how much it costs to actually get a new plastic bag, I become more aware of reusing plastic bags. This should be adopted in United States, and I think it is an effective way to the use of plastic bags. Or recycled paper bags can be used instead of plastic bags for its shorter degradation period.
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