Plastic bags are used in our society almost everyday, at most every market we frequent. We use them to carry everything from groceries to clothes to household wares. Once they make it to our homes they either end up straight into the garbage or maybe stuffed together in another bag under our sink. Rarely do these trillions of plastic bags get reused more than once and unfortunately they cannot be recycled through standard recycling plants. As a result, they sit in a landfill or float through the ocean unable to be fully decomposed for approximately 1,000 years. According to The American Chemical Society, this is due to the complex blend of stabilizers like polyethylene that aid in the reusable nature of plastic. At the end of the day this makes plastic bags one of the leading factors in pollution. 

The invention of plastic bags occurred in 1959 by a Swedish Engineer, Sten Gustaf Thulin. They were made to replace paper bags which, in Mid-Twentieth Century Europe, were considered bad for the environment, due to the mass deforestation practices. Thulin’s design made for a stronger, more durable bag with the intention to be multi-use, not single use as they turned out. Initially this design was patented in the 1960’s by Celloplast, who worked on improving the ability to manufacture and introduce it into the market. By the end of the 1970’s, plastic bags took over the European market and a decade later were being used worldwide, almost replacing paper bags completely. By the 1990’s, environmental groups began discouraging their widespread use.

Today there are many different factors that deem a product bad for the environment: health effects on employees producing a product, energy efficiency during the harvest and production of raw resources, and transportation of goods. It’s important to keep all the aspects of sustainability in mind when we go to the store. Though there is a significant importance for company’s to take responsibility when they hold great influence upon the people, this does not discount each individual from making decisions which effect their community and the world at large. 

There are many examples of alternative bags being implemented in stores throughout the world. More than a dozen countries have decided to ban single-use plastics in recent years. Bangladesh was the first country to place a ban on plastic bags back in 2002. Mali, Kenya, Morocco, India, and Taiwan have since followed suit by implementing a tax or banning them entirely. In place of plastic, synthetic cloth bags have become available in every store. As a part of this transition, stores have been given specific colors based upon what they sell in order to indicate where customers have been shopping. For instance in Morocco, every liquor store has a hot pink bag for it’s patrons. 

There are very few countries worldwide that regulate plastic through the full cycle of production, consumption, distribution, and disposal. Additionally, there are many loopholes and exemptions to legislation to help prevent plastic pollution. In 2018, Great Britain’s Royal Statistical Society announced their Statistic of the Year, “over ninety percent of the estimated plastic waste around the world that has been made never gets recycled.” The science supporting claims against single-use plastics and exploring the damaging effects are numerous. With modern technology, people around the world are becoming more aware about this situation. As a result of communities gaining ecological consciousness, society is becoming healthier and more sustainable as a whole.

Implementing community action and education are the first steps which will lead humans towards a more sustainable future and support the possibility of ensuring healthy lives for everyone. The small, mindful changes that we can practice everyday will have such an impact on the world around us. Thank you so much for reading. Please move forward with this knowledge and take in all considerations when making your next trip to the store. Happy shopping!