(UK) Plastic bag use on the rise after years of decline

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

British consumers are packing away their green credentials along with their weekly shop, as last year an increasing number of us bundled our purchases into single-use plastic carrier bags instead of seeking out environmentally friendly alternatives.

Plastic bag use plunged after 2006, when the government, retailers and green campaigners spearheaded a push to cut down on the 11bn plastic carriers Britons used each year, most of which find their way into landfill or – much more damagingly – into waterways and the sea, where they are a hazard to marine life.

By 2009, bag use was down by about 40% to under 6.5bn.

But last year, that downward trend was reversed. Perhaps owing to recessionary worries, people forgot their hessian sacks and filled up on plastic again - more than 6.8bn were used, up about 5% on the previous year, according to the government's Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap).

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/28/plastic-bag-rise

[lbrtbell]

1. The reason is obvious

In a recession, people cut back on spending, and one thing they'll cut back on is buying plastic bags for their wastebaskets. Why buy the plastic, when you can get it for free at the store?

We even use our bread bags to put trash in. You take free things wherever you can find them, in this economy. ;)

[marasinghe]

5. true. yet, don't forget the conservative govt. coming to power in the UK -

and relaxing environmental protections; as well as making the economic situation untenable for regular folks.
so that, as you mentioned, ordinary people are forced to cut corners, doing stuff like using plastic shopping bags for trash disposal.

[Warpy]

2. Since they're not charged for plastic, they're using the bags for trash bags

I'll bet you the sales of rubbish bin bags are way down, too.

I did that for years and recycled the ones I didn't use. Now I use one tall kitchen bag every couple of weeks plus the clear recycling bags we're supposed to use for curbside recycling. I use canvas for shopping.

[Igel]

3. We use them for kitty litter.

They're a good size, and it's nice being able to tie the handle together before plopping the cat plop into the trash.

Started to collect cloth bags. Ran across a (non-US) government environmental group study that was finished before a lot of the oft-cited studies but which, oddly, wasn't released until after laws banning plastic bags were passed.

It didn't just look at the horrible effects of plastic bags on wildlife. It rather ignored them in the ocean and by the side of the road, basically saying that wasn't specifically the bags but the people who littered.

Instead it looked at the cost, amount of petroleum and energy consumed, sanitation and waste disposal features, both the bad aspects as well as the positive; it wanted sound policy, not just advocacy. It decided that plastic wasn't that bad. Cloth bags take up a lot of energy to make when compared to the trivial amount of plastic in plastic bags; if you don't wash them, you wind up with animal blood (unless you're vegetarian) and other stuff that means you have to wash them every month or so to avoid contamination. People forget them, meaning they still need plastic. If you don't recycle plastic bags, it'll take overa decade for the average cloth bag to come out ahead in times of energy, cost, and risk; if you do recycle, it'll take longer. Most people don't keep cloth bags around for a decade or more. If you get a really durable one, then the energy input is higher and you need to carry it around even longer.

Like I said, this ignores the fact that the plastic bags lodge in trees and that seabirds get stuck in them. On the other hand, most "plastic bags are evil" research ignores the fact that people forget their cloth bags or find uses for plastic that they'd still need plastic bags for.

[saras]

4. I don't know how the law works in Britian

but where I live, they just "outlawed" them - EXCEPT - they included an exception for groceries (which is the primary use), and they required the stores to charge a nickel a bag (which is pure profit for the story - they aren't required to do anything environmental with the money). The consequence is that stores now aggressively double-bag everything in lots of plastic bags, unless you make them stop, simply because they can earn an extra dollar or two per transaction. Most consumers don't want to deal with it after the fact, even if they are left standing there holding a couple of big cloth grocery bags. So they pay the money (usually not even noticing that it is on their receipt) and take the bags anyways.