Plastic Bags

Plastic Bags Environmental Foes and Oil Consumers

Why Plastic Bags?

Why Plastic Bags? Five long winter months watching an entangled plastic bag

Why Plastic Bags? Five long winter months watching an entangled plastic bag Final destination: Bob Marshall Wilderness or Swan River

Why Plastic Bags? Five long winter months watching an entangled plastic bag Final destination: Bob Marshall Wilderness or Swan River Before leaving MT: canvas bags, backpacks, & supersized leather purse

Plastic Bags are an environmental nuisance

Plastic Bags are an environmental nuisance Plastic bags often blow away from landﬁlls

Plastic Bags are an environmental nuisance Plastic bags often blow away from landﬁlls Difﬁcult to recycle = $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags = sold for $32

Plastic Bags are an environmental nuisance Plastic bags often blow away from landﬁlls Difﬁcult to recycle = $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags = sold for $32 “Recycled” or shipped to India?

Plastic Bags are an environmental nuisance Plastic bags often blow away from landfills Difficult to recycle = $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags = sold for $32 “Recycled” or shipped to India? Materials constructed from recycled plastic bags are typically headed for the landfill within a year

Plastic bags pose a particular threat to

Sea Turtles

Marine mammals

Plastic bags in the ocean

Plastic bags in the ocean Northern Paciﬁc Gyre - six times as much plastic as biomass

Plastic bags in the ocean Northern Paciﬁc Gyre - six times as much plastic as biomass 46,000 pieces of plastic litter per mile of ocean

My guiding questions

My guiding questions Every plastic bag is a threat Guilt versus pocketbook/Missoula think tank How much oil do I personally consume with my use (misuse) of plastic bags? Fred Meyer offers $0.05 per reusable bag at checkout. How much money can I save in a year?

Methodology

Methodology Tracked number of plastic bags consumed during the course of two weeks 1 plastic bag = 0.0043 g of oil 1 doggie bag = 0.00215 g of oil Calculated gallons per year

analysis 250 200 Gallons of Oil 150 Ann 100 50 0 1 year 5 years 10 years 50 years Time (Years) Fig. 1 Ann's oil consumption through plastic bag use.

analysis Average gallons per 250 year = 4 g 200 10 years = 1 barrel Gallons of Oil 150 Ann 416 plastic bags and 100 988 doggie bags per 50 year 0 1 year 5 years 10 years 50 years Time (Years) Save $20.00 on Fig. 1 Ann's oil consumption through plastic bag use. groceries

analysis 160000 140000 120000 100000 barrels of oil 80000 Juneau 60000 40000 20000 0 1 year 5 years 10 years 50 years Time (years) Fig. 2 Juneau's consumption of oil using plastic bags

analysis 160000 42 g to a barrel 140000 120000 Juneau may consume 100000 almost 3000 barrels of barrels of oil 80000 Juneau oil per year through 60000 plastic bag use 40000 29 million barrels per 20000 year in the U.S. or 12 0 1 year 5 years 10 years 50 years million barrels? Time (years) Fig. 2 Juneau's consumption of oil using plastic bags

Conclusions

Conclusions Reusable bags and biodegradable doggie bags $0.99 or $0.89 at Fred Meyer http://globalgoodspartners.org/cart/ results.cfm?cat=s8 Plastic over paper and RECYCLE (despite pitfalls)

Questions for Further Study

Questions for Further Study American Chemistry Council and Save the Plastic Bag

Questions for Further Study American Chemistry Council and Save the Plastic Bag Do biodegradable bags really biodegrade?

Questions for Further Study American Chemistry Council and Save the Plastic Bag Do biodegradable bags really biodegrade? Garbage bags, bread bags, plastic packaging

Questions for Further Study American Chemistry Council and Save the Plastic Bag Do biodegradable bags really biodegrade? Garbage bags, bread bags, plastic packaging Ireland, Bangladesh, South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan, China, and some U.S. cities ban plastic bags

Resources https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/us.html http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/11/28/green-magic-swiss-company-can- turn-used-plastic-bags-into-diese/ http://fooddemocracy.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/plastic-bags-and-oil- consumption/ http://www.booknoise.net/garbageland/index.html http://www.enviroliteracy.org/article.php/1188.html http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/10/plastic_bags/print.html http://green-mommy.com/2008/02/plastic-soup.html

Resources http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_plastics/doc.asp?CID=1106&DID=7938 http://savetheplasticbag.com/ReadContent461.aspx http://www.blueoceansociety.org/ http://www.hufﬁngtonpost.com/elizabeth-royte/why-the-bag- backlash_b_46200.html http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/ 2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags_2.html http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php?id=5

Plastic Bags

by annmstone on Nov 03, 2008

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Plastic Bags — Presentation Transcript