Isabelle Osborne
International Plastic Bag Free Day, annually celebrated on 3 July, marks a day to reflect on and recognise the need for global commitment to eliminate the use of single-use plastic bags across the world and eradicate plastic pollution.
“the opportunity arises to consider whether enough is being done to tackle the production and consumption of plastic bags”
The day is now part of the larger ‘Break Free From Plastic’ movement which began in September 2016 and aims to empower plastic pollution fighters across the world, uniting to build a world safe from plastic pollution by considering sustainable alternatives.
As International Plastic Bag Free Day comes and goes once again, the opportunity arises to consider whether enough is being done to tackle the production and consumption of plastic bags: a commodity that continues to compromise environmental and human health.
The Precedent for Change
The need to reduce the production and consumption of plastic bags is pressing. Figures from Zero Waste Europe, an organisation working towards eliminating waste, shine a spotlight on the necessity of reducing our plastic consumption. Whilst the average use time of a plastic bag is a mere 25 minutes, a plastic bag can take between 100 and 500 years to disintegrate, depending on the type. With the average European using around 500 plastic bags per year, there certainly remains a precedent for International Plastic Bag Free Day.
Whilst some are used on multiple occasions and others recycled, plastic bags that are discarded and littered pollute both urban and wild areas. This poses a severe threat to animals, who, should they consume them, are poisoned by the chemicals in the bags and can suffer intestinal obstructions, leading to malnutrition and starvation.
Plastic bags discarded into rivers, lakes or oceans never biodegrade completely; 80% of marine litter is plastic. It’s anticipated that the sea will contain more plastic than fish by 2050. The Centre for Biological Diversity claims fish in the North Pacific ingest 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic each year, whilst research shows half of sea turtles in the world have ingested plastic.
Not only do plastic bags affect habitats and animal welfare when used irresponsibly, but they also pose a severe threat to human health. Plastic bags that find their way into oceans, rivers, and lakes break into smaller, micro plastics (a piece of plastic less than 5 mm long). These micro plastics contaminate our food, water and air, meaning we too are suffering in silence from this toxic product.
Amongst the devastating statistics highlighted in the World Wildlife Fund’s ‘No Plastic in Nature: Assessing Plastic Ingestion from Nature to People’ report in 2019 was the percentage of tap water samples containing plastic fibres across the world. Lebanon was spotlighted at 98%, with the United States following closely behind at 94.4%.
Scientists also say that micro plastics are found in 114 marine species, one-third of which are consumed by humans. The chemicals found in plastic – and therefore the chemicals that eventually end up in our food through contaminated fish – are noted as endocrine disruptors (chemicals that affect normal hormone function).
Most shocking of all is the estimation that people across the world consume the equivalent of a credit card of plastic each week. This, highlights the continuous life cycle of plastic bags. Even though simply buying one from a supermarket and failing to recycle it is not a harmless action, it could mean the bag ends up in the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe, whilst damaging the environment and wildlife in the process.
Is Change Happening?
In 2020, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the UN Environment Programme published a second progress report on the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, titled ‘The Global Commitment 2020 Progress Report.’ The report looked at how the signatories of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, which include L’Oréal, The Coca-Cola Company, and Burberry plc, were managing the targets. The foreword, signed by Andrew Morlet, (CEO of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation), and Inger Andersen, (Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme), stated that progress had been made between 2018 and 2019, citing the example of the 22% increase in recycled content in packaging year-on-year.
However, the report emphasised that change still needs to take place and that ‘much more must be done, and at greater speed, to achieve the 2025 targets.’ The report touched on the increasing demand for takeaway food containers and bubble wrap – most of which are not recyclable, as exposed during the pandemic. In addition to ‘the halting or reversal of policies aimed at reducing single-use plastic products.’
From 21 May this year, the single-use carrier bag charge rose to 10p in all stores in England. An increase from the 5p charge that was introduced in 2015 which has since seen a 95% decrease in plastic bag use. In August 2018, when the 5p plastic bag charge was extended to all retailers, the then Environment Secretary Michael Gove said “We are committed to being a global leader in tackling plastic pollution”. This is reflective of the UK Government’s willingness to tackle this disastrous problem. The charge increase represents the rejuvenating recognition of the dangers plastic bags present to human and environmental welfare.
But is the charge enough to deter shoppers from buying plastic bags? It is unnerving to see that plastic bags are still bought at a tremendously high rate. The Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs’ research into the purchase of single-use plastic carrier bags charge for 2019 to 2020 (based on data from 194 retailers) shows that the total number of single use plastic bags reported in between 2019 and 2020 was 564 million. Whilst admittedly a monumental decrease from the 2.12 billion in 2016-17, the number of plastic bags purchased remain significantly high. This demonstrates how the battle against plastic bags has not been diffused just yet.
What’s Next?
This article has highlighted only some of the many dire consequences of plastic bag production. Yet the fact humans are contributing to the plastic crisis, both from a production and consumer standing, leads one to question: is the urge to reduce the appetite for plastic bags by increasing the charge enough?
A change in attitude within societies across the world is vital for changing the narrative on plastic bags. They do not find themselves in our wild spaces of their own accord and our reckless behaviour is adding fuel to the harmful impact plastic bags can have on our planet and our health.
Does the issue also, however, lie in the lack of awareness of how our careless use of plastic bags impacts our world? Perhaps the argument for ensuring more is done to raise awareness and achieve a stronger mandate for educating societies across the globe on the effects of plastic pollution is just as strong as the action that can be taken at an international governmental level. A commitment is needed from businesses world wide to foster an environmentally friendly ethos within their organisations.
If there was a stronger push for education on the extent to which plastic bag consumption was damaging our world and raising awareness of the benefit of using reusable bags, wider society may feel more encouraged to refrain from contributing to plastic pollution by discarding plastic bags irresponsibly or, even better, purchasing plastic bags in the first place. Plastic bag production is, after all, something we can put an end to ourselves, and refraining from purchasing them is the first step on the journey to eliminating the threat they pose.
Whilst only a mere 5% of the one trillion plastic bags used across the world get recycled, having one international day to reflect on the plastic crisis may not be enough to ensure people around the world are actively committed to recognising the role we play in the dark cycle of plastic pollution and promoting sustainable alternatives to the deadly plastic bag.
Featured image courtesy of Brian Yurasits on Unsplash. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to the image.
Isabelle Osborne
Isabelle Osborne is currently reading English at University College London. She is an active member of the UCL student journalist community, and has experience in marketing and communications, blogging, copywriting and content creation and radio broadcasting.