Is Your Life Too Plastic?

It has been a while since I have posted, but I am feeling especially motivated to write more on the topic of plastics.  Thanks to Surfrider Foundation and Somerville Climate Action, I was finally able to attend a screening of "Bag It."  This was a great film that examined every intersection between plastics and the impacts they have on humans and the environment.  I was very excited to learn that the filmmaker, Jeb Berrier, is a graduate of Shady Hill School, right here in Cambridge, MA!  I was especially intrigued by two issues after watching the movie: 1. How we (U.S. citizens) perceive the role of plastics in our lives and 2. Where is the future of plastics manufacturing and recycling going?

Perception:
Plastics have undoubtedly made profound advancements in all aspects of our lives.  One part of "Bag It" that I didn't totally agree with was the claim that our great-grandparents got along just fine without plastic, so why can't we?  Well, plastics have enabled the rapid growth in technology that we all enjoy and rely on in our daily professional and personal lives.  The medical field uses plastics that were not available to our great-grandparents for life-saving equipment and diagnostic procedures.  With my applaud to the good that plastic brings us, I don't agree that we should be using it in such a disposable manner.

As evidenced by the U.S. plastic bottle recycling rate in 2010 of 12%, not all of us care about disposing of plastics.  The man at my corner store is perplexed when I say I don't need a bag; "But it's free!" he says.  So, there is that perception.  And on the opposite side of the spectrum, there are people who worry about the health effects of plastic exposures on the most sensitive members of our population: fetuses.  "Bag It" gives a comprehensive look at the many components of our plastic items, including phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA), on development and reproduction.  (By the way, BPA makes plastics hard, and phthalates make plastics soft).  I thought this was a great introduction to the health concerns of plastic in our bodies.  Many of the chemically complex components of our plastic goods that we don't think twice about (or have never heard of) were discussed.  A well-known toxicologist, Dr. Colborn, was featured to talk about a class of chemicals called endocrine disruptors, which will have to be another post all together.  It was a compelling review; after the movie a fellow viewer suggested that these chemical producers pay rent for having their products hang out in our body for so long!  My only concern is that the movie's listed associations of plastics and diseases/disorders, such as asthma and autism, will propagate unfounded fears in its viewers.  I have not seen any evidence that establishes a causal relationship between plastic and asthma or autism.  However, this is not to say there aren't true developmental concerns that have been observed in laboratory animals, and have reason to be pertinent to humans.

Alas, we have to remember that everything is a balance.  For instance, an important consideration in the widely criticized use of BPA in canned goods is that there hasn't been a single case of botulism in commercially canned foods since it became commonplace, nearly 50 years ago.  For those who may not know, botulism is a paralytic illness that can be caused by bacteria in improperly sterilized preserved foods.  And for those who do home canning at home, this is why we boil the jars of sauce or jelly!

Future Directions:
What are we going to do with all this plastic?  Recycling abilities vary from town to town, meaning that many number 3-7 plastics go straight in the garbage because the recycling technologies are still limited it many parts of the U.S.  The plastics that are recycled often just have one more life before their ultimate fate in a landfill (or the ocean).  Bottles become incorporated into carpets and fleece goods.  Some number 5 plastics are turned into toothbrushes.  I was heartened to recently hear that recycled "lumber" can be made from any type of plastic - not sure how this works, high heat and pressure?  What this comes down to is that we need a better plan for the life cycle of plastic.  Germany and Japan re-use their plastic soda bottles (PET) over and over; they are simply sterilized and re-filled for consumption.  That is certainly a start!  I am looking forward to do more research into the cooperation of manufacturing and recycling.  Maybe if these two industries had common engineering, we'd experience a much more friendly and efficient reduction, reuse, and recycling culture.

Bag It

I have recently been inspired by a new documentary about our culture's obession and reliance on plastic material, and one-use bags in particular.  I am currently shopping around for different venues to host a screening of this film for Fall 2011.


"Bag It has been garnering awards at film festivals across the nation. What started as a documentary about plastic bags evolved into a wholesale investigation into plastics and their effect on our waterways, oceans, and even our bodies. Join the Bag It movement and decide for yourself how plastic your life will be."

Updates on a local screening to come; watch the trailer here:

http://www.riseaboveplastics.org/

Plastic Bag Film

This short film by American director Ramin Bahrani (Goodbye Solo) traces the epic, existential journey of a plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog) searching for its lost maker, the woman who took it home from the store and eventually discarded it. Along the way, it encounters strange creatures, experiences love in the sky, grieves the loss of its beloved maker, and tries to grasp its purpose in the world.

In the end, the wayward plastic bag wafts its way to the ocean, into the tides, and out into the Pacific Ocean trash vortex — a promised nirvana where it will settle among its own kind and gradually let the memories of its maker slip away.

Massachusetts Uses 25% Fewer Plastic Bags!

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and the Massachusetts Food Association (MFA) are excited to "Sack the Bag" too! 

As of Summer 2010, the MassDEP and the MFA issued a press release announcing a 25% decrease in plastic and paper bag distribution since 2007 in participating supermarkets.  There are 384 participating stores among the following 12 chains that have tracked paper and plastic bag use since 2007: Big Y Supermarkets, Crosby’s, DeMoulas Market Basket, Donelan’s, Foodmaster, Hannaford Bros., Price Chopper, PriceRite, Roche Bros., Shaw’s Supermarkets, The Stop and Shop Supermarket Co., and Trucchi’s.

This is a completely voluntary-based approach for both the grocery chains and consumers, which requires training on both ends.  Consumers are reminded to bring their own bags; reminded to recycle their plastic bags; and are provided with cash incentives for using their own bags.  The grocery staff was trained to offer reusable bags and reduce wasteful bag use while bagging groceries.

The partnership between the MassDEP and the MFA aims to reduce grocery bag distribution by 33% by 2013.  However, with already with a 25% decrease just by mere motivation and a little bit of education, why not aim higher?  The truth is, we cannot afford to continue to litter our city and clog our land with continued use of plastic bags.  This effective partnership between the MFA (private institution) and the MassDEP (public institution) could use this successful measure to try other means of waste reduction, such as running trials of no plastic bag distribution, or charging a small fee for plastic bags.

Plastic Shopping Bag Fact Sheet

PLASTIC SHOPPING BAG FACT SHEET

SEPTEMBER 2010

           

           Where do plastic bags come from, and where do they go?

• Made from Polyethylene
• 80% of polyethylene is produced from natural gas: an abundant,  yet non-renewable resource
• Never to be returned to an organic state
• It takes ~500-1,000 years to break down, meaning small particles of plastic are spread throughout the soil, blocking oxygen and normal growth
• Plastic bags can be recycled into composite lumber and other functional items
• BUT, only 5.2% of plastic bags are recycled (2005 EPA research)
• The other 94.8% are put in landfills and drape Boston’s fences, sidewalks, drainage systems, and waters
  

           How do plastic bags affect Massachusetts’ Economy?

• There are few plastic bag  manufacturers in Massachusetts; most bags originate from China
• Retailers in MA provide “free” plastic bags to their customers as a matter of convenience, as has become custom.
• Customers using their own bags means the retailer does not have to fund that convenience, and MA does not have to fund the clean-up and disposal of that product down the road.
• Retail customers currently do not pay to carry their items in a bag after purchase, as it presents no cost, and is included in trash-pick up taxes when they are ready to dispose of that convenience

           What can we do?

• “PlasTax” or plastic bag tax may be implemented:
• Decrease plastic usage: This will discourage customers from using plastic bags wastefully, and encourage them to carry their own reusable bags
• Decrease plastic litter: Will also decrease clean-up efforts, fund clean-up efforts, and prevent more plastic from invading ecosystems
• E.g. Ireland decreased plastic bag usage by 94% in the first months of imposing a tax, and raised 3.5M Euros for environmental clean-up
• “B.Y.O.B. Day” or Bring Your Own Bag Day promoted in Boston, MA:
• People think twice about accepting/giving out plastic bags: Consumers and retailers begin to understand how mindless usage of plastic bags affects the world around them
• Consumers remember to grab their own cloth bags before going to the grocery store: Making this issue top of mind increases likelihood of a consumer remembering to B.Y.O.B.
• E.g. Boston implemented a “Reusable Bag Day” in November 2007, but the outcome was not tracked.  Goals were to make consumers more aware of simple actions
• Ban on Plastic and Paper bags:
• Consumers understand where plastic bags come from and go, motivating to B.Y.O.B.
• There will be an increasing social pressure to curb  plastic bag usage
• E.g.  Bangladesh banned plastic bag use in 2002, after attributing flooding in 1998 to polyethylene choking drainage systems, thereby causing public health and sanitary issues.

What is Boston doing to reduce plastic bag waste?

Boston has considered plastic bag legislation in the past, most notably gaining momentum in 2007. Boston City Councilor of District 5, Robert Consalvo, sponsored a ban on plastic bags that was endorsed by 9 of the 12 councilors in April of 2007. However, the proposal seems to have died before passing through the Committee on City and Neighborhood Services for reasons seemingly unpublished.

In November of 2007, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and the Massachusetts Food Association (MFA) initiated a state-wide "Bring a Reusable Bag Day" where consumers and retailers alike were encouraged to consider the implications of the plastic bags they so thoughtlessly accept or give out every day.

In 2009, the MassDEP and MFA partnered to set a mutual goal of reducing by one-third the number of paper and plastic shopping bags distributed by MFA’s 500+ member grocery stores and supermarkets by the year 2013.

Government officials remain wary of implementing a tax on plastic bags so as not to detract from tax payers' pockets, especially in the midst of a recession. Avoiding the tax, however, is as easy as bringing your own bag!

There have been many success stories supporting either a tax or a ban; these countries recognize the benefits of purging their landscapes and waters of the plastic bags that drape fences and trees, and choke the internal waterways of urban environments. These countries include:

Italy: passed law taxing plastic shopping bags in the 80's

Bangladesh: Imposed a ban on thin plastic bags after linking plastic clogging sewage systems to the floods of '98+'99

Ireland: Imposed a tax, reducing plastic bag usage by 96% in the first 3 months

Eritrea: banned plastic bags in 2005

Rwanda: banned plastic bags in 2005

Somalia: banned plastic bags in 2005

Tanzania: banned plastic bags in 2006

Kenya:  in mid-2007 banned thinner plastic bags and imposed levies on thicker ones.

Uganda: in mid-2007 banned thinner plastic bags and imposed levies on thicker ones.

China: Ban reduced plastic bag use by 60% in first 6 months

Taiwan: banned free light-weight plastic bags in March 2003

Belgium: imposed a tax on free bags in July 2007. 

Switzerland: requires supermarkets to charge shoppers for bags.

South Australia: bans lightweight checkout bags as of 2009

UK: the town of Modbury in Devon became the first place in Britain to outlaw plastic bags in April 2007.

India: Mumbai banned plastic bags in 2000 and the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh made thinner bags illegal in 2003.

Boston too can see a decrease in plastic bags fluttering through streets and in clogging up our land-fills, if we encourage people to BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag).

In the time that Boston has not passed legislation to change plastic bag use, how many more million have made their ways into landfills? The U.S. EPA estimates Americans use about 380 billion plastic bags per year, while recycling just 1% of them. Boston represents 0.2% of the U.S. population; if Boston uses an average number of plastic bags, we are throwing 760 million bags away each year. There are 24 active landfills in Massachusetts, collecting a total of 2,251,402 tons annually. Throwing plastic bags "away" actually means hauling them to neighboring towns, where they can sit around for centuries.

Contact your city councilman to ask what's being done in your district.