Our Environment Deserves Better: Responsible Plastic Bags Use In Our Daily Life

When it comes to protecting and preserving our environment, the one thing we always miss or “ignore” is plastic bags. There is a big question on this particular subject: how can we use these plastic bags in a responsible manner? This issue needs to addressed seriously because our environment deserves better treatment from us.

Lets define it first: A plastic bag or pouch is a type of flexible packaging made of thin, flexible, plastics film. Plastic bags are used for containing and transporting goods such as foods, produce, powders, ice, chemicals and waste.

Most plastic bags are heat sealed together. Some are bonded with adhesives or are stitched. A press-to-close zipper can be used to open and close the bag many times.

According to the Arlington, Virginia-based American Plastics Council, due to plastic bags great personality as a product so easy to produce, strong, easy to obtain, easy to bring around and store that they have been utilized by as high as 80% in the grocery store and convenience store since first introduce about a quarter century ago.

Did you know that there are already tens of thousands of plastic litter in every square kilometer of our ocean? And do you know who is causing all of these?

Well, the answer is very simple: human being. We are the main cause of all this litters – the irresponsible attitude of simply discarding plastic bags as trash in a way not helping the environment – not at all.

As a result of these plastics bags accumulations over a period of time, they (the plastics) are now sitting everywhere in our house and workplaces. An eyesore on the streets as they float in the breeze. Clogging our drainage systems. Cluttering landfills. Floating in our rivers and oceans – polluting the environment and killing millions of birds and aquatic life on daily basis.

Most plastic water bottles are not recycled but trashed, and many of them end up in our drains, rivers and oceans. ??These bottles, normally made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), take between 400 and 1,000 years to degrade and every tonne of PET manufactured produces about three tonnes of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

Plastic bag litter has become a big environmental nuisance and eyesore that there are countries like Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh, Taiwan and Ireland now imposing heavy tax on plastic. Some even banned them outright. There are other countries considering similar actions to ban or taken steps to actively discourage the use of plastic bags hoping they would manage to tackle or slow down the pollution impact from irresponsible plastic bags discarding.

Our own government or authorities may consider following what an Australian town of Bundanoon has done. Their local authority has banned bottled since July 2009 and replaced it with reusable bottles that can be filled from fountains inside the town’s shops or at water stations in the streets.

Malaysian government has also taken a slightly different effort, towards the same goal, by imposing ban on plastic bags at tourism facilities operated by the Government in Sabah. At the time this article was written & published, the campaign was focusing more on educating the public. State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister of Sabah (Malaysia) Datuk Masidi Manjun said this in a reply to journalist enquiries on the latest development of the plastic ban campaign in the state.

As individuals, we can start helping by taking part in the “zero plastic” campaigns by recycling the plastic bags that we obtain after every shopping.  Most of those plastic bags are still fresh or clean after taking out the stuffs that we just bought from the supermarket or wherever.  So, why not save the plastics for future use and just bring them with you on your next trip to the grocery stores.

Please take a moment to digest this: recycle or reuse our plastic bags. Together we can make it one step at a time – a baby steps towards a greener environment and fresher air. Our environment really deserves better.

Related posts:

1. Divers And Wastes: Do Not Simply Discard Your Empty Water Bottle