An inventor from Canada named Harry Wasylyk is typically acknowledged as
the inventor of the modern plastic material trash bag in use today.
Garbage bags were first intended for commercial use rather than house
use. Harry made his initial bags in his home, in 1950, and sold them to a
community hospital. A manager of the local Union Carbide plant
heard about the invention and began producing bags as well. Ultimately,
Union Carbide bought Wasylyk's company and began making garbage bags
from extra polyethylene materials at its Montreal plant.
How Garbage Bags are Produced
Garbage
bags are created from low density polyethylene which was invented in
1942. Very low density polyethylene is soft and airproof. Polyethylene
is delivered in the form of little resin beads. The hard beads are
morphed into bags of plastic. The tough polyethylene pellets are heated
to a t. of 200 degrees Celsiuis. The melted polyethylene is put under
higher pressure and combined with ingredients that offer colour and make
the plastic shapeable. The prepared plastic polyethylene is shaped into
one lengthy tube of bags, which is then cooled, collapsed, and shaped
to the proper length, and sealed on one particular end to make a garbage
bag. Once they have cooled down, the bags are infused with static so
that they can be tightly folded. They are either reduced to, or
perforated at, the correct length and sealed on 1 end. Then they are put
into packages and ready for distribution.
Trash Bags: Environmentally Friendly
With the
recent focus on sustainability, plastic trash bags have come under
scrutiny for their inability to biodegrade. In response to that,
environmentally-concious types of garbage bags have arrived into stores
in recent years, such as ones made of recycled plastic material and
others that are 100 % compostable. Since they were created, plastic
garbage bags have been filling our city dumps and regrettably, many
plastics take up to 1000 years to decompose. In 1971, a University of Toronto professor developed a plastic material that decomposes when left in direct sunlight.
Some Other Information For You
In
1984, the drawstring rubbish bag was introduced by Glad and Hefty. In
2001, Hefty introduced a garbage bag with a drawstring designed to
stretch around the garbage receptacle's rim and not slip off. In 2004,
ForceFlex, a plastic material garbage bag, was launched by Glad
(followed soon after by Hefty's Ultra Flex).
Plastic material
bags are a handy and clean way of handling rubbish, and are widely
employed. Plastic material trash bags are lightweight and are very
beneficial for wet waste, as is commonly the case with food, and are
also useful for wrapping up waste to minimize odor. Plastic bags
are frequently utilized for lining garbage cans. This serves to keep
the receptacle sanitary by avoiding receptacle contact with the litter.
After the bag in the receptacle is full with waste, the bag can be
pulled out and tied with hardly any touching of the trash.
There are various facts about recycling which everyone must know. These
recycled products always help the environment and the nature. People
usually think that it is better to buy a new product instead of getting
it recycled. There are certain facts about recycling which might change
this perception of the people. There are few facts about recycling
plastic which might amaze many people. These facts about recycling will
make the people think that it is better to recycle plastic. These facts
are mostly centered on plastic but it is better to have a recycle of
each and every product to use and reuse it which might reduce a lot of
environmental problems.,ralph lauren
One
of the most important facts about recycling is that plastic rings which
hold the soda cans and the plastic garbage bags kill every year almost
one million sea dwellers. The reason behind this is that most of the
trash is thrown in the ocean,air jordan pas cher,
but plastic is lighter in weight hence it floats. While the sea
dwellers take a dive sometimes these plastic rings get stuck in their
wind pipe and they die. What if this plastic would have been recycled?
This was one of the most dreadful facts about recycling plastic.
Alone
in United States of America more than twenty five billion products of
Styrofoam are dumped in the garbage every year. The dumped product is
non biodegradable. Thus the economy must look into the matter of
recycling of plastics. There are several facts about recycling which
might make you think that it is better to recycle plastic. The best fact
is that if we do not burn these plastics and recycle them,abercrombie, it can help the environment in lots of ways.
Firstly
the energy used to burn it can be used at some other place. The energy
used to recycle the plastic is half of the energy used to burn it. While
burning the plastic many toxic elements are released in the atmosphere
which might cause harm to it while recycling it will cause no harm.
Over 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year worldwide. Consider
China, a country of 1.3 billion, which consumes 3 billion plastic bags
daily, according to China Trade News.
About 1 million plastic bags are used every minute.
A single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade.
More than 3.5 million tons of plastic bags, sacks and wraps were discarded in 2008.
Only 1 in 200 plastic bags in the UK are recycled (BBC).
The U.S. goes through 100 billion single-use plastic bags. This costs retailers about $4 billion a year.
Plastic bags are the second-most common type of ocean refuse, after cigarette butts (2008)
Plastic bags remain toxic even after they break down.
Every square mile of ocean has about 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it.
The Problem
An estimated 6 billion plastic bags are consumed--just in that county--each year. (William T. Fujioka, 2008)
It is estimated that worldwide plastic bag consumption falls between
500 billion and 1 trillion bags annually. That breaks down to almost 1
million every minute.
The average family accumulates 60 plastic bags in only four trips to the grocery store.
In good circumstances, high-density polyethylene will take more than
20 years to degrade. In less ideal circumstances (land fills or as
general refuse), a bag will take more than 1,000 years to degrade.
An estimated 3,960,000 tons of plastic bags, sack and wraps were
produced in 2008. Of those, 3,570,000 tons (90%) were discarded. This is
almost triple the amount discarded the first year plastic bag numbers
were tracked (1,230,000 tons in 1980). (EPA)
Anywhere from .5% to 3% of all bags winds up recycled. (BBC, CNN)
Every square mile of the ocean has about 46,000 pieces of floating plastic in it. (UN, 2006)
Ten percent of the plastic produced every year worldwide winds up in
the ocean. 70% of which finds its way to the ocean floor, where it will
likely never degrade. (UN, 2006)
The Impact
The U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually at an estimated cost to retailers of $4 billion. (The Wall Street Journal)
The extremely slow decomposition rate of plastic bags leaves them to
drift on the ocean for untold years. According to Algalita Marine
Research Foundation, these plastic bags cause the death of many marine
animals (fish, sea turtles, etc.), every year when animals mistake them
for food.
Numbers were kept on 43 different types of refuse. Cigarette butts
were the most common. Plastic bags came in second. (Ocean Conservency,
2008)
When plastics break down, they don't biodegrade; they photodegrade.
This means the materials break down to smaller fragments which readily
soak up toxins. They then contaminate soil, waterways, and animals upon
digestion.
Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in Africa that a cottage
industry has sprung up to harvest them. These are then woven and sold as
hats and (more durable) bags.
The Solution
The solution is not a plastic bag ban, which is an emotional
response which fails to strike at the heart of the issue; instead of a
market-based solution, a ban shifts production to paper bags and
compostable bags, both of which have heavy environmental consequences.
The solution is not switching to paper bags or compostable
plastic bags. A study on the life cycle of three types of disposable
bags (single-use plastic, paper, and compostable plastic) showed that
both compostable plastic and paper bags require more material per bag in
the manufacturing process. This means "higher consumption of raw
materials in the manufacture of the bags...[and] greater energy in bag
manufacturing and greater fuel use in the transport of the finished
product. ...The added requirements of manufacturing energy and transport
for the compostable and paper bag systems far exceed the raw material
use in the standard plastic bag system." (from a peer reviewed Boustead
Consulting & Associates report)
reuseit.com™ supports a multi-pronged approach that discourages the
distribution of plastic bags with a tax and a cultural shift away from
use-and-toss plastic bags:
Plastic Tax: In 2001, Ireland implemented a plastic
tax (or PlasTax); the first of its kind, this route acknowledges the
fact that people will still occasionally use plastic bags. This
market-based solution discourages daily, thoughtless use of plastic
bags by charging a nominal fee per bag at checkout. In a study by the
Irish Department of the Environment it was found that plastic bag usage
had dropped 93.5%. This breaks down to a drop from 328 to 21 bags per
person each year.
A cultural shift away from use-and-toss culture: Each reusable bag can eliminate hundreds (if not thousands) of plastic bags.
The main problem with plastic is what they are popular for. They are resolutely durable to be used by humans for so many purposes and this durability makes them harmful for the environment. Read on how the nature is threatened for the increasing use of plastic bags and how to live a life without it.
How plastic has taken over our daily life needs no introduction. But then there are surely many reasons backing them up. Leaving the minus points if you consider plastic, you are left with so many wonderful benefits they come with – cheap, durable, lightweight, and functional besides other attributes. And it is not that only profit making entities are encouraging the use of plastic among consumers, the latter themselves are also reluctant to gain its advantages.
Looking at the minus points, the worse impact it leaves outweighs its goodness.
Billions of plastic bags alone are used all around the world in a year much of which end in wastes, to be shipped in developing countries or left with nature only to cause eco harm. While the economical impact plastic leaves needs a separate coverage, this article talks some of the reasons why and how plastic harms our environment.
Once used and wasted, they join the unending process to litter our environment. Those thrown out wrongly without any management blocks water passage, releases toxicity, creates unhealthy habitat for wildlife. They would join water bodies only to spread the harm which is felt after some time.
They kill animals. While in sea; turtles, whales, penguins besides others would ingest plastic mistaking it for potential food source. This lead them to premature decline while the plastic still remains in them and stays intact even after decomposition only to be ingested by another victim.
The worst thing is plastic is non biodegradable meaning the decomposition is not easy. Plastic bags would take about 400 years to fully decompose which is a long process and no one would live to see that.
There are many more equally threading elements plastic bags are known for. A life without plastic bag is not impossible. Here are the alternatives
Use safer alternatives like buy foods in glass and metal containers.
Use biodegradable bags preferably those made from fabrics.
Donate old newspapers and paper products to industries that would use them for making paper bags.
Encourage everyone around you to use alternative bags rather than counting on plastic.
Insist on buying plastic bags with thicker variety if you have little choices to opt for any substitute.
Much of the success in checking the regular use of plastic bags also depends on government initiative. Strict rules and measures should be helpful to prevent rapid use of these bags. However, everything at the end is based on the readiness of consumers. The less we will buy plastic bags, the more we will be able to reduce the harm caused to the environment
Biodegradable plastic bags
– as handed out by Tesco, the Co-op and once even sold by the Soil
Association – must be good, surely? They have a magic ingredient that
means they self-destruct after a few months, breaking up into tiny
pieces made of simple molecules that bugs and fungi can happily munch
up. Dozens of major corporations use them, including Pizza Hut, KFC,
News international, Walmart and Marriott hotels.
But last week, the European Plastics Recyclers Association warned that they "have the potential to do more harm to the environment than good."
Technically what we are talking about here is "oxo-degradable" plastics.
These are plastics made to degrade in the presence of oxygen and
sunlight, thanks to the addition of tiny amounts of metals like cobalt,
iron or manganese.
British manufacturers – headed by Symphony Technologies of Borehamwood – are at the sharp end of a revolution that could banish bag-strewn beauty spots and back alleys alike.
But
the criticisms are twofold. First, some research suggests that the bags
don't degrade as well as claimed. And second, priming plastic bags for
destruction is itself an ecological crime.
So, do they really biodegrade away to nothing? Symphony, which supplies the Co-op and Tesco, says its bags are "able to degrade completely within about three years, compared to standard bags which take 100 years or longer". Tesco reckons they all decompose within 18 months "without leaving anything that could harm the environment".
But
whether it actually happens seems to depend a lot on where the
"biodegradable" plastic ends up. If it gets buried in a landfill it
probably won't degrade at all because there is no light or oxygen. But
what about elsewhere?
Studies of one brand in the US, commissioned by the Biodegradable Products Institute, found that breakdown is very dependent on temperature and humidity. It goes slow in cold weather. And high humidity virtually stops the process, making long, wet winters sound like bad news.
You might think a compost heap full of biodegrading bugs would be ideal. But a recent Swedish study found that polyethylene containing manganese additive stops breaking down when put in compost, probably due to the influence of ammonia or other gases generated by microorganisms in the compost.
And,
while most manufacturers say that to put only tiny amounts of metals
into the plastic, the US study found that one brand contained "very high
levels of lead and cobalt", raising questions about the toxicity of the
leftovers. Neither of these studies relates specifically to Symphony's
products. But they raise questions.
The European Plastics
Recyclers Association last week argued that biodegradable bags are not
the right environmental option anyway. Plastic bags take a lot of energy
and oil to make so why waste
them by creating bags that self-destruct? "It is an economic and
environmental nonsense to destroy this value," the recyclers' trade
association concluded.
Of course, we consumers can reuse or recycle biodegradable bags as easily as any other kind. Symphony and other manufacturers stress making bags biodegradable is just an insurance policy
for those that don't get recycled or reused. But surely we are less
likely to bother if we are told the bags are eco-bags that biodegrade.
This European backlash against oxo-biodegradable plastics follows similar rumblings in the US. In March, the New York Times announced it would not be wrapping its paper in bags made of the stuff
because claims that the plastic was "100% biodegradable" did not stand
up. This followed a ruling last December by an advertising industry
watchdog, part of the US Council of Better Business Bureaus, that makers
should stop calling the bags "eco-friendly".
(In marked contrast, the UK Periodical Publishers Association two years ago recommended that all its members use oxo-biodegradable film to wrap their magazines)
Industry websites, including Symphony's, do proudly proclaim one green endorsement – that the organic trade body the Soil Association buys their bags. But Clio Turton at the Soil Association told me: "We've had problems with people making these claims. We have asked for them to be removed. It's very frustrating."
Plastic bags are not the biggest environmental issue on the planet, as George Monbiot explained in a blog here recently.
But
most of us probably make "bag choices" several times a day. Brits get
through 8bn plastic bags a year. For that reason, they are one of the
choices that tend to show if we care about the environment or not. And
we should be clear. Re-using bags is best. Recycling is second best.
Throwing them away in the hope that a magic formula will guarantee their
rapid disappearance is laziness, not environmental care. And anybody
who tries to persuade us otherwise is guilty of Greenwash.
• This
article was amended on Friday 19 June 2009. We should have made clear
that the Soil Association no longer sells the biodegradable plastic bags
referred to in this article. This has been corrected.
• Do you know of any green claims that deserve closer examination? Email your examples to greenwash@guardian.co.uk or add your comments below
Every once in a while the government passes out an order banning shop
keepers from providing plastic bags to customers for carrying their
purchases, with little lasting effect. Plastic bags are very popular
with both retailers as well as consumers because they are cheap, strong,
lightweight, functional, as well as a hygienic means of carrying food
as well as other goods. Even though they are one of the modern
conveniences that we seem to be unable to do without, they are
responsible for causing pollution, killing wildlife, and using up the
precious resources of the earth.
About a hundred billion plastic bags are used every year in the US
alone. And then, when one considers the huge economies and populations
of India, China, Europe, and other parts of the world, the numbers can
be staggering. The problem is further exacerbated by the developed
countries shipping off their plastic waste to developing countries like
India. There are many harmful effects of pollution by plastic bags.
How are Plastic Bags Harmful to the Environment?
Plastic bags are used by everybody. You get them right from a vegetable
vendor to a designer store. They are convenient and easy-to-use. But,
most of us are blissfully of the repercussions that are occurring and
will take place in the future. The following paragraphs will discuss the
impact of plastic pollution on environment.
Litter the landscape
Once they are used, most bags go into landfill, or rubbish tips. Each
year more and more bags are ending up littering the environment. Once
they become litter, plastic bags find their way into our waterways,
parks, beaches, and streets. And, if they are burned, they infuse the
air with toxic fumes.
Kill animals
About 100,000 animals such as dolphins, turtles whales, penguins are
killed every year due to these bags. Many animals ingest plastic bags,
mistaking them for food, and therefore die. And worse, the ingested
plastic bag remains intact even after the death and decomposition of the
animal. Thus, it lies around in the landscape where another victim may
ingest it.
Non-biodegradable
And one of the worst environmental effects is that they are
non-biodegradable. The decomposition takes about 400 years. No one will
live so long to witness decomposition of plastic. Thus, save the
environment for the future generation of humans as well as animals.
Petroleum is required to produce plastic bags
As it is, petroleum products are diminishing and getting more expensive
by the day, since we have used this non-renewable resource increasingly.
Petroleum is vital for our modern way of life. It is necessary for our
energy requirements - for our factories, transport, heating, lighting,
and so on. Without viable alternative sources of energy yet on the
horizon, if the supply of petroleum were to be turned off, it would lead
to practically the entire world grinding to a halt. And to make
plastic, about 60 - 100 million barrels of oil are needed every year
around the world. Surely, this precious resource should not be wasted on
producing plastic bags, should it?
So, What Can be Done about the Use of Plastic Bags?
Single-use bags have become such a ubiquitous way of life that it seems
as if we simply cannot do without them. However, if we have the will, we
can start reducing their use in small ways.
A tote bag can make a good substitute for holding the shopping.
You can keep the bag with the cashier, and then put your purchases into
it instead of the usual plastic bag.
Recycling the bags you already have is another good idea. These can
come into use for various purposes, like holding your garbage, instead
of purchasing new ones.
While governments may be working out ways to lessen the impact of
plastic bags on the environment, however, each of us should shoulder
some of the responsibility for this problem, which ultimately harms us.
From the above paragraphs, you must have understood the gist of the
harmful effects of plastic bags on environment. They are not only
non-biodegradable, but are one of the major pollutants of the sea. For a
clean and green environment, try to use alternatives to plastic
whenever and wherever possible. Cut down on your use of plastic, and do
your bit to save our planet.
Based on statistic estimation, the average family adds 60
plastic bags in only four trips to the grocery store.
In good situations, high-density polyethylene plastic bags will
take more than 20 years to degrade. However in less ideal conditions such as on
landfills or as general refuse, a bag will take more than 1,000 years to
degrade.
In year 2008 an estimated 3,960,000 tons of plastic bags,
sack and wraps were produced where of those, 3,570,000 tons (90% of them) were throw
away. This number is almost triple the amount in 1980 (1,230,000 tons in 1980).
Source: EPA
Unfortunately only 0.5% to 3% of all bags winds up recycled.
Source: BBC & CNN
10% of the plastic bags which is produced every year
worldwide end up in the ocean. 70% of those plastic bags which finds its way to
the ocean floor, where it will most likely never degrade. Source :UN, 2006
Each Envirosax potentially replaces the use of 6,000 bags during its
lifetime, so please make a move in the right direction and help to
reduce the impact of plastic bag waste worldwide by buying a reusable
bag today!
Thousands of marine animals and more than 1 million birds die each year as a result of plastic pollution.
The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that there are
46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating in every square mile of ocean.
Plastic bags are often mistakenly ingested by animals, clogging
their intestines which results in death by starvation. Other animals or
birds become entangled in plastic bags and drown or can’t fly as a
result.
Greenpeace says that at least 267 marine species are known to have
suffered from getting entangled in or ingesting marine debris. Nearly
90% of that debris is plastic.
It’s true, Envirosax are made from polyester which is a plastic. The
fundamental problem with conventional plastic bags is not that they are
made from plastic, it’s that they are not designed to be re-used. Some
of the most serious problems associated with disposable bags are
outlined below.
The philosophy of Envirosax is to provide a fashionable and practical
product that is designed to last, and despite some drawbacks, polyester
is the best material to suit this purpose:
It is extremely lightweight and allows the bag to be rolled up into a
very compact package, which encourages people to carry them with them
and increases re-use.
It can be printed by sublimation, which means the print will never fade and the bag will look good for its whole lifetime.
It is highly durable, which means each Envirosax will last for years.
It is relatively inexpensive, which means Envirosax are affordable
for anyone, which will help spread the message of re-use to people of
all incomes.
Have you ever wondered why some plastic bags are stronger than others? Why bags from clothing stores at the mall tend to be strong and thick, whereas those from your local grocery store are flimsy and thin? And then there are those wispy, clear bags you get back with your dry cleaning. There are many types of plastic bags, all designed for different purposes.
The plastics we use today have come a long way since Alexander Parkes first introduced them to the world at London's Great International Exhibition in 1862. Parkes's material was an organic derivative of cellulose that could be molded when heated and then maintained its shape upon cooling.
But it wasn't until 1909 that the word "plastic" was coined. Leo H. Baekeland used the term to describe a new class of materials that included "bakelite," a substance he created from coal tar. Bakelite was used to produce many items, including telephones, cameras, and even ashtrays. Although a key component in these items, plastics did not become really popular until after World War I, when petroleum, a more easily processed substance than coal, became readily available. Petroleum and natural gas are the primary sources of the key ingredients in plastic.
Plastics are composed of polymers--large molecules consisting of repeating units called monomers. In the case of plastic bags, the repeating units are ethylene, or ethene. When ethylene molecules are polymerized to form polyethylene, they form long chains of carbon atoms in which each carbon also is bonded to two hydrogen atoms.
Many kinds of polyethylene can be made from ethylene. Plastic bags typically are made from one of three basic types: high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), or linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). Those thick, glossy shopping bags from the mall are LLDPE, while grocery bags are HDPE, and garment bags from the dry cleaner are LDPE. The major difference between these three materials is the degree of branching of the polymer chain. HDPE and LLDPE are composed of linear, unbranched chains, while LDPE chains are branched.
Branching can influence a number of physical properties including tensile strength and crystallinity. The more branched a molecule is, the lower is its tensile strength and crystallinity. That's why garment bags from the dry cleaner are so weak and flimsy. They are made from highly branched LDPE.
Another difference among these types of plastics is the method in which they are made. HDPE and LLDPE are made by Ziegler-Natta vinyl polymerization, a method that uses a transition-metal catalyst, like TiCl3, to initiate polymerization. Karl Ziegler and Giulio Natta received the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing this method.
For a long time, Ziegler-Natta polymerization was the only way to produce linear unbranched polyethylene. Recently, a new way of producing polyethylene has become available: metallocene-catalyzed polymerization. Like the Ziegler-Natta method, the metallocene method uses metal complexes as catalysts and is often used to make novel copolymers.
LDPE, the branched polyethylene, is made by a different process called free-radical polymerization. The oldest of the three methods, it uses an initiator molecule like benzoyl peroxide instead of a metal complex. The polymerization starts when the benzoyl peroxide molecules break apart into free radicals. The unpaired electrons of the free radicals attack ethylene's carbon-carbon double bond, forming new free radicals. These then react with other ethylene molecules and so on, forming a chain of single-bonded carbon atoms that grows until the reaction terminates, often when two free radicals join together.
What else do plastic bags contain? According to William F. Carroll Jr., a polymer chemist at Occidental Chemical Corp. and president-elect of the American Chemical Society, "With the possible exception of a little lubricant to help in extrusion, plastic bags are pretty much just the native polymer." However, different pigments may be added to produce colored bags.
Plastic bags have made our lives easier in many ways. Unfortunately, they are often not disposed of properly. We see them blowing around in the streets and they often end up in streams and the oceans. These bags can be dangerous to animals, such as turtles, that ingest them or are strangled by them, especially in marine environments where plastic bags resemble jellyfish and other food items.
One solution to this problem is to make degradable bags, such as those from starch. Starch, obtained from corn or potatoes, can be converted into lactic acid, which can be polymerized to the biodegradable plastic known as polylactide. Another solution is to add an ultraviolet-light absorber to make the material degrade when exposed to sunlight. Unfortunately, these solutions can make the plastics more expensive, so they haven't caught on with consumers.
Plastics have been around for more than 100 years, and they will be around for many more. Without a doubt, they are extremely useful. But when it comes to shopping, some environmentally conscious consumers prefer to avoid plastic bags, opting instead for paper bags. And some go even further, just reusing the same cloth bag over and over again.
TAMBUNAN: All government hospitals, including Tambunan Hospital, launched the ‘Go Green Without Plastic Bags Campaign’ simultaneously, with other hospitals throughout the state at the district hospital conference room yesterday.
The foremost objective of the campaign is to reduce and abolish the giving of plastic bags to the patients in all the Health Ministry’s facilities.
The activity also aimed to create awareness among the clients on the maintenance and rehabilitation of the environment by reducing the usage of plastic bags to ensure a better and healthier standard of living.
Tambunan Hospital director Dr Paul Molius said this in his opening address to some 100 people comprising hospital staff and patients seeking medical attention yesterday morning.
“The number of plastic bags used by the patients to take home their medicine had cost the ministry more than RM1 million in 2010,” he explained.
“The practice also had contributed indirectly to the plastic bag pollution or ‘White Pollution’ which is gaining seriousness in the nation,” he said.
“To overcome the problem, this approach is applied to avoid the quality of the environment in particular and the health of the Malaysians in general, being jeopardised due to the supply of the items (bags),” he said.
“With the campaign, the supply of plastic bags to the patients will be phased out and the patients are encouraged to bring their own bags when seeking medical attention in the near future,” he added.
Paul also said that the Pharmacy Unit would only consider giving plastic bags to the patients on a discretionary basis based on the requirement.
“The Pharmacy Unit used 200kg of plastic bags in 2009 and gave to an average of 200 to 280 patients a day,” he added.
“The public are also advised to bring along a small canvas bag, a rattan weaved basket or paper bag when collecting big amount of medicine from the Pharmacy Unit,” he said.
GEORGE TOWN: Come Jan 1, plastic bags will be practically banned state-wide.
The move – an extension of the current “No Plastic Bag Day” in shopping centres and hypermarkets on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays – means that no plastic bags can be used every day by almost all business sectors.
The ruling will cover all hypermarkets, supermarkets, departmental stores, pharmacies, fast food restaurants, nasi kandar outlets, convenience stores including petrol kiosks and chain stores.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the move would reduce the state’s carbon footprint.
“Mini markets and sole proprietorship businesses will have to adhere to the ruling on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in order to ensure the renewal of their licences.
“Previously, they only had to adhere to the ruling on Mondays,” he said when tabling the 2011 Budget at the state legislative assembly yesterday.
Lim’s two paragraph announcement on the wide-ranging plastic ban was buried inside his 27-page budget speech, apparently catching many by surprise.
To promote the “No Plastic Bag Day” ruling, the state will distribute 500,000 brochures to create public awareness besides erecting educational billboards.
On July 1, last year, Penang became the first state to implement a “No Plastic Bag Day” ruling in shopping complexes and hypermarkets every Monday, before it was extended to Tuesdays and Wednesdays as well from Jan 2.
From July 1, 2009 to Oct 28, a total of 32.5 million plastic bags were saved under this campaign.
Shoppers who did not bring their own reusable bags were charged 20 sen for each plastic bag when making purchases.
The money collected from the sale of plastic bags went to the “Partners Against Poverty” Special Fund to help the state’s hardcore poor.
Most of the parents pledged SAY NO TO PLASTIC. This might show that theyare supporting the No Plastic Bags Day Campaign that are ongoing every Saturday for entire nation. Great job! And we hope everyone will use less plastic!
272 pledged they will READ ONLINE ONLY to REDUCE PAPER. By reducing the usage of papers, we can help to reduce the cutting of trees.
55% pledged they will use Solar to reduce electricity. However, we found that some parents said the solar panel/solar heater is very expensive to buy. One tip, Isn’t that a good investment for a more sustainable future? Plus, you could reduce your electric bill every month.
Plant-a-tree is the least being pledged by parents. However, we hope that everyone will and always plant more trees because they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen gas for us to stay alive.
Plastic bags damage the
environment in many ways. Like other plastics, they are made from
petroleum, a nonrenewable resource. They do not biodegrade when thrown
out. A plastic bag may stay in a landfill for decades or even centuries.
Plastic bags that are not buried in a landfill may escape into the
environment, where they become litter and may injure fish or other
wildlife that mistake them for food. Finally, plastic bags hold less
than paper or reusable bags, making them inefficient for shoppers.
Manufacture
The
plastic used in plastic bags is made from petroleum and natural gas,
and the process of creating the plastic also uses petroleum and natural
gas to operate. Both petroleum and natural gas are nonrenewable
resources, and worldwide supplies of them are dwindling. Shipping the
raw materials to the factory and shipping plastic bags away from the
factory also use petroleum, which creates greenhouse gases when burned.
The
overwhelming majority of plastic grocery bags wind up in landfills.
Plastic bags are not biodegradable, and it is unknown how long a plastic
bag buried in a landfill will stay there. Eventually, the plastic
begins to break down. It may begin to leach toxins into the landfill and
then into nearby groundwater, harming animals, plants and humans who
rely on groundwater sources.
Recycling
Due
to their extremely light weight and the quality of the plastic used to
make them, plastic bags are rarely recycled. The cost of the energy
required to recycle plastic bags is more than the value of the recycled
bags and is also higher than the cost of making new ones. Worse, plastic
bags mixed in with other recyclables may jam recycling machines,
bringing the entire recycling plant to a halt as the machine is fixed.
Litter
Plastic
bags that escape landfills and cannot find a recycler frequently become
litter. Their light weight means they are easily picked up by the wind
and deposited in trees or in the ocean. In both habitats, they may be
mistaken as food by hungry animals. Sea turtles are particularly
vulnerable to death by plastic bag because plastic bags in the water
resemble jellyfish, a favorite food of sea turtles. A curious animal may
also become trapped in a plastic bag and become strangled or poisoned
by chewing on the bag.
