8/11/2019 Ban Plastic Bags Now Fact Sheet

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SAY NO TO PLASTIC BAGS!

Why Ban Plastic Bags?

  Plastic bags use up natural resources and energy . Plastic bags are made from polyethylene. Polyethylene comes from petroleum, anon-renewable resource. When one ton of plastic bags are reused or recycled, the energy saved is equal to 11 barrels of oil1.

Data released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency shows that somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bagsare consumed worldwide each year 2. This translates to about a million bags every minute across the globe, or 150 bags a year for every

person on earth1

. However, less than 1% of bags are recycled. It cost more to recycle a bag than to produce a new one. It costs $4,000 toprocess and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for $32. If the economics don't work,recycling efforts don't work2.

  Plastic bags are indestructible. Plastic bags take between 20 and 1000 years to break down in the environment. Even when they dobreak down they are not really gone. Plastic bags do not bio-degrade rather, they photodegrade. They simply break apart into ever smallepieces, eventually forming “plastic dust”, a more toxic petrosmaller, petro—polymers which eventually contaminate soil and waterways1 2

 And no matter how large or small they are, plastic bits are not digestible by any creature on land, in the air, or under the sea. We areliterally choking the planet with products, which cannot re-enter the life cycle.

  Plastic bags are the top debris collected in Philippine water bodies. Discards survey in 2006 and 2010: EcoWaste Coalition, Globa Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and Greenpeace found plastic bags comprising 51.4% and 27.7%, respectively of the flotsam inManila Bay. Plastics in general, including plastic bags, made up 76.9 and 75.55 % respectively. While recent discard survey in Septembe

2011 shows plastic bags still tops the debris in Laguna De Bay at 23%.

In a marine index released by Ocean Conservancy in 2009 documenting the debris collected during the International Coastal Clean-up ofthe previous year, plastic bags are the top marine debris collected in the Philippines amounting to 679, 957 pounds3.

  Plastic bags and packaging kill marine life. More than 1 million birds, more than 100,000 whales, seals and turtles, and countless fishworldwide are killed by plastic rubbish every year. These deaths occur through entanglement, suffocation, and starvation by ingestion. AMinke whale found on a beach in Normandy in April of 2002 had approximately 2 pounds of plastic bags and packaging in its digestivetract.

  Plastic is getting into the food chain. Even the finest particles of plastic represent a threat to creatures at the lowest level of the foodchain in the marine environment, the filter-feeders. Then, toxins in filter-feeders are passed up the food chain to fish and other marineanimals, which humans then consume.

 

Plastic could over-run our planet if we don’t stop . Estimates run as high as one million pieces of plastic per square kilometer floating inspecific areas of the Pacific Ocean. In this area, plastics outnumber plankton, the base of the marine food web. A surface trawl of theocean found 6 pounds of plastic pieces for every one pound of zooplankton.

  Plastic bags contribute to street litter . Plastic items of all kinds present a significant and costly form of litter, pollution, and waste. Theyfind its way into the storm drain system that causes clogging and aggravates flooding. Local government units even spend billions of pesosfor declogging operation and solid waste management.

 Also, plastic that gets “thrown away” does not always make it to the landfill, but rather gets diverted by wind or improper handlin g.

But plastic bags are so convenient!It depends on how far you are looking. A plastic bag may be convenient for a minute or two when you carry something out of the store, but for therest of the life of the bag (which is a long time) it is not just inconvenient, it is ugly, toxic, and life-threatening. There are alternatives to plastic bags,many of which were used by our parents and grandparents quite handily1.

What can we do?

  Enact and implement policies or ordinances phasing-out or banning the production and use of plastic bags.  Learn more about the impact of plastic packaging.

  Begin today to limit, and then eventually stop, your consumption of plastic bags.  Know and use your alternatives. They are there. Many are more convenient, cheap in the long run and friendly to our environment.

Example, two large canvass bags of premium quality cost about Php 45 each, and would last about 10 years or even more. If using amedium size plastic bag that cost 0.75 centavos per bag, a family that switch from five plastic bags per week will save about Php 90 in ayear and recover its purchase cost in the first year and additional Php 180 for each of the next nine years or till the bag last.

  Develop an iron will and a heart of gold. Refuse to accept plastic bags from clerks who habitually stuff your purchases into the standardpackaging. Smile when you do it. “I’m sorry, I can’t use plastic bags – they’re choking our waterways and killing marine animals.”  

8/11/2019 Ban Plastic Bags Now Fact Sheet

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Can I use degradable plastic bags instead?

Definitely not! Like conventional plastic bags, they still promote “throw-away-and-dump” attitude which is overtopping our dumpsites & landfillsand taxing our resource base. Significantly, they still carry the liabilities or blow-away litter, storm drain blockage & wildlife fatalities.

Alternatives to plastic bags

  Take alternative carry-out bags with you, made from all-natural fibers: abaca, pandan, water hyacinth, jute, woven cotton, and canvas okatsa bags. They are all available.

  Use no bags – simply pick things up and put them in your shopping basket (this works for large items such as apples, bananas, carrotsmelons, etc.).

  For wet goods, bring reusable containers where you can place meat, fish, etc. or wrap them with banana leaves before placing inside youalternative carry-out bags. In some provinces, people use to bring pails or they tie meat or fish with thin bamboo strings. Bring bottles orrefillable mugs in buying liquid items such as oil, coconut milk etc. especially in the market.

If we use a cloth bag, we can save 6 bags a week, that's 24 bags a month, 288 bags a year and 22,176 bags in an average life time. If just 1 ouof 5 people in our country did this we would save 1,330,560,000,000 bags over our life time 2 .

Success Stories & Supporters of Plastic Bag Ban

  Growing number of municipalities and cities are now implementing ordinances that aims in reducing the use of plastic bags, this includes: Antipolo City, Bacolod City, Batangas City, Burgos, Pangasinan, Municipality of Cavite: Carmona and Imus, Municipality/City of LagunaBiňan, Calamba City, Calauan, Los Baňos, Luisiana, Paete, Kalayaan and Sta. Cruz, Muntinlupa City, Odiongan, Romblon, Pasay CityPasig City, Municipality of Quezon: Infanta and Lucban, Sta. Barbara, Iloilo, and other cities or municipalities.

  League of 27 municipalities of Nueva Ecija also signed a resolution: LMP-NE Resolution 003-20119 declaring a ban on the use of plasticbags4.

 

Muntilupa City was free from flood brought by recent typhoon Falcon due to plastics ban5.

  Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) issues Resolution No. 406 requiring LGUs in the Laguna De Bay Region to pass and

implement an ordinance banning the use & distribution of thin film, single-use, carry-out, non-biodegradable plastic bags6.

  Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) strongly encourages local government units to adopt similar strong measures like whatMuntinlupa City has done7.

  Internationally, more countries are also banning the use of plastic bags: 

  Bangladesh was the first country to impose a nationwide ban of plastic bags that led to increase of jute exports up to 70%8.  Ireland introduced a PlasTax levy of 15 cents (now 22 cents) on single-use carrier bags. Plastic bag use dropped to 95%9.   Among other countries are China, Himachal Pradesh, India, Modbury Britain, South Africa, Rwanda, San Francisco, United States and

many more10.  United Nations Official calls for worldwide ban on plastic bags: "Single-use plastic bags which choke marine life should be banned or

phased out rapidly everywhere," said Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Program, according to McClatchy Newspapers

"There is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere11."  Ban Shopping Bags says EU: “Fifty years ago, the single-use plastic bag was almost unheard of. “Now we use them for a few minutes

and they pollute our environment for decades,” said EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potocnik. That’s why we are looking at althe options, including a Europe-wide ban on plastic carrier bags12.” 

References1-  http://www.algalita.org/pdf/Action-sheet.pdf  

2- 

http://www.unep.org/themes/consumption/pdf/The_Dangers_of_Plastic_Bags.pdf   3- 

http://act.oceanconservancy.org/pdf/2009_Marine_Debris_Index.pdf   4- 

http://climate-news.com/environment/27-nueva-ecija-towns-ban-plastic-bags-884.html  5-  http://www.thepoc.net/breaking-news/environment/12587-falcon-leaves-muntinlupa-flood-free-because-of-plastics-ban.html  

6- 

http://www.mb.com.ph/node/312379/lake-watchdog-pu  7- 

http://www.mmda.gov.ph/news.html#viewjanuary  8- 

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/263041/bangladesh-jute-gets-boost-plastic-bag-backlash  9-  http://www.greenbag.com.au/UserFiles/AU_analysis.pdf  

10- 

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/talkofthetown/view/20110129-317368/Where-plastic-bags-are-banned  11-

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525547,00.html  12-

 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5goLAxvtTbEwQQZK06KWpt6O9URsA?docId=CNG.e1e3011dfa5c9e06530678b2c4c69dcc.201  

Credits: Most of the facts and ideas stated here are excerpts from “Don’t think of a Plastic Bag” by Green Sangha and “The Dangers of Plastic Bags”posted at www.unep.org. For more details of plastics in the ocean, you may visit this website: www.algalita.org. 

For more reference material or inquiries, please contact EcoWaste Coalition atTelefax (632) 4411846 / Email: info@ecowastecoalition.org 

STOP USING PLASTIC BAGS NOW!

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