Plastic Bag Ban

ENGR 100W Sec. 09Jack McKellar

06 December 2010Research Paper

ABSTRACT:

Table of Contents

IntroductionThesisProblemCurrent StatusResearchAnalysisDiscussionConclusionReferences

Table of FiguresFigure #Figure #...Figure References

Introduction Shopping and plastic bags has always been linked together for many years. Taking purchases home in plastic bags has long been the norm. As environmental awareness shows up, the plastic bags issues have become clear that it is significant to ban the use of plastic bags as soon as possible in California. Our country has spent over $25 million to get rid of the plastic bags by disposing into landfills and ocean annually.(Californians, 2010) As a result, both our ecosystem and waste diversion goals are being threatened by the use of plastic bags. In addition, over 100,000 marine mammals and turtles are being killed by the plastic marine debris. In fact, City of San Francisco has banned plastic bags in grocery stores since 2007.(Californians, 2010) Many cities across the United States are now considering taking the same action. Therefore, it is time to take action and make a difference in California’s environment by banning plastic bags out of here to save our marine ecosystem. Thesis: It is a critical time to ban plastic bag in order to save the marine life. Problem: Plastic bags are a modern convenience most think they simply can not live without.The widespread use of plastic bags has lead to a widespread plastic bag pollution problem that affects marine life and Earth’s resources.

Iimage from: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4Ek3cBfBrSw/THPGtNt-69I/AAAAAAAAAIk/2-Z0skV4lno/s1600/screen-capture.png&imgrefurl=http://www.haveawhaleofatime.blogspot.com/&usg=__DJLMhE7lUpG2TlZkHmzMStY7zIg=&h=463&w=705&sz=553&hl=en&start=51&zoom=1&tbnid=6-E_e_uP3VXzQM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=161&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dplastic%2Bbag%2Bgyre%2Bpatches%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1R2TSNA_en%26biw%3D1345%26bih%3D559%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C1138&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=986&vpy=282&dur=132&hovh=182&hovw=277&tx=165&ty=95&ei=yrn6TMaoDIO4sQOXuon3DQ&oei=uLn6TKv8KI-ksQODyOT2DQ&esq=4&page=4&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:51&biw=1345&bih=559Plastic bags litter the landscape and are devastating to marine animals. Many of these animals are killed every year by ingesting plastic bags. Whales, sea turtles, dolphins, seals, and other

marine life often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, or other types of food. Plastic bags do not digest in the stomach of the animal and gets caught in the gastric tube. This prevents other foods and liquids to be digested and leads to a gas build up in the cavity of the animals. Before starvation, the animal is forced to the surface and becomes easy prey. However, this starts the chain over again, the animal who consumed the first animal is then at risk for that plastic bag to get caught in their gastric tube. Or if the animal dies of starvation, the plastic bag will reenter the environment after the animal’s body decomposes. There are many examples of animals that have been confirmed to have died from plastic bag consumption. In July of 2009, a female beaked whale known as Temata had beached herself on the Cook Islands. Even after an extensive effort to save Temata, she still died. An autopsy showed that she had died after ingesting a plastic bag. It has been estimated that more than 100,000 marine animals die every year from plastic bags. (Bell, 2006) The cycle does not stop until the actual plastic bag decomposes. However, because of the chemical nature of the petroleum, a plastic bag never can fully decompose. The covalent bonds of the polymers make it unrecognizable to bacteria and microorganisms, which prevent natural decomposition. A plastic bag only breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces, which become very small after about 1000 years. For 1000 years, that plastic bag is continuing the destructive cycle on marine life described above. (EarthTalk, 2010) Current Status: Plastic bags consumption is very high in the USA. “Every year, Americans throw away some 100 billion plastic bags after they've been used to transport a prescription home from the drugstore or a quart of milk from the grocery store. It's equivalent to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of oil (Cernansky, 2010)." The reason people use plastic bags because Plastic bags are inexpensive, sturdy and convenient, so people tend to use it. For instance, Californians use19 billion plastic bags each year, and state spends $25 million to bury these bags proper way (Lagos, 2010). When people buy something from a store the sales representative drops all the items in plastic bags. People use plastic bags not only to carry their items from grocery stores but also in preserving foods, as zip lock bags, toy bags, electronic items wrapper, sandwich wrapper, trash bags etc. The numbers of plastic bags consumers in the world are from 500 billion to one trillion each year, according to US environmental protection agency (Roach, 2003). People never thought about any alternatives of plastic bag after it was introduced quarter century ago. People are not aware of the environment pollution due to plastic bags. No knowledge about long term effect of plastic bags keep its consumption rate high.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cawrecycles.org/files/images/plastic-bag-gutter.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cawrecycles.org/node/3996/482&usg=__sOejNdBTEi5UhbnzM3_4s70EwgU=&h=180&w=260&sz=23&hl=en&start=21&zoom=1&tbnid=8BeASwcCXjQoaM:&tbnh=119&tbnw=159&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcurrent%2Bstatus%2Bof%2Bplastic%2Bbag%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1362%26bih%3D559%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C607&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=610&vpy=239&dur=111&hovh=144&hovw=208&tx=88&ty=69&ei=gZT6TLXDCpS8sAO_svz2DQ&oei=UpT6TJi4IoT0tgP5tbj2DQ&esq=2&page=2&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:19,s:21&biw=1362&bih=559Environmental groups are working on banning plastic bags in the USA. They try to educate people highlighting all the environmental effect from plastic bags. Plastic bags hang from tree branches, block drains and pipes, fly across roads and drift on seas because most of the bags are not recycled. For instance, only five percent of the plastic bags are recycled in California (Lagos, 2010). Plastic bags do not decompose. It takes up to thousand years to break down into pieces, so if we do not ban these plastic bags it will pose serious threat to us. The legislator of California proposed a bill to ban plastic bags on June, 2010. The bill will go to senate in this fall. Also, Los Angeles County passed the ban on plastic bags (Lee, 2010). Furthermore, some selective stores in SanFransisco, CA, Portland, and the coastal region of North Carolina banned plastic bags. It is a great victory for environmental groups.

image from: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tidynorthernireland.org/uploads/9ed44803239997792e25a6d06b1f2f95.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tidynorthernireland.org/about-us/latest-news/index.php&usg=__EEKzBv8dplZDsdqQ3ecYijM15yY=&h=360&w=300&sz=82&hl=en&start=37&zoom=1&tbnid=RszzT_HO166S4M:&tbnh=125&tbnw=106&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcurrent%2Bstatus%2Bof%2Bplastic%2Bbag%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1362%26bih%3D559%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C1058&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=668&vpy=179&dur=20&hovh=246&hovw=205&tx=95&ty=121&ei=pending&oei=OpH6TPmJFo24sQP5sLT3DQ&esq=2&page=3&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:17,s:37&biw=1362&bih=559 Some international countries banned plastic bags such as Australia, Bangladesh, Ireland, South Africa and Taiwan. Irish government took a big step to encourage people deny plastic bags in March 2002. Irish plastic bag consumers got charged twenty cents (USA) for each plastic bag. As a result of that consumers stopped using plastic bags. Bangladesh banned plastic bags in January, 2002 to stop environmental pollution, and it became law. Research:

To research the topic, a survey of the student population of San Jose State University was evaluated. A survey was chosen because of the public opinion needed for our thesis. The survey was to be conducted on students of San Jose State University. The survey consisted of five questions relating to our thesis of banning plastic bags. The survey yielded a total of 80 students. 1. Do you use plastic bags in your everyday life?The first question of the survey was meant to get the respondents to start thinking about the role plastic bags play in their everyday life. Most citizens do not realize the amount of plastic bags used in common objects and packaging. Anywhere between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastics bags are used every year worldwide. (Lowy, 2004) A total 0f 86% of the respondents use plastic bag in their everyday life as shown in Figure #. This is a significant part of the population and shows that the population is very dependent on plastics bags for many uses, including sandwich bags, trash bags, shopping bags, packages etc. As a group, we expected that the plastics bags were highly used by the population.

2. Do you use reusable bags frequently?The second question was asked to survey the amount of people that use reusable bags. Reusable bag use as increases since the plastic bag ban movement has begun. Reusable bags are sold at almost every convenience store and are just as easy to use as plastic bags. Almost two-thirds of the respondents claim that they use reusable bags regularly. This is a high amount of the students asked however, it is still less than the amount that also use plastic bags. Our group expected to see a slightly higher percentage of the surveyed using reusable bags than that shown in Figure #.

3. Do you recycle your plastic bags?Question three asked the respondents if they regularly recycled their used plastic bags. This question was asked in order to assess the amount of recycling that occurred compared to the amount of respondents that use the plastic bags. Only about half of the respondents recycle their plastic bags, which is less than the amount who claimed to use plastic bags in a regular basis. Our group expected to see a lower percentage of people who recycled their plastic bags, however we suspected that most of the people who said they recycled did not realize the amount of plastic bags they actually encounter on a daily basis.

4. Do you know the environmental impact of plastic bags?The fourth question was specifically asked in order to try and educate the respondents on the environmental impacts of plastics bags before they were asked the final and most important question of the survey. First the surveryers asked weither or not the respondents knew of the impacts that plastic bags had on the environment. Then after the response was recorded then the surveyer proceeded to inform the respondents of the major effects plastic bags had on the environment. This information included decompostion information and the danger plastic bag pose for marine animals. The figure shows that a majority of the respondents had some information on the effects on the environment, however when informed, they seemed to be surprised at some of the facts presented.

5. Would you support a ban of plastic bags?After informed of the environmental impacts, the respondents were asked the most critical and essential question of the research, if the population would support a ban on plastic bags. The majority of respondents, 85%, supported a ban on plastic bags considering the environmental impacts they cause. The figure clearly shows that ther is almost as many people that support a ban on plastic bags as there are people who use plastic bags regularly, shown in Figure #.

Analysis: The results of question one mean that there is large majority of the population that relies on plastic bags. This is usually for convenience and affordability. This could be a great hurdle to surpass if plastic bags were banned. Since, it is so widely used, there would need to the an equivalent substitute ready for mass production and use. The results of question two show that a large number of the population currently uses reusable bags regularly. This is a great result for our thesis because this means that reusable bags will not be that hard to integrate into society as a viable option to replace plastic bags. The results of question two make the results from question one seem less daunting. Even though a large amount of the population uses plastic bags regularly, a large amount also uses reusable bags regularly as well. This is a viable alternative to plastic bags if a ban took place. The results of question three were also hopeful for our thesis. Many respondents claimed to have recycled their plastic bags. This is helpful to decrease the amount of pollution caused by plastics bags. However, it is discouraging that although Figure # shows that 86% of the population surveyed uses plastic bag, while only 53% of that population recycles those plastic bags. This is where the respondents started to enter the environmental impacts section of the survey. A large amount of the respondents also claimed that they had previous knowledge of the environmental impacts of plastic bags. After collecting the data and calculating that 72% of

the population was aware of impacts, the surveyors proceeded to give additional information to the respondents on the environmental impacts. This information included the amount of plastic bags thrown out, the amount of oil used to produce the bags used annually, the number of marine animals killed by plastic bags per year, and a slight fact on what the impact of banning plastic bag could be like. (Natural Environment, 2008) These facts were specifically given to the respondents after they had responded to the question asked. this was for two reasons. the first reason was that our survey did not want bias on the question. however, our second reason for including the facts was to also educate our respondents so that they knew the environmental impacts of plastic bags in the future. This would carry on to their opinion in the next question. The final question of the study was the most critical to prove our thesis. In order to ban plastic bags, the full support and cooperation of the public, so this final question was a pure public opinion question. This question gave our group the most significant evidence for our thesis of a ban on plastic bags. 85% of the respondents did support a ban on plastic bags considering the environmental impacts. this significant number is almost as high as the number of responders who use plastic bags regularly. These results were very supportive of our thesis. Since the number of people willing to support a ban on plastic bags was about the same amount as those who use plastic bags, our group can conclude that even though the public is highly dependent on plastic bags, they are also willing to explore alternatives and ban plastic bags. With this knowledge , our group can further discuss the effects our survey relate to the problem and current status of plastic bags. Discussion: Our findings from survey are very useful for our plastic bag ban research project. Most of the people are dependent on plastic bags. Also, people do not even realize various ways they use plastic bag. When we talk about plastic bag, first thing people think about only grocery plastic carrier bag we are talking about. From our survey report, 86% of people are using plastic bag on daily basis. This number is too high whereas plastic bag banning process is going on. For example, San Francisco city banned plastic bag from groceries, convenient stores, and pharmacies. Also, Sunnyvale city council voted on banning plastic bag, and approved hundred thousand dollar for assessment cost (John Dugan, November 18, 2010). Fremont city is thinking about the Plastic bag ban (Matthew Artz, November 27, 2010). Besides this, half of the survey people are university students. If this 86% percentage of people doesn’t take initiative to stop using plastic bag, we may see some more plastic bag gyre patches in oceans.Although Plastic bag ban movement has started, the answer of the question using reusable bag is not satisfactory. We believe that if people know about the environmental effect of plastic bag, people will stay away from plastic bag use; so state need to educate people about the danger of plastic bag. Another point here, we need to think about when it comes to recycling plastic bag. First of all people do not feel pressure recycling plastic bag; secondly if people recycle any, that is not even proper way. The plastic bag hanging from a tree branches is a proof of improper

recycling. Also, states are spending a significant amount of money to collect this plastic bag garbage. If plastic bag ban becomes a law, this money can be used in another sector.There are so many alternative of Plastic bag. People can use the Paper bag, the cloth bag, the jute bag, and the cotton bag. All of these bags are biodegradable and reusable. Government should make a law to ban plastic bag. In that case people will not have any option, and people will use alternative bags.We want this plastic ban for greater benefit of population and our environment. We need to make our environment sustainable as we live in. Similarly, by banning plastic bags, we leave marine life in peace at their habitat. It is not only our group, who want ban on plastic bag; but also 85% of people from our survey voted banning on plastic bags after they consider environmental impact of plastic bag.Therefore, if we don’t make plastic bag ban ordinance in state wise, we put our environment in danger; because plastic bags have already penetrated in our food system. Conclusion:Banning plastic bag is an urgent issue that the U.S. government should take into serious consideration, because plastic bags are not only harmful to the environment, but also affect the economy to a certain extent. Our country has spent lot of money to dispose plastic bags into landfills and ocean every year. In the mean time, many marine animals are being killed every year by ingesting plastic bags.Based on our research, we have found that most people are still using plastic bags because they are convenience, useful, and readily available to use. Although many people realize the harmful effect of using plastic bags to our environment, they do not use reusable bag or recycle the plastic bags. If they keep using the plastic bags due to convenience, this only leads to the delay of taking action to ban plastic bags.It is clearly known that it requires a large number of people who are willing to make changes to our environment in order to cooperate and ban the use of plastic bags. In fact, our government should take action to support the banning of plastic bags. For instance, charging consumers an extra dollar for each extra plastic bag, or supporting the environmental groups to educate people about the influence of disposing plastic bag into ocean and the advantage of banning it.In someday, we hope to see that there are no more plastic bag litters on the California Coast, and all people will carry their fashionable reusable bags in grocery store.

References

Artz, Matthew (November 27, 2010), Fremont may ban Plastic bags. Oakland Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_16707595

Bell, L. (2006, October 27). Sprep responds to whale demise article. Retrieved from http://www.sprep.org/article/news_detail.asp?id=320 Bizymoms.com, . (n.d.). How plastic bags kill in the marine environment. Retrieved from http://www.articlecontentprovider.com/articlesubmit/Article/How-Plastic-Bags-Kill-in-the-Marine-Environment/34506 Dugan, John (November 18, 2010), Sunnyvale council moves toward plastic bag ban. Retrieved from http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16638201?nclick_check=1EarthTalk, . (2010, September 17). Plastic grocery bags: how long until they decompose?. Retrieved from http://business-ethics.com/2010/09/17/4918-plastic-grocery-bags-how-long-until-they-decompose/ Sá , Karen de (2010, August 29). Plastic bag ban forges ahead in California. Retrieved from http://www.mercurynews.com/green-living/ci_15927563 Roach, John (2003, September 02). Are Plastic Grocery Bags Sacking the Environment? Retrieved from National Geographic News. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags.html Lagos, Marisa (June 02, 2010), State plastic bag ban gaining support. Retrieved from Chronicle Sacramento Bureau http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-06-02/news/21653568_1_plastic-bags-ban-plastic-paper-bags Lee, Alfred (2010, November 22). Plastic Bag Makers Look to Sack County Ban. Retrieved from http://www.labusinessjournal.com/news/2010/nov/22/plastic-bag-makers-look-sack-l-county-ban/ N/A. (2001, December 13). Bangladesh to ban plastic bags in capital city. Retrieved from http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=5029

Cernansky, Rachel (2010, August 17). How Many Cities Have a Ban on Plastic Bags? It's probably more than you think. Retrieved from http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/how-many-cities-have-a-ban-on-plastic-bags.html

Kempton, Helen (2010, August 29). Plastic bag ban loses drive. Retrieved from http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2010/08/29/169271_tasmania-news.html

Lowy, J. (2004, July 21). Plastic left holding the bag as environmental plague. Retrieved from http://www.seattlepi.com/national/182949_bags21.html Natural Environment (2008, January 10). Environmental impact of plastic bags. Retrieved from http://www.natural-environment.com/blog/2008/01/10/environmental-impact-of-plastic-bags/ . Gorn, D. (2007, March 27). San Francisco Plastic Bag Interests Other Cities. Retrieved fromhttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89135360

Figure References