PLASTICS - BOON OR BANE?
By
Pratima Pandey
Objective – To create awareness about Global Warming
and (Ab)use of Plastics

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
FAMILIAR SIGHT..?
500 billion plastic bags distributed annually worldwide
, and less than 3% of those bags recycled.
They are typically made of polyethylene and can take up to
1,000 years to biodegrade in landfills that emit harmful
greenhouse gases. (Time, 2007)
2

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
PLASTICS - WHY SO POPULAR?
Water-proof
High tensile strength as compared
to paper
Light weight
Multipurpose
Usually comes free with
purchased goods
Why So Popular?
3

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
HOW PLASTICS ARE HARMFUL?
consume plastics
of the drainages, a Animals
Clogging
disposed in landfills and water
civic menace
1 million sea creatures killed
Plastics result in
Disposed
every year (www.
littering; an eye-sore
green.ndtv.com)
No natural
Danger to
process of
animal life
degradation
Contd.
4

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
HOW PLASTICS ARE HARMFUL?
Human health
hazard
Phthalates, a chemical used to
make plastics pliable, may have
hormone disrupting effects on
unborn baby boys; also linked to
obesity and diabetes in men (
CBC News (2008), URMC
Press(2007))
Enters food chain as it is
ingested by sea and land animals
For more negative health
effects, see
http://www.ecologycenter.org/fact
sheets/plastichealtheffects.html#
plastichealthgrid
Contd.
5

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
HOW PLASTICS ARE HARMFUL?
Plastics in land fills emit greenhouse gases which For more on
trap heat and contribute to Global Warming (GW) GW, click me!
6

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
IS THERE A WAY OUT?
R– R–
R – REUSE
REDUCE RECYCLE
3 R Mantra from Green Peace
Contd.
7

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
IS THERE A WAY OUT?
Using refillable containers and reusable bags
Buying in bulk
Buying things that don‟t need much packaging, and
buying things in recyclable and recycled packages
8

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
INITIATIVES ROUND THE WORLD
Click for India
Click for UAE
Click for Other
countries
Efforts by mega-marts and retail chains in this direction
can go a long way.
9

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
INDIA
Lalji Tandon, BJP Candidate from Lucknow, for a plastic-
less campaign in 2009 elections
Delhi to outlaw use of plastic bags – implementation to be
carried out in phases
(Guardian (UK), January 2009)
•
10

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
UAE
Geant supermarket putting nominal charge to discourage
use of plastic shopper bags (Gulf News,2008)
Gulf News “No to plastic bags” campaign for creating
awareness in UAE in March, 2008
11

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
OTHER COUNTRIES
Rwanda, Bhutan and Bangladesh imposed bans on use of plastic bags
(Guardian (UK), January 2009)
7 Supermarkets in UK (including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's and
others) sign up a voluntary agreement that obliges them to halve the
numbers of single use carrier bags compared with 2006 levels.
(Guardian, December 2008)
National phase out policy by Australian Govt in 2002 led to a reduction of
34% from 2002 to 2005 saving 2 billion bags from being produced
„Say no to plastic bags‟ campaign by Environmental Society of Oman
started in March, 2009 seeing enthusiastic response (Khaleej
Times, March 2009)
12

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
REFERENCES
Australian Retailers Association

(2008), http://www.noplasticbags.org.au/home/default.aspx ,accessed April 6, 2009.
BBC (2004), http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3666474.stm, accessed April 6, 2009.

CBC News (2008), http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/06/04/f-

phthalates.html, accessed March 17, 2009
Khaleej Times (2009)

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=&section=middleeast&xfile=
data/middleeast/2009/March/middleeast_March247.xml, accessed April 6, 2009.
Guardian (2009) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/16/plastic-bags-india-

delhi-ban, accessed April 6, 2009
National Geographic http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-

warming/gw-effects.html, accessed April 6, 2009
Time (2007)

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/environment/article/0,28804,1602354_16030
74_1603179,00.html, accessed April 5, 2009
URMC Press Room

(2007), http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/PR/news/story.cfm?id=1405, accessed March
17, 2009
13

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
Thank You
14

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
WHAT IS GLOBAL WARMING?
It is the increase in mean temperature of Earth due to
increase in green house gases in the atmosphere, which
trap in the sun‟s infrared rays.
Greenhouse gases are Carbon dioxide, nitrous
oxide, methane and water vapours.
15

GLOBAL WARMING AND
Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
CONSEQUENCES
Ice melting - includes mountain glaciers, ice

sheets covering West Antarctica and
Greenland, and Arctic sea ice
Researcher Bill Fraser has tracked the Decline

of the 7 April 2009 penguins on Antarctica
(from 32,000 breeding pairs to 11,000 in 30
years)
Movement of butterflies, foxes, and alpine

plants have moved farther north or to
higher, cooler areas
Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased

across the globe, on average.
Sea level rise became faster over the last

century
(So: National Geographic)
16

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
GLOBAL WARMING AND NATURAL
DISASTERS
No. of Natural Death from Natural
Disasters Disasters
400 100000
337 83000
80000
261
300
53000
60000
200
40000
100 20000
0
0
1990 2003
1990 2003
Risk factors: City growth, climate change, environmental
degradation
(So: International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, UN Agency , reported
to BBC, September, 2004 )
17

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
GLOBAL WARMING – A REALITY – WORLD
SPEAKS…
Nine out of ten say that action is necessary to address global warming
.(BBC World Service poll in 2007 of 22,000 people in 21 countries)
Global warming is \"unequivocal\" and that human activity is the main
driver, \"very likely\" causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950.
(The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change of the United Nations
2007 Assessment report)
“We now know without a doubt that global warming is
threatening us with higher temperatures, more
drought, more wildfire, more flooding, and more
erosion of our coastal communities…the
overwhelming scientific evidence has proven this over
and over again. We must act now with the rest of the
world to curb emissions” Barack
Obama, President, US
18

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING
Why go far…Just recall the last
time we remarked or discussed
about the climate change in our
area?
19

Each one can make a difference! 5/7/2009
TO KNOW MORE ABOUT GW..
Important Sources of
Information
•http://www.stopglobalwarming.
org/sgw_learnmore.asp
•http://environment.about.com/
od/faqglobalwarming/f/greenga
ses.htm
•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gre
enhouse_gas
•http://environment.nationalgeo
graphic.com/environment/
•http://www.globalwarming.org.i
n/global-warming-facts.php
(Co: www.globalwarming.org.in)
20