Can we get rid of plastic bags????Forever???

Question

I hate using the plastic bags we get at the grocery store or where ever. If they can invent such a horrible product that never disintegrates for 1000 years, why can't they invent one that WILL???It seems simple enough. We could prevent all that plastic from blowing around and sitting in landfills all over the world. Who can stand up to the challenge? Anyone??? Who was the fool that invented these in the first place? And did they know the damage it would cause in years to come?
Let's do something about it!!!!!!

If there are biodegradeable bags why aren't all the stores using them? They would I think if people demanded it.

Answer 1

Yes we can we know how to do this now. It depends on how far the public are prepared to go. We already know how to make biodegradable polycarbonate: plastics out of plants life.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n77BfxnVlyc

We can use recycled paper carriers, hemp or cotton bags or no bags at all. Even Tesco now do a home delivery service where you get green points for not using bags when they deliver

You are right. Packaging is a serious issue. If companies were forced to act they would do so. But it should also be made an issue for local councils and central governments not just manufacturers. There are already packaging products that are made from totally biological substances. This government could insist that all packaging was home compost-able. Voter pressure is not there yet.

Answer 2

Some stores advertise that they will charge people an inconsequential amount of money (I've seen 5cents) for those who want to use a plastic bag. The alternative would be to purchase a reusable bag from them for, in this case, 50cents. I think this is a great idea. It actually has been working quite well - a lot of people buy the reusable bag and skipped the plastic bag. I've also seen another store that allows customers to buy reusable bags, and if people use it they get an in-store raffle ticket to win a gift certificate from the store. All good ideas and I think that more stores should adopt incentives so that we would use less unnecessary plastic.

Answer 3

Love your passion for the environment Blue, but ……..

Plastic came from oil, that came from plants, that sat in the ground for millions of years, so how could it possibly matter if we put it back in the ground for the next million years?

It was invented by an oil company chemist who was asked to do something about the nasty goo left over from the refining process. He turned what would have been an environmental nightmare into one of the most stunningly useful materials of the 20th century.

If you are truly interested in recycling plastic, look up a process called “Thermodepolymerization” . If you want to do something the toxins going into our landfills look up Joseph Longo / Plasma Converters. (Popular Science March 07)

Environmentalism is profoundly important, but the field is full of charlatans, fools and hypocrites. Always try to see the big picture. E.g. biodegradable bags only degrade when exposed to biological activity. Shred a paper bag and feed it to earthworms, it degrades. Throw a million paper bags in a landfill with tons of dirt on top, and in a thousand years you will still have a giant blob of paper.

Answer 4

You should encourage everyone you know to use canvas, reusable grocery bags. That save plants that biodegradable bags would be made out of AND doesn't hurt the environment. But I totally agree with you. We shouldn't use plastic bags that will be around forever. Big companies have become so selfish that they only want to increase their profits for a few years, even if it means ruining the environment for generations and generations to come. We need to move back to having businesses that actually care about something besides money.

Answer 5

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to eliminate plastic bags.

For the majority of my grocery shopping I choose a grocery store which allows a third option other than "paper or plastic" ... cardboard boxes. Almost everything that is put on the shelves arrives in cardboard boxes, and they would have to pay a lot in labour costs to cut them up and have them all trucked away to a recycling facility. So why not let the shoppers take care of that expensive problem for them. I take my groceries home in cardboard boxes and then use the cardboard box to put out all my recycleable cans and bottles that arrived at the store in those cardboard boxes to begin with.

Think of the amount of packaging used between the manufacture of an article and its final use. There are layers and layers of plastic, metal and paper which are single use, "disposable" and serve very little function which are part of the products you buy. You can choose to buy a shirt packaged and pinned in a plastic bag or you can choose to buy a shirt on a hanger.

All you have to do to get rid of plastic bags is look for alternatives before you buy. Because once you have given them your money, the garbage created is your problem, not theirs.

Accepting final price = product + packaging is your choice.

Can you stand up to the Skyfish challenge?

Answer 6

Plastic is practical and sanitary. It can be made from biodegradable materials , too! We need SOMETHING to package our goods in. The problem is, as always, the economic feasibility of it. Companies basically need to be FORCED to do it by a gov't regualtion. The only way to do this is to buy products that use this type of plastic and write letters (e-mail) to companies that you like and convince them to do this.
Remember, things actually happen with public outrage and demand. This is why artificial sweeteners are used in food now-because most people just accepted it and didnt do much of anything to protest, even though facts have shown overhwlming evidence as to their' toxicity.
Money talks, but not if enough people get involved!!!

Answer 7

Yeah, if it's cost effective at the grocery store. I use good plastic bags for my lunches. That's because I didn't want to buy a lunch container. Finding ways to saving money while reducing plastic bag use is the best way. If that is done then plastic bags will be history.

Answer 8

This is an answer I wrote a couple months ago, I'm just gonna copy and paste it for you here. After I first saw the notation that I later used, I was talking with my mother while in Walmart one day and happened to mention that I should write a petition to Walmart and other stores that exclusivly use plastic bags. The clerk happened to be listening and she really made our day with "you make sense, write the petition, I know I'd sign it." Then I went to Colorado, so I haven't had the chance to write it yet. But I will. Would any of you sign it after reading the research below?

Here's the link to my answer, so you don't have to try to find it: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ajr3cmfUUmUhtKMti3H98Mzty6IX?qid=20070509214850AAWEMqB&show=7#profile-info-hFkO1qkRaa

"12 million barrels of oil are used every YEAR to produce 100 billion plastic grocery bags, which we use once or twice and then toss in the landfill, where they take centuries to decompose. Remember to tell the bagger at your grocery store that you want paper bags, not plastic. The trees we take to make paper bags will regrow several times before the plastic bag disintegrates or the oil used to make it replenishes. And if we're not using the oil to make plastic bags that last nearly forever, the oil companies can use it to make gasoline and the price can go down. 12 million barrels of oil makes 9,828,000,000 GALLONS OF GAS!

Check my math (it's conversion factors, my high school chem teacher should be proud)...
12 million barrels of oil X 42 gallons of oil per barrel = 504 million gallons of oil.
504 million gallons of oil X 19.5 gallons of gas per gallon of oil = 9,828,000,000 gallons of gas

See Reader's Digest, May 2007, page 224 and http://www.gravmag.com/oil.html... for my stats. Found conflicting sites, others state 44 - 46 gallons of gas per barrel of oil...it's not that efficient. So be careful if you wanna dispute my knowledge.

Oh and one more thing, just a note: I've always asked for paper bags, even before I knew the numbers. I also have some canvas bags I use for small shopping trips. I'll continue with paper...will any of you switch from plastic to paper with this new insight?"

Now, how to get Walmart, Target, Shopko, and other department stores to completely do away with plastic bags, 'cuz that's all they use. And my mother was telling me about an article she read not to long ago about biodegradable plastics. She knew I'd be thrilled and want to read it, but she forgot to bring the magazine home from work. I hope it's still there so she can get it to me.

Answer 9

Plastic bags do have their uses. Imagine if we used paper bags, then a lot of trees will be cut. So, plastic bags help to reduce the number of trees being cut. Well, I think that grocery stores find it very convenient to use plastic bags. However, I think we should take the initiative to bring our own bags when shopping so that we won't use plastic bags.
Helping the Earth starts with us.
This question shows that you are concerned about the Earth, just like me and some others here are.
Don't worry: together, we can conserve the environment!

Answer 10

Paper or plastic ~ they are pretty much the same when it comes to impact on the environment. Best solution of course is for everyone to bring cloth bags from home ~ but unfortunately, most people are either inherently lazy or don't think ahead.