Do the right thing'

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Do the right thing. Break the Plastic Habit! The
Mobile Bay NEP encourages voluntary action to
reduce the impact of single-use plastic
bags. Developed for the John L. Borom Alabama
Coastal Bird Fest Saturday, October 18, 2008
Brought to you by theMobile Bay National Estuary
Program www.mobilebaynep.com
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The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
estimates that between 500 billion and one
trillion single-use, high density, polyethylene
(HDPE) plastic bags are added to global waste
stream every year.
In Mobile Baldwin Counties, an estimated 143
million plastic bags were distributed to
consumers in 2006.
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They are so cheap to produce, sturdy, plentiful,
and easy to carry that they have captured the
overwhelming majority of the grocery and
convenience store markets since their
introduction a quarter century ago.
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So whats the problem?
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An estimated 8 billion pounds of plastic bags,
wraps, and sacks enter the waste stream every
year in the U.S. alone, putting a burden on our
diminishing landfill space and causing air
pollution if incinerated.
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Plastic bags are extremely persistent and take up
to 1000 years to degrade.
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500 Billion(500,000,000,000) toOne
Trillion(1,000,000,000,000) Bags
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500 Billion(500,000,000,000) toOne
Trillion(1,000,000,000,000) Bags
year after year after year
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500 Billion(500,000,000,000) toOne
Trillion(1,000,000,000,000) Bags
year after year after year
each taking up to 1,000 years to degrade.
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Annually, between 15 and 30 billion plastic bags
are discarded directly into the worlds waters
and environments.
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They break into smaller pieces and more toxic
polymers that spread across soils, waters, and
bottoms and find their way into aquatic food
chains.
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Plastics in aquatic environments act like
sponges, absorbing and concentrating toxic
chemicals from the surrounding seawater,
resulting in toxin concentrations in the plastic
up to several thousand times greater than in the
water.
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Bags kill birds, fish, mammals, and sea turtles
that become entangled or eat them
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they block stormwater drains
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and they mar the natural beauty of our coastal
ecosystems and global environments.
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They are a major cause of engine problems in
commercial and recreational fishing vessels,
fouling intakes of essential cooling systems.
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Locally, they have become a ubiquitous feature
of our shorelines. Almost 5,000 were collected
in the 2007 Alabama Coastal Cleanup.
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Globally, plastic is found in all the worlds
oceans from polar regions to the equator. The
Great Pacific Garbage Patch, formed by currents
and located in the center of the North Pacific
Gyre, is twice the size of Texas, weighs over
three million tons, and is composed almost
entirely of plastic. Seabeds, especially in
coastal regions, are also contaminated
predominantly with plastic bags. Plastic bags
are found on beaches everywhere - from crowded
tourist meccas to the shores of remote,
uninhabited islands.
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Plastic bags are made from oil and/or natural
gas. Plastic is a by-product of oil refining and
accounts for 4 of the worlds total oil
production.
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Not only does this use decrease shrinking oil
supplies,
it also increases our dependency on foreign
sources.
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Is recycling the answer?
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The cost of recycling HDPE bags is
prohibitive. It costs 4,000 to recycle one ton
of single-use plastic bags. The material
recovered from this effort is worth 32 on the
commodities market. Consequently, less than one
percent of all plastic bags produced are
recycled. Even the bags reused for household
trash or pet waste ultimately end up in land
fills.
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• Three different strategies are being employed by
  various governments to decrease the use and
  proliferation of HDPE bags
• Outright bans on their distribution,
• Plastaxes, or fees attached to the retail
  distribution of plastic bags, or
• Voluntary programs (generally on the
  part of retailers) to reduce use or
  increase recycling of plastic bags.

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The list of nations that have taken action to
curtail distribution of plastic bags includes
forward thinking, developed countries like
Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland,
Israel, Italy, South Africa, Sweden,
Switzerland, and Singapore.
It also includes developing countries like
Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Kenya, Rwanda,
Taiwan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
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Lack of infrastructure has increasingly forced
developing countries to impose outright bans on
the use of plastic bags, which litter their
landscapes and clog their flood drains.
The Republic of China banned the distribution of
HDPE bags beginning in 2008, saving the country
an estimated 37 million barrels of oil this year.
Last year, San Francisco became the first
American city to ban distribution of single-use
plastic bags. Oakland, Los Angeles, Santa Monica,
Annapolis, Boston, Phoenix, Tempe, and Laredo are
all presently considering following suit.
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Internationally, Ireland is the poster child
for using a Plastax or fee charged to
customers for distribution of single-use plastic
bags. Beginning in Spring, 2002, Irish consumers
have been charged 15 Euro (about 25 to 33 U. S.
cents) fee per bag.
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Within a year, most had bought reusable cloth
bags, which they keep in the office and the back
of their cars. In Ireland, HDPE bag use decreased
by almost 95.
Revenues generated from this fee are dedicated to
environmental projects. Great Britain, Canada,
and Australia are considering developing similar
programs.
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Many consider a bag tax to be a more preferable
alternative than a ban. A ban on plastic bags
creates a hidden tax to consumers because stores
pass on the higher costs of plastic bag
alternatives, such as paper or compostable
plastic bags. A bag tax, in contrast, would
affect only consumers who use plastic bags.
Moreover, a simple switch to paper or compostable
bags still supports a one-use, disposable bag
habit, while a per-bag fee encourages reusable
bag use.
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Voluntary programs have been the least effective
of the three strategies, but they dont require
legislative consensus. They rely on retailers
or consumers to choose alternatives to
single-use plastic bags without legal compulsion.
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The primary alternatives to single-use plastic
bags are
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• Single-use paper bags
• Pros
• Biodegradable, recyclable, and present little
  danger to wildlife
• Derived from renewable resources (but)
• Cons
• Use 20X more water and 4X more energy to
  manufacture and 85X more energy to recycle than
  HDPE bags
• Manufacturing process emits up to 70X more
  global warming gases, 70 more air pollution,
  and 50X more water pollution than HDPE bags
• Cost five to ten cents per bag (compared to
  about a penny per HDPE bag)
• Do not biodegrade in the absence of light and
  oxygen in landfills

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Single-use, starch-based compostable plastic bags
Pros

• Biodegradable and compostable. Faster
  degradation.

• Little or no fossil fuel used. Made from corn,
  sugar, or other renewable resources.

Cons

• Poorer mechanical strength.

• Shorter shelf life/less tolerance to humidity.

• More expensive than either HDPE or paper bags
  (8-10 per bag).

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So whatll it be???
Paper??
CompostablePlastic???
Plastic?
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Neither!
Like HDPE bags, one person would typically use
500 single-use paper or compostable plastic
bags each year.
Reusable cloth or recycled plastic bags or
totesare the right answer!
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Advantages to using (and reusing) cloth or
recycled plastic bags

• They are inexpensive and widely available
  (only 1 per bag at Brunos, Food Tiger,
  Fresh Market, Wal-Mart, and Winn Dixie
  registers).

• Each bag holds two to three times more
  groceries than a plastic bag, and they dont
  break or require double-bagging. Five bags
  carry an enormous amount of groceries!

• Made of hemp or recycled cotton or plastic,
  they can be recycled at the end of their
  lifespan (which is usually measured in
  years!).

• They are extremely sturdy and machine washable.

• Retailers actually save money when not forced
  to buy and distribute single-use HDPE, paper,
  or compostable paper bags.

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They dont litter the landscape, fill landfills,
clog storm drains, kill marine life, or increase
oil demand from the Middle East, Venezuela, or
even the Gulf of Mexico.
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The Easy Part Find and purchase reusable bags
that work for you!
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Theodore Roosevelt said, The nation behaves
well if it treats the natural resources as
assets which it must turn over to the next
generation, increased, and not impaired, in
value.
There is a lot we need to do to assure that
future generations enjoy a coastal Alabama that
is not impaired in value.
Reusable bags are the low hanging fruit a
thing that all of us can do without sacrifice to
behave well as a community and nation. The
Mobile Bay National Estuary Program encourages
you to do the right thing Break the Plastic
Habit!