Our plastic problem
Canadians use between nine and 15 billion plastic bags a year, or enough to circle the globe 55 times.
There’s a monster lurking in our midst, in our cupboards, closets, basements and pretty much every nook and cranny of our homes. The monster of course is plastics bags.
According to Greener Footprints, Canadians use between 9 and 15 billion plastic bags a year or enough to circle the globe 55 times.
When we do manage to get rid of the sea of plastic bags in our homes, often that’s where they end up — in the sea, as well as our rivers, lakes, roadsides and landfill sites.
According to the World Economic Forum, the world produces 20 times more plastic than we did in 1964 and over the next 20 years this volume is expected to double in size. By 2050 based on current trends, there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish.
The most fundamental problem with plastics bags is they don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade. So instead of decomposing the way biodegradable organic materials do, plastic bags break down into smaller, toxic bits of plastics that contaminate soil and water and are in turn often ingested by birds and animals.
According to the non-profit organization SEE Turtles, hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales, and other marine mammals and more than one million seabirds die from ingesting and getting entangled in ocean pollution each year.
Canada, we have a problem.
It isn’t that we aren’t aware of the negative impact plastic bags are having on the world we live in, or that we lack the tools necessary to address the hazards posed by plastic waste.
We just haven’t reached the point where we’ve taken ownership of the pollution caused by plastic bags, as our problem.
And the surprising thing is, the solutions aren’t as daunting as you think. Consider that grocery stores in most parts of Canada have been charging extra for plastic bags for years, while at the same time making reusable bags available at checkout.
But the reality is that despite these measures, many of us continue to use plastic bags, due to a combination of convenience and also forgetfulness (oh darn, left my reusable bag at home again).
Rather than charge a paltry 1 or 2 cents per bag as most stores do in this country, England’s approach has been to slap on a hefty 5 pence (8 cents Canadian) mandatory surcharge on plastic bags and remarkably, within a couple of years the use of these bags has been reduced by 85 percent.
And a growing number of communities have outright banned the use of plastic bags as well. The tiny in size (less than 500 residents) but big in vision community of Leaf Rapids, Manitoba banned plastic bags back in 2007.
Major cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, various states in Australia and entire countries including Italy, China and South Africa have also banned the use of plastic bags.
As a concerned citizen, one of the most important things you can do is to lobby politicians and stores to in your own backyard to stop using plastic bags.
But until that happens, why not make a conscious effort to grab a reusable back before you head to the store. And for those of you who are forgetful (who isn’t?), be sure to leave these bags at the door or perhaps leave extras in your car or with your bike if that’s your main mode of transportation. And if you still forget, suck it up and carry your merchandise home without a bag.
There’s also a great solution for your roadside trash. Although you still have to hunt them down in most retail stores, and they cost a bit more, green plastic bags which are typically made from a biodegradable corn-based plastic are now available.
We’re already required to use these bags for green bin recycling, which begs the question: why aren’t our municipal governments going the extra mile and making biodegradable garbage bags mandatory as well?
Pollution caused by plastic bags is a major problem that will only continue to get worse, until each and every one of us decides to take action. Let’s do something about it.
Mark Wessel lives in Collingwood, Ont. and is a passionate advocate for living more sustainably at home and in the greater community. Check out his blog at www.sustainablebuilder.com.