I think plastic bags, like most things in life is more nuanced than is or isn't bad. We should look at the whole lifecycle costs and usage patterns of not only the bag itself, but it's effects on the people using them. Does a type of alternative make it hard to carry them by foot or by bike? It could be worse if a bag promotes car usage
I've seen some people start using those durable big bags as disposable ones instead of basic plastics in many areas where normal bags weren't available, causing potentially over a hundred times more energy to be consumed and thrown away, the opposite of what was wanted
Counter-anecdote, my county banned disposable plastic bags some years back, effectively ending the former plague of feral plastic bags flapping in the wind everywhere, but I basically never see people buying the cheap bags by the checkout counter.
People really did adapt by bringing their own bags.
(I live in suburb hell -- unfortunately, I'm probably the only person who walks to the grocery store, so car use is unaffected)
> People really did adapt by bringing their own bags.
Maybe it is just my family, but in Eastern Europe, my family and some people do the same. We have re-usable bags that are not made out of plastic, but fabric, and we re-use them every time we shop. The reason for this is that bags are too expensive for what they are, so we do not continue re-buying them due to their high costs. No ban in place from what I know.
Where I live single use plastic bags have been banned for several years now. People either take reusable fabric or jute bags when shopping or have to buy paper ones, which are good enough for a few uses by themselves.
I always keep a bag on me that folds up quite small. It’s a change but easy to adapt to.
I think one issue with these plastic bags is that they're very light and not attached to anything. So, even if they end up in a landfill, they can still get blown away and end up in a body of water.
A plastic bag that is used as a garbage bag, on the other hand, will remain where it is because its contents weigh it down.
I'm not sure how to solve this, though. Perhaps standardizing the size of these bags to make them easily usable as garbage bags, and then marking them to indicate reuse, would be helpful.
>Does a type of alternative make it hard to carry them by foot or by bike?
Just last night we were having family pizza night and realized we didn't have mushrooms. Grabbed a reusable bag -- one that I have used dozens to hundreds of times -- and stuffed it in my pocket and hopped on my bike to the grocery store.
It is an utter non-issue. Indeed, in that case I would never have trusted a classic thin plastic bag but the heavy duty reusable one gives me no concern when it's swinging on my handle as I biked home.
When we first got rid of plastic bags here in Ontario, Canada, early on I'd often find myself at a store with no bags, so I went through the period of accumulation. Not to mention that a lot of stores went through a malicious compliance where the bags they sold were terrible and barely lasted more than one use.
Eventually habits changed and now we as a family pretty much never get new bags, and the options stores sell are significantly better, and are truly reusable.
And like someone else said, plastic bags (and plastic straws for that matter) were an absolute scourge, litter wise. Antisocial litterers, blowing out of garbage, etc. Now I never see them. From an environmental perspective -- meaning I like walking my neighbourhood without seeing trash blowing around -- it is a massive improvement.
We tried public awareness campaigns, major environmental and educational groups were part of it, celebrities and television personalities held galas on prime time which some estimated 40% of the population tuned into, frequent ad campaigns, via sports clubs and scouting, lobbying, partnering with ski resorts.
It barely worked. Plastic pollution still increased.
The population also increased, but plastic pollution is really a nothingburger to distract us from the real problems, especially with several countries bombing the hell out of others now.
Plastic pollution increased even when taking population growth into account. For example beverage manufacturers have largely moved from reusable glassware to single-use bottle over this time period.
You may want to research the carbon footprint of glass. No only for production but in the transport of goods, where heavy, relatively fragile containers require more energy to ship.
We did do extensive research, and glass came out significantly ahead in the long term, even when accounting for transport and manufacture, this is because glass is multi-use where bottles are re-used hundreds of times before needing to be replaced.
Plastic: <8% reusability via energy-intensive melting and re-shaping.
Glass: >95% reusability via washing, and of the remaining 50% > 99% can be reused via melting and re-shaping.
Over the average lifespan of a glass flask (n≈18 million), it released about 40% less CO2 equivalents compared to the amount of plastic needed to fulfil the same role.
They feel disgusting after you get used to normal bags.
p.s. today I had to buy plastic water bottle for the first time in years. The reason - no water fountain in the park I was visiting. Easiest way to stop it to make alternatives available and affordable.
