[...] Världsomfattande kampanj för att avskaffa plastpåsar [...]

Plastic bags sit in landfills, not moving, not biodegrading.  But that’s not actually a bad thing.  True, oil can’t be renewed.  But the plastic bags themselves can be efficiently burned as a fuel source.  Most incinerators used currently aren’t designed for this, but it can be (and on a small scale IS) done.
Paper bags kill trees, plastic ones don’t.  And paper bags weight more than 10 times as much, meaning the fossil fuel costs to ship them is exorbitantly higher.  My Plastics and Materials professor argues that plastic bags are, in the long term, possibly BETTER for the environment.

The big problem is oil… and embodied energy.  Burning plastic instead of recycling it is a terrible waste and very polluting.  Tom

The big problem is oil… and embodied energy.  Burning plastic instead of recycling it is a terrible waste and very polluting.  Tom

Here’s an Idea, instead of paper or plastic we could just use bags… you know ones we don’t have to throw away or burn? Why does everything need to be disposable?

[...] 23. Worldwide Movement To Ban or Charge Fees For Plastic Bags [...]

I like to take my plastic bags and scoop up as many fish as possible, then tie it up and drop it back in the water.

[...] Epidemic 22.  Participatory Budgeting – A Method to Empower Local Citizens & Communities 23.  Worldwide Movement To Ban or Charge Fees For Plastic Bags 24.  South Dakota Takes Extreme Measures to Be the Top Anti–Abortion State   25.  Extension [...]

[...] Epidemic 22.  Participatory Budgeting – A Method to Empower Local Citizens & Communities 23.  Worldwide Movement To Ban or Charge Fees For Plastic Bags 24.  South Dakota Takes Extreme Measures to Be the Top Anti–Abortion State   25.  Extension [...]

So don’t use them, but don’t try to keep me from using them. 

A ban on plastic bags isn’t a ban on plastic. Plastic is incredible useful, particularly in medical fields, however it’s nothing but irresponsible to surround ourselves with it. Think of it this way: litter wouldn’t be a problem (as in contributing to our continent of plastic soup building in the pacific and making our communities appear neglected) if it was biodegradable. There really isn’t any decent excuse for it (it takes a helluva lot more processing to make a plastic bag than it does to make a bag out of paper, hemp, tweed, or another plant fiber that hasn’t been rotting under the earth for millions of years). Laziness isn’t going to get the human species anything but dead in half a dozen generations–it’s time to step up and concentrate on things that actually need done, for the betterment of all.

A ban on plastic bags isn’t a ban on plastic. Plastic is incredible useful, particularly in medical fields, however it’s nothing but irresponsible to surround ourselves with it. Think of it this way: litter wouldn’t be a problem (as in contributing to our continent of plastic soup building in the pacific and making our communities appear neglected) if it was biodegradable. There really isn’t any decent excuse for it (it takes a helluva lot more processing to make a plastic bag than it does to make a bag out of paper, hemp, tweed, or another plant fiber that hasn’t been rotting under the earth for millions of years). Laziness isn’t going to get the human species anything but dead in half a dozen generations–it’s time to step up and concentrate on things that actually need done, for the betterment of all.

This is why problems don’t get solved.

Legalize marijuana! (sarcastic but probably true!)

Legalize marijuana! (sarcastic but probably true!)

Plastic is more eco friendly than paper or cloth.  It simply needs to be recycled properly.  The whole problem with the eco-nut movement is all they want to do is ban things.  They should think about solutions before mobilizing their voice.  Recycle plastics and they are a ERY good thing.

Well what will I use for my garbage bags?  Those need to be disposable. 

Well what will I use for my garbage bags?  Those need to be disposable. 

Here in our country, stores are already converting to paper bags.

Gary, sounds like a situation where you’re claiming that banning plastic bags is intruding on your freedom of choice. I think you need to abandon your god complex, because in terms of using raw materials and the planets resources, if its destructive to the planet and it’s clearly something that could be remedied, I don’t think you have the choice that you think you’re entitled to. 

What bill of rights constitutes otherwise? Feel free to speak freely about it. That is protected by the constitution. 

@Alba, no plastic is not more eco-friendly than paper or cloth due to the process by which it is made. The chemical waste of the processing process alone is an environmental travesty, to say nothing of the fact that most people do NOT recycle their plastic bags/bottles. Stop stating opinions as if they are facts and do your scientific research before you speak. 

Charging more than a few cents for these bags will be enough of a kick in the pants to get people to remember their cloth/reusable bags when they visit the store.

Or you could revert to the 50′s and store everything is old paper grocery bags, or simply put everything in the trashcan outside without the bag. The concept of a trashcan in the kitchen is simply convenience. The gross organic stuff can be composted (including coffee grinds) and the metal and plastics can be washed and recycled. People have been disposing of their trash for millions of years just fine without their plastic bags. 

Great initiative. The world needs it.

My brother in law in Germany has a company that makes a biodegradable additive that goes into the bags described in this article. After 90 days, the plastic bags are 90% biodegraded. If you are interested in finding out more on this topic, the name of the company is BIOP Biopolymer Technologies AGNot surprisingly, when he was trying to find investors for developing this technology, the only parties willing to help finance construction of facilities were those located in the Middle East and Asia. 

My brother in law in Germany has a company that makes a biodegradable additive that goes into the bags described in this article. After 90 days, the plastic bags are 90% biodegraded. If you are interested in finding out more on this topic, the name of the company is BIOP Biopolymer Technologies AGNot surprisingly, when he was trying to find investors for developing this technology, the only parties willing to help finance construction of facilities were those located in the Middle East and Asia. 

Plastic it’s good, people just don’t know how to use it…

isn’t all plastic basically just waste product left over from petroleum after all the gasoline and fuel possible has been extracted? 

And then I will have to buy garbage bags to dispose of my household waste.  This needs some thought.

I work at a grocery store, and we charge 10 cents a bag. However, we have a points card and every time you come back with any type of bag to pack your groceries we give you points. Eventually the points save you A LOT of money on your groceries, I think its great. 

If you do that in my area, they will not remove your trash (even though I pay over £25 per month in tax for them to do so).

All trash in my area and across nearly all of the UK, as well as many other developed countries Ive stayed in, requires trash to be self contained in individual trash bags when placed in a trash can.

Indeed.  The worst thing is, black bin bags have a lot more plastic than supermarket disposable carrier bags, designed out of thin plastic to degrade quickly.

Actually, alba is correct and you are wrong.  You should do some research before you post.

In my post above, I gave a link to detailed information, but surprisingly, paper bags, in the manufacture stage as well as the degrading and recycling stage, consumes more energy.

This is because, the paper needs to be treated to be resistant to tears, safe to hold enough weight, repel water and branded to be sold to naive fools like you.

Actually they do degrade.  Manufacturers for supermarkets, have developed plastic bags to such a degree in the past two decades, that Tesco, Asda and many other chains of supermarkets now have bags that have been tested and shown to fully degrade within six months once buried.

Technology has progressed and you would know that if you bothered doing some research.

The world already has it, as I mentioned above.  90 days is indeed impressive for 90% degradation, but bags in supermarkets for the past five years have been shown to degrade by over 95% after 180 days.

Plastic cleaned up it’s image a long time ago, unlike your ignorance.

Then well done for making the problem worse.  Paper is more harmful than plastic.

No it won’t.  All it does is tax environmentally concious people (those that do use plastic).

People who “forget”, are the kind of people who may “forget” many things, hence being acclimatised to paying for convenience.

Actually hemp is the best solution, but no-one seems to be touting that.

Funny how many fools on here have been brainwashed by the plastics and paper industry huh!

Buy a cloth bag a shut up.

5 cents for every bag where I live, has definitely caused me to use less bags for small numbers of purchased items.  For a long time I’ve reused as many as I can and recycled as many more as I can, but I’m consuming fewer now and the extra cost has not been painful.  I have not been very successful at remembering/arranging to bring my own bags–perhaps a tax CREDIT for doing so would help?

Then what are those things flapping from the tree limbs?

The city where I live only accepts #1 & #2. Apparently nothing else is economically advantageous to recycle. Check with the professor again and ask if it would be okay if we all just brought our used plastic bags over to his house since he seems to think that they are such a good idea.

Paper automatically and without fail recycles … it can’t do anything else. Point paper. (Needn’t be made from trees, either. Hemp is far better.)

I fail to see your point?

People litter all the time.  Instead of banning all packaging, so nothing can be sold in shops, just on the fear of someone littering or banning pets because people foul, we should instead educate society on general respect and correct disposal of items.

Banning plastic does not stop litter.  Slapping litter louts is a better route to follow.

You are incorrect there Canaday.  Paper may seem like something that is easy to recycle, but too often in supermarkets, the paper bags are treated with chemicals and glosses making recycling quite energy intensive compared to other alternatives.

I will agree hemp is the best solution.  However blame the paper and plastics industries from hyping up propaganda making this unlikely.

After you.

Don’t try to keep me from using them either.

You are partially correct, and your professor is correct.

Free bags!

Go get ‘em.

This is a bit necrotic, but it needs rebutted, even if two months later:

Plastic BAGS are also a PART of modern medicine, and that’s WHY they are decidedly useful and inexpensive in general use in our societies.

If the government banned plastic bags or required merchants to charge obscene amounts for them, the problems you just described would be exactly the same, only, the costs of ordinary goods and services would be much higher; either (1) out of reach of ordinary wage earners, or (2) made worse by unjust fines or criminalizing this use after the fact (and that would include re-use), and that too, you will note, includes Health care use.

Liberalism kills. Obama’s expanded Bush-Doctrine is proof, militarily, and then there are the people who want us all to be “equal”… equally impoverished, equally powerless, and equally hopeless, socially.

No, thank you.

Kindly re-read “Animal Farm” by ‘George Orwell’… also, your factual errors and misgivings about plastics and petroleum and biodegradability are easily found at a site like wikipedia.

Oh, you researched it all on wikipedia–it must be true. I’ll just disregard all those studies these so-called ‘scientists’ keep putting out and pretend I don’t see America’s cities brimming with garbage and waste, since someone put an article on wikipedia saying it’s all just part of the matrix.

But seriously though, it’s not as if I’m saying if we ban plastic blags everything will be just peachy. It’s all about stepping stones, my friend, and I’m sick of only hearing responses based in fear and laziness as an excuse to undermine the sustainability and integrity of our society.

You simply haven’t any idea what you are writing about, still, and it shows.

Wow that was an excellent deconstruction of my comment. You’re a super awesome debater–are you thinking of running for president some day?

 And you have yet to demonstrate that you have considered the points made to you previously; how plastics are beneficial and that even ‘bags’ are an integral part of medicine, and that the curtailing of their use is harmful and unjust, and that your factual errors about plastics, especially biodegradability are easily dismissed as willful ignorance.

If all you have are logical fallacies, personal contempt and ad hominem in place of supporting your misguided views, then you are empty handed, and do little here but represent yourself and statist liberalism poorly.

Feel free to “deconstruct” the facts you have wrong, and the points which you’ve  reacted to, allergically,  with the temperament of a badly behaved child.

(1) Litter would still exist
(2) Plastics do “degrade”
(3) Medicine is the best “excuse” and Santitation is another
(4) Plastic is far “greener’ than Paper for bags
(5) Textile bags are an option for shopping, but more expensive
(6) Petroleum formation has two tested theories, not just one
(7) “Laziness” is a relative personal characteristic, and  has been with “us” alot longer than “six generations” and will endure, no matter how you choose to define it, or the value you place on it
(8) “Homo” is our Genus, our Species is H. Sapiens; “we” show no signs of becoming extinct ([sic] dead) within any few generations
(9) What “needs done” is subjective, and you give no indication of being in a position to decide anything for yourself or anyone else, since you are unencumbered with a basic knowledge of the facts
(10) Your insinuation that a fact must not be a fact because it is published in a community peer-reviewed cyclopedia is stupid; very stupid, and cynical
(11) “All those studies” which you failed to cite a single one of…
(12) Whatever delusion you have about anyone else’s “Matrix” is purely projectionary; not only in the Cinematic sense, either
(13) Our “society” is inherently “sustainable” since “we” have “made it this far” as things are; and whether or not it has any “integrity” in the personal sense, is itself a personal relative assessment
(14) The modern so-called  “sustainability” movement is arguably DRIVEN by fear and laziness; the fear of the Lazy, by the Wealthy
(15) Your factual errors have been corrected publicly against your preference to remain undisciplined and uninformed
(16) No future president would take the time to correct the idiotic ramblings of children smart enough to turn on a computer, but dumb enough to believe the propaganda displayed on it

Your education is your responsibility, and I’ve wasted enough time your way- to gladly give you the final volley; support any of your errors or accept their corrections; show any sign of the humility, humanity, or integrity you demand of others; or even just be a bit less snide or condescending.

If that is even possible.

Good day.

I support the use of reusable bags. Any kind of one-time use bag is going to produce a lot of waste and costs a lot given the little use that it serves. When I don’t have any reusable bag on me, and I’m given a plastic bag at a store, I reuse it at home as a trash bag or leave them in my trunk for future store visits. The problem with recycling is that most plastic is not recycled, and what is recycled, is either turned into something entirely different than it’s original form, one which isn’t recyclable, or it gets downcycled into a lower quality product. 
I’ve been to some stores where they offer you up the boxes that were used to transport the products to their store, to take your items home. They were just going to throw the cardboard boxes away anyway, so this way everyone wins.
I do agree with those of you who stated that educating America is the main problem. Getting people to respect the environment by not littering and not taking our planet for granted. You could cut down a lot more on oil usage by eliminating the disgusting mass feed lots for cattle, chicken, and pigs, and cutting down on these and other food products that get shipped halfway around the world. Support local farmers, say no to everything related to Monsanto.

A skilled troll is a subtle troll…

1. I didn’t say it wouldn’t ‘exist,’ I said it wouldn’t be a problem (c’mon now, I know you didn’t ‘mishear’ me).
2. I said they don’t BIOdegrade.
3. What’s your point here? Plastics are a key component in hospital routine and maintenance. If you don’t think that’s true, visit one and look around.
4. Cite your source.
5. They are only more expensive if you don’t REUSE them.
6. Two tested hypotheses, only one of which has scores of evidence and data to back it up making it a theory.
7. Duh. So instead of hoping people will quit being lazy and littering, we need to make packaging that doesn’t take thousands of years to decompose. Then it doesn’t matter if they’re littering: it would even help to more even redistribute used resources back to local ecosystems instead of building mountains of garbage.
8. No, we don’t. But with thousands of other species going extinct every day, it’s not that much of a stretch to say we could be in a real tight spot in the near future, especially with what’s happening in our oceans. Healthy ecosystems are vital to our future. Period.
9. Well you’re certainly pretentious enough to decide things for everyone, aren’t you?
10. ANY person can change ANY article at ANY time. Wikipedia is good for getting a basic introduction to subjects, but since it requires no expertise or even for you to leave your name on your article of alleged ‘facts,’ it cannot be used as a reliable source. Pretty much anyone on a University campus can tell you that.
11. Fair enough. I get most of my information from various University websites and ones like the BBC, Smithsonian and Nasa. Still, I’m not going to bother with hunting down some old articles you probably wouldn’t even read since you’re too full of yourself anyway.
12. I’m sorry, your sarcasm meter seems to be experiencing difficulties, perhaps you should get it looked at?
13. Oh? It’s sustainable since ‘we made it this far,’ huh? Well that’s a flawless argument if I ever heard. Oh, sorry I forgot–that was sarcasm just then (hope you get that meter fixed soon, dude).
14. Yeah, I can see how it’s driven by fear. Concern is definitely derived from fear. But laziness? Really? You know that the tendency of those who are lazy is more to keep things the same than try to change them. The lazy people you know sure sound motivated, I wonder how they feel being paradoxes?
15. Oh god, I’m just so embarrassed. You got me. I’m never going on the internet again! I might as well kill myself since James Carroll publicly humiliated me. lolz
16. That’s a shame, James. You would’ve fit right in.

1. I didn’t say it wouldn’t ‘exist,’ I said it wouldn’t be a problem (c’mon now, I know you didn’t ‘mishear’ me).
2. I said they don’t BIOdegrade.
3. What’s your point here? Plastics are a key component in hospital routine and maintenance. If you don’t think that’s true, visit one and look around.
4. Cite your source.
5. They are only more expensive if you don’t REUSE them.
6. Two tested hypotheses, only one of which has scores of evidence and data to back it up making it a theory.
7. Duh. So instead of hoping people will quit being lazy and littering, we need to make packaging that doesn’t take thousands of years to decompose. Then it doesn’t matter if they’re littering: it would even help to more even redistribute used resources back to local ecosystems instead of building mountains of garbage.
8. No, we don’t. But with thousands of other species going extinct every day, it’s not that much of a stretch to say we could be in a real tight spot in the near future, especially with what’s happening in our oceans. Healthy ecosystems are vital to our future. Period.
9. Well you’re certainly pretentious enough to decide things for everyone, aren’t you?
10. ANY person can change ANY article at ANY time. Wikipedia is good for getting a basic introduction to subjects, but since it requires no expertise or even for you to leave your name on your article of alleged ‘facts,’ it cannot be used as a reliable source. Pretty much anyone on a University campus can tell you that.
11. Fair enough. I get most of my information from various University websites and ones like the BBC, Smithsonian and Nasa. Still, I’m not going to bother with hunting down some old articles you probably wouldn’t even read since you’re too full of yourself anyway.
12. I’m sorry, your sarcasm meter seems to be experiencing difficulties, perhaps you should get it looked at?
13. Oh? It’s sustainable since ‘we made it this far,’ huh? Well that’s a flawless argument if I ever heard. Oh, sorry I forgot–that was sarcasm just then (hope you get that meter fixed soon, dude).
14. Yeah, I can see how it’s driven by fear. Concern is definitely derived from fear. But laziness? Really? You know that the tendency of those who are lazy is more to keep things the same than try to change them. The lazy people you know sure sound motivated, I wonder how they feel being paradoxes?
15. Oh god, I’m just so embarrassed. You got me. I’m never going on the internet again! I might as well kill myself since James Carroll publicly humiliated me. lolz
16. That’s a shame, James. You would’ve fit right in.

1. I didn’t say it wouldn’t ‘exist,’ I said it wouldn’t be a problem (c’mon now, I know you didn’t ‘mishear’ me).
2. I said they don’t BIOdegrade.
3. What’s your point here? Plastics are a key component in hospital routine and maintenance. If you don’t think that’s true, visit one and look around.
4. Cite your source.
5. They are only more expensive if you don’t REUSE them.
6. Two tested hypotheses, only one of which has scores of evidence and data to back it up making it a theory.
7. Duh. So instead of hoping people will quit being lazy and littering, we need to make packaging that doesn’t take thousands of years to decompose. Then it doesn’t matter if they’re littering: it would even help to more even redistribute used resources back to local ecosystems instead of building mountains of garbage.
8. No, we don’t. But with thousands of other species going extinct every day, it’s not that much of a stretch to say we could be in a real tight spot in the near future, especially with what’s happening in our oceans. Healthy ecosystems are vital to our future. Period.
9. Well you’re certainly pretentious enough to decide things for everyone, aren’t you?
10. ANY person can change ANY article at ANY time. Wikipedia is good for getting a basic introduction to subjects, but since it requires no expertise or even for you to leave your name on your article of alleged ‘facts,’ it cannot be used as a reliable source. Pretty much anyone on a University campus can tell you that.
11. Fair enough. I get most of my information from various University websites and ones like the BBC, Smithsonian and Nasa. Still, I’m not going to bother with hunting down some old articles you probably wouldn’t even read since you’re too full of yourself anyway.
12. I’m sorry, your sarcasm meter seems to be experiencing difficulties, perhaps you should get it looked at?
13. Oh? It’s sustainable since ‘we made it this far,’ huh? Well that’s a flawless argument if I ever heard. Oh, sorry I forgot–that was sarcasm just then (hope you get that meter fixed soon, dude).
14. Yeah, I can see how it’s driven by fear. Concern is definitely derived from fear. But laziness? Really? You know that the tendency of those who are lazy is more to keep things the same than try to change them. The lazy people you know sure sound motivated, I wonder how they feel being paradoxes?
15. Oh god, I’m just so embarrassed. You got me. I’m never going on the internet again! I might as well kill myself since James Carroll publicly humiliated me. lolz
16. That’s a shame, James. You would’ve fit right in.

1. I didn’t say it wouldn’t ‘exist,’ I said it wouldn’t be a problem (c’mon now, I know you didn’t ‘mishear’ me).
2. I said they don’t BIOdegrade.
3. What’s your point here? Plastics are a key component in hospital routine and maintenance. If you don’t think that’s true, visit one and look around.
4. Cite your source.
5. They are only more expensive if you don’t REUSE them.
6. Two tested hypotheses, only one of which has scores of evidence and data to back it up making it a theory.
7. Duh. So instead of hoping people will quit being lazy and littering, we need to make packaging that doesn’t take thousands of years to decompose. Then it doesn’t matter if they’re littering: it would even help to more even redistribute used resources back to local ecosystems instead of building mountains of garbage.
8. No, we don’t. But with thousands of other species going extinct every day, it’s not that much of a stretch to say we could be in a real tight spot in the near future, especially with what’s happening in our oceans. Healthy ecosystems are vital to our future. Period.
9. Well you’re certainly pretentious enough to decide things for everyone, aren’t you?
10. ANY person can change ANY article at ANY time. Wikipedia is good for getting a basic introduction to subjects, but since it requires no expertise or even for you to leave your name on your article of alleged ‘facts,’ it cannot be used as a reliable source. Pretty much anyone on a University campus can tell you that.
11. Fair enough. I get most of my information from various University websites and ones like the BBC, Smithsonian and Nasa. Still, I’m not going to bother with hunting down some old articles you probably wouldn’t even read since you’re too full of yourself anyway.
12. I’m sorry, your sarcasm meter seems to be experiencing difficulties, perhaps you should get it looked at?
13. Oh? It’s sustainable since ‘we made it this far,’ huh? Well that’s a flawless argument if I ever heard. Oh, sorry I forgot–that was sarcasm just then (hope you get that meter fixed soon, dude).
14. Yeah, I can see how it’s driven by fear. Concern is definitely derived from fear. But laziness? Really? You know that the tendency of those who are lazy is more to keep things the same than try to change them. The lazy people you know sure sound motivated, I wonder how they feel being paradoxes?
15. Oh god, I’m just so embarrassed. You got me. I’m never going on the internet again! I might as well kill myself since James Carroll publicly humiliated me. lolz
16. That’s a shame, James. You would’ve fit right in.

[...] Epidemic 22.  Participatory Budgeting – A Method to Empower Local Citizens & Communities 23.  Worldwide Movement To Ban or Charge Fees For Plastic Bags 24.  South Dakota Takes Extreme Measures to Be the Top Anti–Abortion State   25.  Extension [...]