Is The Polythene Bag Such A Bad Thing?
On the landfill side, the polythene carrier bag accounts for 0.3% of the volume of waste and less than 1% of the litter found on the streets
Innovation in production has resulted in improved resource minimisation. It takes 70% less plastic to produce a carrier bag than 20 years ago and a 7gram carrier bag can carry 20kgs of weight (2,500 times it's own weight) - not even an elephant can improve on that!
In total 2% of the oil is used for all plastic packaging.
The polythene carrier bag accounts for just a fraction of this. 29% of the oil used in Europe goes on transportation and haulage. To change to paper carrier bags would result in a further 23,000 extra lorries on the road (in Scotland alone!) due to the volume and weight of paper involved - this would increase the percentage of oil used quite dramatically.
From the transportation point of view, polythene carriers are the most cost efficient.
A paper eqivalent weighs six times that of its polythene counterpart and is four times as expensive and takes up ten times more storage space
If polythene bags are incorporated in an incineration scheme their calorific value far exceeds any other product. It is estimated that 30 million tonnes of oil are saved each year by burning plastic waste in controlled incineration units.
With the introduction of a carrier bag tax (the next option to a carrier bag ban) in Ireland, the requirement for refuse sacks, bin liners, etc. has increased by 300%.
The use of paper bags has resulted in more bags being required - double bagging to give strength. Due to the water sensitivity of paper bags, all stocks have to be packed in polythene for protection from the elements. The incidence of theft as a result of push outs and the loss of wire baskets and tolleys in Ireland has far exceeded the money generated from imposing a tax on bags.
The options that are available in the form of reusable shoppers, fabric bags and implementing charges on carrier bags are all a good step forward, but not at the expense of dispensing with a very cost effective form of packaging.
Whilst there is a need for education and improved infrastructure for the recycling of polythene bags, it is necessary to put the use of carrier bags in context with other packaging issues and waste management facilities. There is a great temptation to put the baby out with the bath water before confirming that it is in fact the baby that is the problem.
Source: Carrier Bag Consortium