[anujmishra]

Originally Posted by bblost

Yes Anuj you are correct.
Plastic does disintegrate. It only takes some 300 years or so.
Until such time it puts a nice water proof cover on what ever place its dumped in.

Sometimes they burn it as well. It burns very well. Gives beautiful black clouds of carcinogens.

If we go by this theory. One should stop using cars as well. As it emits more dangerous CO (Carbon Monoxide) everyday. We should stop all factories and plants as it constantly emits dangerous gas. We should stop using AC in car as well as at home and office because it emits gas which destroys ozone layer and cause skin cancer due to ultraviolet rays.

Are anyone stopping the use of above things?

[Raja]

Tesco in UK were offering (don't know if they still are as I am now in India), a 'Bag for Life' scheme. You buy a very strong plastic bag and reuse it until it has come to it's end of life. Go to customer service counter and they will replace the bag for FREE and you start you using the new one and so on.
This is a good scheme and the retailer controls the recycling process knowing the bags are not going to be binned.

[mohit]

No 3 for me too. Most of the stores here sell you bags made out of recycled materials. These are pretty big (hold abt 10Kg stuff) and cost about $1 each. Some would even replace it for free if it gets damaged. Makes sense as these are nice and can be used otherwise too.

President's Choice - PC Great Food - PC GREEN Canada's Greenest Shopping Bag

I thing getting a nice Jute bag is the way to go. It can be used multiple times and when its done, its eco friendly to dispose off.

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by anujmishra

stop using cars...stop all factories...
Are anyone stopping the use of above things?

Stopping is one thing, reducing is another. There is surely some scope to reduce usage of plastic bags.

Anyone who was in Mumbai on 26th July, 2005 would agree. These bags choked drainage, that contributed towards flooding.

[manaa45]

i have chosen option no 3. i have taken efforts to minimise my use of plastic bags. i have brought 3/4 huge jute bags which are lined with wax so they remain stiff and i use them when ever i got to the market. if i am going to any supermarket, i ensure that they use minimal plastic bags to pask my stuff. infact the supermarket D mart has put up a notice that we can return their plastic bags if possible so that they can reuse them. i think it is fair enough as they cant anyways do away with using them for now, they better atleast reuse the same that they have given to their customers.

plastic is a huge problem to the envoriment but then something drastic and strict is done about banning them, it wont make much difference and people will contine its rampant usage.

on second thought i love paper bags, specially the ones you get at chimanlal's at fort. they are beautiful.

[Technocrat]

I avoid plastic bags & have opted for option 3 but there are some rare times when its unavoidable, I even carry stuff in hand without a plastic bag if I can.

Originally Posted by GTO

These chaps know how to save every penny (Baniya's) and hence, use NO BAGS. They deliver the goods in a large (cloth?) bag which is retained by them.

Maybe this is the most environment friendly way. No bags + the boys at my local grocer use a cycle for delivery . Let's see the west beat that!

Ditto, Even our friendly neighborhood shop guy does this & I like this service as its good in every sense

[bblost]

Anuj no offense but please read on CFC and the fact that its not used in any HVAC systems. This was identified as the major source of Ozone Depletion.
To quote Al Gore' documentary this is cited as the environmental challenge we faced and overcame. This is given as the answer to those who say we cannot fight Global warming as we have never done anything like it before.

Using cars is bad. YES.
Its there in so many posts in so many different thread that the best way to save fuel, reduce pollution is to use them conservatively.

This is the same ideology being propagated in this thread about plastics.
Use them but also understand your environmental responsibility.

The earth is with us for our children and their children after that.
Let us leave it better than we got it.

[Sam Kapasi]

Originally Posted by anujmishra

If we go by this theory. One should stop using cars as well. As it emits more dangerous CO (Carbon Monoxide) everyday. We should stop all factories and plants as it constantly emits dangerous gas. We should stop using AC in car as well as at home and office because it emits gas which destroys ozone layer and cause skin cancer due to ultraviolet rays.

Are anyone stopping the use of above things?

No, no more than we can stop eating fat and smoking cigarettes.

But if we know that it's screwing up things around us - can't we discuss what we can do about it? Try even?

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

What excuse do we car owners have not to carry around a shopping bag in our cars?

[maddy42]

Well we have been carrying two large bags which is made from fiber to get our daily dose of veggies back at home. I try to reduce the use of plastics as much as i can.

Somewhere i read that in blr they had made a nice way to dispose plastics by using it to make roads. No idea where it reached though. If all of us contribute for this than the world will be more beautiful and will remain to be so even for our grandchildren
I have seen cauvery river once the floods subside. All the trees are covered with plastics. Common we can do our bit for the environment

[vivekiny2k]

we take plastic bags, the organic food shop (whole foods) gives paper bags that I like. but otherwise all bags we get are reused for trash disposal (bagging the trash is mandatory in the community) as someone else mentioned.

which brings up another point, most of our trash is packaging. bottles, cartons, boxes, wrappers etc. If that was reduced, we will automatically reduce landfills.

[CorsaLove]

Originally Posted by maddy42

I have seen cauvery river once the floods subside. All the trees are covered with plastics. Common we can do our bit for the environment

Me two have been a spectator of this sad sight. I believe that we can truly reduce the use of plastics and change things around us.

I was amazed at the no plastic rule in Shimla and other places in Himachal during our trip this month. It was amazing to see shop keepers scared to even try giving a plastic carry bag to anyone. I believe that this can be done in other places too.

Just my 2 cents.

[anujmishra]

Originally Posted by Sam Kapasi

No, no more than we can stop eating fat and smoking cigarettes.

But if we know that it's screwing up things around us - can't we discuss what we can do about it? Try even?

You are quite right. We do many things that has direct or indirect impact on us.

So, I would like to say that better than stopping use of plastic bags, use should be regulated. Awareness should be spread for recycling plastics. People should be educated for not littering plastics in common place.

I admit that paper bags are biodegradable but to make one paper bag we loose many trees. Trees also equally important for protection of our environment.

[Rotorhead]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

OT : Isn't Ooty a no plastics zone ? Last time I did some shopping I wasn't given a plastic bag for the stuff we bght. Instead we were given paper bags.

yes ooty defenitely a no plastic zone, and since the time it was implemented by the lady collector (sheela i guess) few years ago, there has been a sea change in the tourist spots. Earlier , numerous plastic bag littering were a serious eyesore. I feel its a good idea to stop using plastic bags and do the our environment a small favour but unfortunately i will have to opt for option 2 because in bangalore we really dont have much of an option regarding these. And since i shop most often on my bike its difficult sling the purchase on the handlebar while using paper bags.

[DKG]

Originally Posted by anujmishra

How much did plastic bags affect environment?

Anuj the challenge we face is of renewable energy sources. Today we depend heavily on petroleum to run our factories. Manufacture of plastics consumes a great deal of energy. Since the material is not biodegradable and not always reuseable we consume more of vital energy sources to produce more plastic. Eventually we are overloading our main energy supply source and this is leading to a precarious situation where we may run out of a viable energy source this century.

Apart from this plastic in landfills is affecting the cycle of rain water being absorbed by soil effectively. What happens is the water remains in top soil and causes soil erosion. With soil erosion trees get affected and eventually we end up creating a desolate hostile environment

You may feel this is an exaggeration but the carbon footprint of 6 billion+ people is immense and consumption of plastics by such a vast population creates immense problems as it consumes large quantities of energy and is not renewable.

Plastics also affect marine life and damage animal digestive systems.

There are many other issues like paper consumption and emissions. Forest depletion is addressed through planting of new trees. More stringent emission norms are forcing mfgs to create alternative energy sources for cars. Fuel cell tech is the latest and we will eventually move away from petroleum.

Which leaves us with plastics. What is being done? Nothing!! Which is why this discussion is very relevant as we all need to figure out ways of dispensing with the use of plastics unless it can be reused.

What comes from Earth does go into Earth but plastics don't come naturally. Its a derivative of petroleum. Neither is processed uranium which is used in nuclear fuels. These Man derived materials will kill all forms of life if left unchecked.

Therefore in summary plastics do affect the environment and its use must be regulated