According to Vincent Coob, about 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide every year and are causing a global epidemic. The enormous demand for plastic bags ties into the surging global demand for oil -- plastic bags are made from ethylene, a petroleum byproduct. In the United States alone, an estimated 12 million barrels of oil is used annually to make plastic bags that Americans consume.
According to the EPA, only 1% of plastic bags were recycled in 2000. When one ton of plastic bags is reused as something else other than plastic bags or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil is saved.
According to the UK government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, there are several problems with plastic recycling, and in particular plastic bags:
- The high volume to weight ratio of plastic means that the collection and transport of this waste is difficult and expensive
- There are often high levels of contamination in plastic making the recyclate less usable, especially where food products are involved
- There is a very wide range of plastics in use and segregation is difficult
the market for using recycled plastic is underdeveloped
There's harsh economics behind bag recycling: It costs $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for $32.
So now I ask you this.....What are you doing?
We use cloth bags for groceries. We use cloth diapers as much as possible. I use family cloth and cloth pads. We use very few paper towels, and plenty of unpaper towels. We recycle.
Leave me a comment with what you're doing, and I'll choose one winner and send you out one of my reuseable produce bags.
5 comments:
I'm impressed! I am trying to start doing this in small steps. We use some cloth bags for shopping and recycle our cans.
Where the heck do you get cloth bags for produce?
I'm impressed too! We recycle cans and plastic bottles and our newspapers.
Wow! That's pretty amazing the amount of oil saved by recycling plastic bags! We try to do our part here with cloth diapers, cloth bags, and recycling plastics, glass and cans. Hayden's 1st grade class has a recycling fund and the kids have been able to do some cool stuff with the $$$ they get from the items they recycle! Not to write a novel, but I just have to say that Melissa gets even prettier everytime I see her!!!! I love her hair getting so long. :)
I meant to add, this year we are doing a recycled Christmas. Meaning, nothing new can be purchased, just second hand stuff.
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