Bag It!
In 2019 the Government of Canada announced that single use plastics will be banned by the end of 2021. That’s only two months away! Starting January 1st, 2022 my grocery store won’t have plastic bags for me! Is this really going to be enforced, I wonder, or has the Canadian Government had to work so hard to keep us healthy during the pandemic that the overuse of plastic is no longer a priority?
In the 1950’s, Mum went shopping every two or three days because we had no refrigerator or freezer. She had a basket, a vinyl-coated cloth shopping bag and a green, string bag scrunched into one of them “just in case”. These bags were used over and over again, for years. They were familiar friends, faithful and ready to help on shopping days. Of course, they became old, scuffed and faded, but they worked hard and held firm. The only new bags were the paper “carrier bags” given out at the nice dress shop, but they were not made for carrying chicken, a cauliflower, a pound of flour, a jar of strawberry jam, a tin of baked beans and a packet of McVities chocolate coated digestive biscuits.
What’s wrong with using plastic bags anyway? Scientists contributing their findings to Ted Ed say that a factory releases 1.6 kg of carbon dioxide for every bag produced; that’s almost a whole cubic meter of gas at room temperature. Much human activity produces carbon dioxide which causes changes in the climate on our planet. This is where we live, and although we are adaptable, we find changes in our lives stressful; we like to “get back to normal”. Huge changes in climate and weather prove catastrophic and “normal” never returns.
Maybe paper bags would be a better choice for our groceries. The scientific research shows that a tree harvester, pulp mill and factory release 5.5 kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for every paper grocery bag produced; that’s three cubic meters of gas.
Cloth bags are even worse. Research reveals that 272 kg of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere for every cotton grocery bag produced, and that would be nearly 150 cubic meters for each bag.
Considering the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, a plastic bag is best for the environment; but that does not take into account the question of degradability. Of course, a paper bag is the winner in this category because it soon disintegrates when wet; cloth can also disintegrate entirely after a few months. Plastic, however, will stay for a hundred years and still be present in tiny pieces. Little pieces are better than a whole bag blown against the fence or onto the windscreen of my car when driving past the landfill site, but not so good for animals to ingest. So, considering biodegradability, a paper bag definitely has the best score.
Now, I wonder, what shall I put my groceries in? Is there a way out of this conundrum? The Canadian Government is going to take one choice away. That leaves two to choose from – or does it?
Any bag, plastic, paper, cotton or otherwise, comes to the end of its life and is thrown away. It is waste. It is discarded. It is taken to the landfill site, burned, blown by the wind across roadside ditches or it litters a stream, river or ocean.
Will.i.am says. “Waste is only waste if we waste it.”1 The first to be trashed is the soggy or torn paper bag, next is the plastic bag that leaks or splits, and last is the faithful, long-lasting fabric bag. The longer something stays out of the landfill site, the better that is for our environment. There are a lot of us and we are very good at throwing things away.
I could make a grocery bag out of that garish T-shirt from Bermuda that I never want to wear! Just cut out the sleeves, sew up the hem and use the shoulders as handles; or I could make a really strong bag from an old pair of jeans. Or, I could crochet a string bag from oddments of yarn or string. Oh, but I only have eight weeks left! I don’t have time for any of this! I think I’ll put two or three cardboard boxes in the trunk of the car for my next shopping trip!
1 Will.i.am Quotes
by Andrea Kidd
