Investigating the Enviromental Impacts from Plastic Bags - Research Paper Example

? Type in and # February 23, Plastic Bags: Symptom or Sickness Consider the plastic bag. It seems benign but helpful at first glance. Groceries nestle in the comfort and conformity of the bag, dry cleaning stays neat in the car on the ride home, even a dozen apples stay conveniently grouped. Yet, there are those people who want to ban the plastic bag permanently. Opponents view the plastic bag as an unnecessary waste of resources, and a burden on the environment. Proponents see an excellent alternative to paper or even reusable cotton. Although plastic bags may not be an immanent threat to the earth’s survival, the recycling ethic must grow out of its infancy faster than the trend toward non-sustainability or nature’s tolerance threshold, once crossed, may be a point of no return. The Case Against Plastic Bags The manufacturing process requires 12 million barrels of oil per year, creating over 100 billion plastic shopping bags (Gamerman). With only about a 5% recycling rate (inspiration green), the landfills will overflow with bags that are not recycled or reused. A number of wildlife groups report discarded plastic bags are eaten by a variety of land and sea creatures with fatal effects. These concerns and other create the larger argument for environmental stewardship: The Tragedy of the Commons (Hardin, 1968) and TANSTAAFL (Dolan, 1971). Both of these writings warn of the economic “free rider” problem that is the bane of environmental stewardship The free rider problem refers to the polluting or overuse of the natural resources since no tax or fee is associated with dumping. The tragedy of the commons is the overuse and overgrazing of the common land. Since each herdsman wanted to maximize profits, they exploited the free grazing land by adding more and more cattle. Soon, the grazing land was destroyed, unable to recover and nobody could feed their cattle. The herdsmen who believed in proper stewardship either went broke or joined the others in selfish overuse. Pollution and contamination work the same way. Traditionally, industry would dump waste into rivers, bury toxins on site and spew horrid smoke into the air because the water, land and air were considered a common good; and companies could dump waste at “no cost”. With the Environmental Protection Agency and State environmental departments cracking down on polluters with fines and criminal penalties, this practice has abated, but does continue to a lesser extent. The neo-tragedy argument includes recycling and the after-effects of environmentally resilient products. TANSTAAFL (Dolan) originated in science fiction by Heinlein; the acronym means “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”. Dolan adopted the acronym in order to present his economic argument that pollution rights should be sold as an economic good. A calculation of the maximum mass of each pollutant potentially and immediately sorbed into the environment would lead to an inventory of polluting rights. These rights would be sold at auction to industries with a waste disposal problem. Other constituents would have to design non-polluting mechanisms to compete. Obviously, the cost of pollution would be set by the market. (Dolan) The money raised through the auction plus fines on pollution cheaters would pay for remediation. The plastic bag opponents take this argument one step further and assign responsibility for individual litter and recycling to the manufacturer. As much as 4% of trash in landfills consists of plastic bags. (DOE) As consumers use more and more plastic bags, even to contain trash, the landfills will take longer to naturally reclaim the natural resource of land. In an interesting study, small communal group, the Hutterites, were observed. (Hardin, 3) The finding was that when the colony size approaches 150, individuals begin to under-contribute and over-demand. Smaller groups manage by shame; however, larger groups lose that capacity. The commonistic approach of the Hutterites loses manageability in larger numbers. Consider this fact in a nation of 300 million. A more formal governmental approach is needed. The Pro-Plastic Bag Argument Plastic is a light, strong, durable and inexpensive product that can mold into any shape; and therefore, serves many purposes from buttons and elastic waste bands to bumpers on cars. In fact, plastic, although produced from oil, is light-weight enough to increase gas mileage on vehicles. Plastic is ubiquitous in United States manufacturing. (Independence Journal) The United States consumed 20,680,000 barrels of oil a day in 2007. (NationMaster) 12 million barrels are used in the manufacture of 100 billion plastic bags each year. (Gamerman) Therefore, the plastic bag industry uses about .16% of the domestic consumption of oil. Certainly reducing oil demand nationally will not be achieved through banning plastic bags. Industry statistics suggest 90% of grocery bags are plastic. “Baggies” were first marketed in 1957 and plastic grocery bags have been available since 1977. (PBF Consumer Information) Compared to paper bags, many argue plastic bags are better for the environment. If used as a trash fuel for electricity generation, plastic bags do not release toxic fumes. The manufacturing process, compared to paper, release 94% less pollution into water and 70% less into air. (PBF Consumer Information) Recycling plastic bags has been ongoing since 1992 at grocery stores. Since “recycled plastic” is now more accepted, the supply side has become more profitable and the demand side has spread into lumber products, planters and other household products as well as new plastic bags. Consumers reuse plastic bags for multiple purposes like trash packaging and packing lunches. (PBF Consumer Information) Table 1. Relative indicators of environmental impacts. Indicator of Environmental Impact Paper bag     Consumption of non-renewable primary energy 1.1 Consumption of water 4.0 Emission of greenhouse gases 3.3 Atmospheric acidification 1.9 Ground level ozone formation 1.3 Eutrophication of water bodies 14.0 Solid waste production 2.7 Risk of litter 0.2 These data collected from Save the Plastic Bag. This chart is read as paper bags are X times greater in impact than plastic bags. For example, paper bags use 4 times the water in production than do plastic bags. The plastic bags are more likely to be littered. Perhaps the ability to blow away exacerbates this problem. Plastic bags weigh about 14% as much as paper; therefore, seven times as much transportation cost is associated with paper rather than plastic bags. And the paper bags are of a greater volume, and often two are used for “double bagging” to add strength. The ground transportation issues raise the carbon footprint for paper. Plastic bags and films keep food fresh and reduce human illness. (CNet) Paper bags provide habitat for roaches. The German cockroach breeds in grocery bags because paper sorbs water, the inside is dark and the bags are transported to kitchens where there is plenty of food, water and dark hiding places. (Gettingridofroaches.net) Roaches of all types carry and spread disease as they contact plates and silverware. Some people who contact roaches develop allergies that trigger asthma. (Ogg, 1) Landfills collected a total of 41,970,000 tons of paper goods including boxes, magazines and bags in 2005. (EPA) About the same weight was recycled or recovered. Total plastic products in Municipal solid waste areas was 27,260,000 in 2005 with only 1,650,000 tons recovered for recycling. (EPA) The plastics clearly have a lower immediate impact on the landfills. And, as more people recycle plastic bags as they are doing for paper, the problem of disposal will mitigate itself. Plastic Characteristics and Industry There are two distinct groups of plastics. Thermoplastics, such as plastic bags, can be reheated and reused, repeatedly. This characteristic reduces waste in the manufacturing process, and recycling is viable. Thermosets will decompose when melted; therefore, recycling is difficult. Plastics are very resistant to chemicals and they are lightweight, which makes plastics good containers and packaging material. Plastics are good thermal and electrical insulators, thus wires covered with plastic. Plastics can meet consumer demand at affordable pricing. Plastic recycling began in 1980 with bottle deposits and has grown through the capacity to recycle most plastics. About 60% of the United States population can easily access plastic recycling with either curbside recycling or designated collection centers. (American Chemistry Council) Sustainability: Table 2: Information taken from NationMaster.com Table 3: Taken from the US Census, International Population by Country: Countries and Areas Ranked by Population:2011 Rank Country or Area Population 1 China 1,336,718,015 2 India 1,189,172,906 3 United States 313,232,044 4 Indonesia 245,613,043 5 Brazil 203,429,773 6 Pakistan 187,342,721 7 Bangladesh 158,570,535 8 Nigeria 155,215,573 9 Russia 138,739,892 10 Japan 126,475,664 China and India have populations eight times greater than the United States. When these countries achieve the U.S. standard of living, oil exploration globally will obviously be taxed to supply the demand. Extrapolated to a world population, this level of consumption is not sustainable. Environmental issues are global in nature. Carbon dioxide emissions quickly disperse across the globe, so one country’s emissions do not remain that country’s problem. Table 4. CO2 Emissions by Country (DOE)   Country Total Emissions (Million Metric Tons of CO2) Per Capita Emissions (Tons/Capita) 1. China 6534 4.91 2. United States 5833 19.18 3. Russia 1729 12.29 4. India 1495 1.31 5. Japan 1214 9.54 6. Germany 829 10.06 7. Canada 574 17.27 8. United Kingdom 572 9.38 9. Korea, South 542 11.21 10. Iran 511 7.76 11. Saudi Arabia 466 16.56 12. Italy 455 7.82 13. South Africa 451 9.25 14. Mexico 445 4.04 15. Australia 437 20.82 The U.S. CO2 emissions from plastic bags can be estimated at Read More