Plastic bags and the environment

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jdesmond
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Plastic bags and the environment

Post by jdesmond »

What do you think about plastic bags and their effect on the environment?
hunghn
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by hunghn »

I think plastic bags is a serious issue today. People use them every where and every time. Plastic material takes 100 years to disintegrate. It's so long time. So what we can do for it?
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by jdesmond »

What about reusable bags made from 'eco-friendly' products? Maybe we should think about refusing bags when they are offered to us.
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by Hardi »

In some stores they ask if you want them to but goods into bag too, probably because they care of environment.. Or maybe they are just too greedy to give that poorest bag out. Some don't ask, they just but it into bag. Probably it depends how much they can effort to pay to clerk. Clerks wont care to take effort to ask, if they don't get paid for it. They work just as packing machines.. Well I have always agreed to take bag too, even though those bags are so cheap, that I throw them later away. I should refuse, but how could I. They're free! :lol:
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by openenglish »

I use those plastic bags for lining the small trash cans in my house or for picking up after my dog. Still, I think it would be so much better if people used their own reusable bags to carry their groceries.
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by fatboypaco »

The plastic bags are very difficult decomposed by natural.
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by Cypress »

This problem has been bothering me a lot. I’m glad there are people who care about it.
My husband and I bring our own canvas bags when we go grocery shopping. We bought two of them and they cost us only one dollar each.
In some grocery stores, a clerk would take five cents off my bill just because I use my own bag. In others, they give me a couple options of different organizations (like public library or something similar) to donate the five cents to. Yet in other stores (mostly supermarkets), they don’t care. But in any case, it makes me feel good when I know that I didn’t use that plastic bag.
Over time, I do accumulate some plastic bags at home though. Sometimes when I buy clothes or some other stuff (not food), I get a plastic bag. But I try to use them at home just like openenglish said
openenglish wrote:I use those plastic bags for lining the small trash cans
But if I cannot use them all, I take them to a local supermarket because they have a recycle bin for plastic bags there.
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by Tora »

so good you have started discussing it here!

You can't do without them at all, though in many supermarkets they are no longer free. As many of you I go to the grocery using a linen bag (you know, many of these items are so "glitzy" - my one has beefy men hands on it and an iscription - Advanced solutions for steelmaking :D ), and also as openenglish I use small plastic bags to carry my dog's litter (there are already and at least two of us - poopickers - in my local area witnessed by me 8) )
Also in a bookshop I ask not to pack the buying.
The more sorrowful is the fact that there is no separate litter collecting cans here, mainly there are no any :(
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by MissLT »

Cypress wrote:This problem has been bothering me a lot. I’m glad there are people who care about it.
My husband and I bring our own canvas bags when we go grocery shopping. We bought two of them and they cost us only one dollar each.
In some grocery stores, a clerk would take five cents off my bill just because I use my own bag. In others, they give me a couple options of different organizations (like public library or something similar) to donate the five cents to. Yet in other stores (mostly supermarkets), they don’t care. But in any case, it makes me feel good when I know that I didn’t use that plastic bag.
Over time, I do accumulate some plastic bags at home though. Sometimes when I buy clothes or some other stuff (not food), I get a plastic bag. But I try to use them at home just like openenglish said
openenglish wrote:I use the those plastic bags for lining the small trash cans
But if I cannot use them all, I take them to a local supermarket because they have a recycle bin for plastic bags there.
The two stores I remember right now that use paper bags only are Wholefoods and Trader's Joe. I shop there a lot since paper bags are easier to recycle than plastic bag. Well, some trees will get cut down still, but the paper bag recycling process won't pollute the environment as much as plastic bag's. My mom does her grocery shopping at Asian markets, which give out plastic bags a lot. We use them for trash and cover the ground where that stupid pigeon poops all over.

Also, before we usually threw the grocery ad papers away, but now grandma uses them to wrap the vegetables like burritos before she puts them in a plastic bag. This trick does keep the vegetables fresh and green for a longer time than usual. Nothing is wasted. 8)
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by MissLT »

nickayeen wrote:Hi john!!
Super markets should charge customers for their plastic bags.
I got charged 25 cents per bag at IKEA when it was free before. I have to say I was pissed. It's either you buy their bag, bring your own bag, or carry the products out of the store without a bag. What kinda customer service is this! :roll:
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by Hardi »

In supermarkets they charge also here for bags. I mean when you need one then u can buy it. But many stores still but stuff into those small bags. It's easier when you buy 20 small pieces of goods. But when I buy a pair of socks then what good will that bag do? Beside that when I but them into same bag with fresh fish they get dirty without that bag.

Plastic bottles they will buy back there's deposit for each bottle. 1 Estonian kroon for bigger bottles and half for smaller. Those bottles they pulverise and make to granules that they export into china. Where Chinese make them into T shirts and export back to Europe.. Now what to do with old T-shirts? I guess the plastic bags are more difficult to recycle. For bottles there's a computer readable code on label that tells it's deposited. And they are probably known what type of plastic it is so they can easily recycle, but bags are all different and colored and...

I remember that there are invented organic equivalents for plastic bags, but I think they was to decompose little too quick. And they are expensive so less companies use them.
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by MissLT »

Hardi wrote:
Plastic bottles they will buy back there's deposit for each bottle. 1 Estonian kroon for bigger bottles and half for smaller.
My grandma collects empty bottles and cans from our three houses, so she can give them to homeless people. Last time, one of them took the bottles and cans and her precious trash can away. Now she doesn't put the trash can outside anymore. She only puts it out when she's outside guarding it while they take the bottles and cans away. :lol: :lol:
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by Hardi »

LennyeTran wrote:
Hardi wrote:
Plastic bottles they will buy back there's deposit for each bottle. 1 Estonian kroon for bigger bottles and half for smaller.
My grandma collects empty bottles and cans from our three houses, so she can give them to homeless people. Last time, one of them took the bottles and cans and her precious trash can away. Now she doesn't put the trash can outside anymore. She only puts it out when she's outside guarding it while they take the bottles and cans away. :lol: :lol:
Homeless people were upset here, when they added deposit to plastic bottles. Because before it wasn't profitable to bring them back to supermarket, so people did drop them to garbage can where homeless could dig them. Now people carry those huge bags with empty bottles to supermarket to get own money back. The stupid thing is that u can't compress them to small, because the machine can't read them if they're smashed. So I guess some people still drop them to garbage can.
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by MissLT »

Hardi wrote:
LennyeTran wrote:
Hardi wrote:
Plastic bottles they will buy back there's deposit for each bottle. 1 Estonian kroon for bigger bottles and half for smaller.
My grandma collects empty bottles and cans from our three houses, so she can give them to homeless people. Last time, one of them took the bottles and cans and her precious trash can away. Now she doesn't put the trash can outside anymore. She only puts it out when she's outside guarding it while they take the bottles and cans away. :lol: :lol:
Homeless people were upset here, when they added deposit to plastic bottles. Because before it wasn't profitable to bring them back to supermarket, so people did drop them to garbage can where homeless could dig them. Now people carry those huge bags with empty bottles to supermarket to get own money back. The stupid thing is that u can't compress them to small, because the machine can't read them if they're smashed. So I guess some people still drop them to garbage can.
People still do this. You don't bring an empty soda can or water bottle back to the place just to get 5 cents out of it, do you? In my town, they put some recycle trash cans on the street, so people can throw recycle things in them. I quite like the idea since I've seen too many old people have a hard time digging around for empty cans/bottles in regular trash cans.
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by Hardi »

Yes 5 cents in U.S.A money are little 0.5 l bottles. Bigger ones are 10! :mrgreen:

We have recycle trash cans too in some places in street, but they are often full and there isn't enough of them.

There is a empty tare receiving point in store near to my place. And when it have lunch break. Then people who come with big bags, full of plastic bottles, they just trow those bags with bottles nearest trash can next to the store. So there's always some dirty looking kids with terrible mouth/language around, that just looking for those bottles. Or just ready to steal your bags with empty bottles, if you take eye off from them..
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by MissLT »

Hardi wrote:Yes 5 cents in U.S.A money are little 0.5 l bottles. Bigger ones are 10! :mrgreen:
Amazing how people can get rich by doing this. I saw one documentary about a Vietnamese family in the States who go around collecting empty bottles and cans and eventually build their own million-dollar business out of this. Trash for us is money for them. :!!:

We have recycle trash cans too in some places in street, but they are often full and there isn't enough of them.
Hardi wrote:There is a empty tare receiving point in store near to my place. And when it have lunch break. Then people who come with big bags, full of plastic bottles, they just trow those bags with bottles nearest trash can next to the store. So there's always some dirty looking kids with terrible mouth/language around, that just looking for those bottles. Or just ready to steal your bags with empty bottles, if you take eye off from them..
Here we have old people with good manners and little to no English. Last time, one old lady walked by me and pointed to the empty water bottle I was holding and said, "yes?" I said, "yes!" And that was all to understand. :mrgreen:
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by STUD »

plastic bag are always harmful for environment

one nice thing which recently I saw was the bouncers aren't harmful to the environment..

atleast a couple of them which are made of good material..

you may find an inflatable bouncer for rent near you by using the rental finder tool on http://www.bouncerland.com/ . Those guys have a pretty good database of rental services, and i found one for myself very quick.
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by hazel »

We think plastic bags should be changed to paper bags because they pollute the enviroment. We think :idea: that if the supermarkets got money for plastic bags, people wouldn´t throw them and they would save them for another time.
Also we think in Europe the supermarkets got money for plastics bags. In Spain the plastic bags are free and it should change. :oops:
In our opinion plastic bags should be made of biodegradables materials because they don´t pollute.
People must go shopping with a sopping trolley to don´t use plastic bags and they must put into the shopping trolley the products.
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by hazel »

· We think that important factories should change plastic bags for paper or hemp bags. {-;
· Plastic bags are contaminants because they are difficult to destroy. :mrgreen:
· The enviroment is contaminated by plastic bags because factories throw them into the rivers. :-x
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by hazel »

Hello! our opinions about plastic bags are: :mrgreen:
They should change plastic bags because the environment is polluted by the plastic of the plastic bags.
If we could change something to avoid the climate change I would change the plastic bags to paper bags.
Plastic bags are made of polluting products
A disadvantage of plastic bags is that they always pollute the nature
Plastic bags, that contaminate, can kill a lot of vegetation or animals
In the future I might eliminate the plastic bags ;-)

2 spanish students! :roll:
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by hazel »

In my opinion the plastic bags are bad because are made of plastic which are from the petrol.
The supermarked use a lot and people throw them into enviroment, this rubbish is very resistant and doesn't disappear.
We can use paper bags and after recycle them but the paper bags aren't resistant and break.
We could recycle the plastic bags and shouldn't throw them into the enviroment.

:mrgreen:
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by hazel »

plastics bags are due to plastic
:evil: we should make plastic bags because the other bags are less resistent
:prof: the greenhouse effect is good in a little part because the co2 retains a part of the heat caused by the sun
:geek: the green peace people say that it is very bad but in a little part is good because of this they are wrong
the plastic bags are more rresistent than the paper bags and we don´tcut down the trees and for the fabric bags we need to take products of animals and because of this the plastic bAgS ArE GOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!
the plastics bags are bad because if you put it onyour head you can´t breath
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by Tora »

I hope the buddy above is ok though he's practising making experiments with breathing with a head stuck in a plastic bag still...

A single voice for paper bags - doesn't matter they are less resisitent - recycling can solve the problem without cutting trees actually - it's easier to recycle paper than plastic, by the way, where do you live in? Because here I don't know any present for the recycling - just future plans, moreover - here the government is planning to build 6 litter-burning plants. Absolutely preposterous idea in a 12+ million citizen city...
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by Hardi »

I have heard that actually it could be possible to produce biodegradable plastics and etc with same price that used for petroleum-based plastics. But it's stick in technology everything is oriented to produce petroleum-based plastic and it would be too trouble some to switch.

Well I don't know if it's true. I only know there can buy biodegradable plastics bags for garbage or dog's poop, but they seems little more expensive.

There seems more information in wikipedia about it, but I didn't read it through, because I'm too tired.. :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodegradable_plastic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioplastic
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by rowenalee »

I hope that all markets will get rid of using plastic bags instead they have to use paper bags or they should provide rattan baskets to every customers. In this way we could protect our planet earth from potential damage and further global warming.
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by benhur »

The government should have a specific law to forbid plastic bags to be used.
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Tora
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by Tora »

rowenalee wrote:I hope that all markets will get rid of using plastic bags instead they have to use paper bags or they should provide rattan baskets to every customers. In this way we could protect our planet earth from potential damage and further global warming.
Paper is made of trees, there are no enough trees for every Earth-inhabitant's purchases :-(
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by netsem »

Plastic bags are very harmful on environment. It is also bad for mankind. There is not reuse of these products. That's why some governments are making ban for using of plastic bags.
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by deakce »

netsem wrote:Plastic bags are very harmful on environment. It is also bad for mankind. There is not reuse of these products. That's why some governments are making ban for using of plastic bags.
Benefits would be:

Cleaner air. Because plastic is burning toxins.

Less flood. Because bags are clogging up sewer systems
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by TutorVanessa »

Agreed. Plastic bags are really bad for the environment! It should have never been invented..

There are many alternatives to using plastic bags.

Here's something interesting for you: A plastic garbage patch floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

It's real!!

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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by deakce »

Thanks, That's really interesting for me...
Now it's for you: ziplock plastic bags
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by erikasha »

openenglish wrote:I use those plastic bags for lining the small trash cans in my house or for picking up after my dog. Still, I think it would be so much better if people used their own reusable bags to carry their groceries.

its really nice work you r doing. dud :-) 8-)
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by jennyj »

I agree with you {-:
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by catchfoundation »

Catch Foundation has introduced this initiative to minimise plastic use by introducing specially made multi-pocket Smart Bags that are distributed to more than 6000 families today for various purchases such as fruits, food , and clothing.

Support us by visiting: https://catchfoundation.in/say-no-to-si ... stic-bag/
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Re: Plastic bags and the environment

Post by ambpickler »

It's a problem we've been struggling with for a long time. Of course, it benefits the stores, because it's their profit. We start with ourselves, we buy waxing napkins, we sort the garbage, it's easy enough.
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