As I unpacked my groceries after returning from the local Giant Eagle, I applauded my efforts to purchase more organic foods in order to lead a healthier life. I figured if I am constantly blogging about the green movement, I should take some steps to being green myself. But, as I gathered all the plastic bags that transported my groceries and started shoving them under the sink to add to my me and my roommates collection, I thought to myself, “I just spend all this d**m money on organic food when I could have helped save the environment by transporting my groceries in some other way.”But apparently, I just jumped on the plastic-bag-hating bandwagon too soon because some accustations targeted at the totes are not totally justified.
According to the Green Daily, it seems that the plastic bag has been the “scapegoat for other dangerous plastic debris,” and has encountered its very own public relations image crisis.
If you review the “The ‘I’m Not a Plastic Bag’ bag” section of my previous post, you’ll see the plastic bag has been under tremendous scrutiny from the public. Last year in San Francisco, our unfashionable, villain friend was banned from all major grocery stores in the city.
In actuality, the green movement and its followers attacked the wrong culprit and the plastic bag took an unjustified hit on its reputation.
According to TimesOnline:
Scientists and environmentalists have attacked a global campaign to ban plastic bags, which they say is based on flawed science and exaggerated claims. The widely stated accusation that the bags kill 100,000 animals and a million seabirds every year are false, experts have told The Times. They pose only a minimal threat to most marine species, including seals, whales, dolphins and seabirds.
The publication quoted David Laist, the author of a seminal 1997 study on the plastic bag subject, who explained the majority of the cases where animals die of marine debris are a result “fishing gear, ropes, lines and strapping bands” and not plastic bags.
But let’s not give plastic bags to much credit (this is a blog on the green movement).
Even though they may not be the main cause of marine animals’ deaths, they are not, in any means, good for the environment. Between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year, according to the National Geographic article “Are Plastic Grocery Bags Sacking the Environment?”.
Estimates show that only one to three percent of plastic bags make it to the landfills. Of the remaining, only one in every hundred are recycled.
So where do the rest go?
National Geographic hits it right on the head:
“They sit balled up and stuffed into the one that hangs from the pantry door.
They line bathroom trash bins. They carry clothes to the gym. They clutter landfills. They flap from trees. They float in the breeze. They clog roadside drains. They drift on the high seas. They fill sea turtle bellies.”
It’s true plastic bags aren’t going to be the poster child for the green movement anytime soon – but, let’s face it, they aren’t as bad as we made them out to be.
So before you go choosing paper over plastic (which is an even bigger “no, no,” see here) or cursing the heavens for creating such a colossal criminal to the environment, remember the majority of the bag’s negative publicity was elicited from strewed facts and the bandwagon effect.
In the meantime, I’ll just continue to choke down my organic yogurt sprinkled with my organic nuts and accompanied with my organic coffee and maybe purchase some reusable totes if my budget can withstand the hit.
