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The Move Towards A Plastic Bag Free Huddersfield
With many towns (such as Modbury and Hebden Bridge) and even countries such as Bangladesh having banned the distribution of single use plastic bags it raises questions by those who don’t see anything wrong with their production and use. Why would someone want to ban something so useful and meaningless?
Well to start with it has been causing the deaths of thousands of animals (land and sea) through ingestion, preventing the animal from processing the rest of its food and causing dehydration leading to death.
Further to this, beaches and waterways around the world are scattered with plastic debris (including plastic bags). This plastic pollution has been building up for decades as it can take up to centuries to break down into smaller and smaller toxic pieces (to then be eaten by animals that think they are eating plankton or into the ground to pollute the soil).
If that doesn’t affect you then how about the argument that plastic in the environment has been linked to health problems in humans through bioaccumulation (ie an animal eats plastic, another animal eats that animal until we consume an animal and all of the built up plastic it has consumed within its food chain).
Plastic bags may be useful but we managed to survive before they were invented and I’m sure we will survive without them. Do we really want to leave swirling seas of plastic toxic mess for the future generations?
There are many alternatives that we can use instead of plastic bags such as hemp, cotton and jute for transporting goods. For hygienic needs such as transporting meat the solutions appear to be cornstarch bags and reusable tubs. Using these alternatives will reduce the amount of plastic we actually use and reduce the impact of our wasteful lifestyles on the environment. We just need to be more organised and this can be easily achieved.
If you’re still not convinced please visit the following websites:
www.abolishplasticbags.org.uk/
www.plasticbagfreehebdenbridge.co.uk/
www.plasticbagfreechesham.co.uk
www.plasticbagfreebrighton.co.uk/
www.godalmingplasticbagfree.co.uk/
www.theendofplasticbags.co.uk/
www.helstonbagfree.co.uk/how.html
www.plasticbags.emsworthweb.co.uk/
www.plasticbagfreewhitby.co.uk/
www.plasticbagfreehenfield.co.uk
www.eveshambagbusters.org.uk/Evesham/
www.plasticshoppingbagfree.org.nz
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So what are the alternatives to plastic bags?
You should firstly reuse the plastic bags you already have until they cannot physically be used anymore, then take them to your local supermarket to be recycled.
When picking an alternative there are many to choose from, all of which have their positive and negative aspects.
Non woven polypropylene, which is most commonly used in supermarket ‘material-like’ shopping bags is made from the by-product of plastic. The reason why these bags are made is in response to the production of plastic having a waste product as it would otherwise go to waste. This product has a negative impact on the environment and as it is not made from natural fibres it will not break down and so is not compostable.
Another alternative offered to us is the thicker plastic reusable bag sold in supermarkets. Again this poses the same problems as the bag above and as it is thicker it requires more plastic to make it and takes longer to break down.
The best alternatives around are Cotton, Jute and Hemp.Organic and fair-trade varieties of these products, if available should be bought.The benefits of these products are that they are natural and so can be composted at the end of their use, leaving no harmful residue for future generations. However there are issues around the land required to grow these natural products, the volume of water required and the need for petroleum based pesticides (for cotton), this is why organic alternatives are so important.
- The best solution would be to use things you already own (cardboard or plastic boxes, rucksacks, shopping trollies and anything else you can carry things in!)
What do you use to carry your shopping? Use this post to show us your alternatives to plastic bags and let us know how you use them. Be creative, imaginative and inspire others!