Teach in Part 2 (Read filler)
Plastic is a miracle material. Plastic helped revolutionize our day to day living. Plastics packaging saves fuel and decreases emissions during transportation. Plastic water supply systems and plastic storage tanks provide clean water free of heavy metals. Plastic products for medical applications contribute to improved health and wellness. And plastic is cheap, and because it is, it’s everywhere, resulting in one of our planet’s greatest environmental challenges.
Our oceans have been used as a dumping ground, killing marine life. In cities around the world, plastic waste clogs drains, causing floods and breeding disease. Consumed by livestock, it also finds its way into the food chain. Single-use plastic bags account for billions of pounds of all plastic waste globally, and much of it is thrown away within just a few minutes of its first use. When discarded in landfills or in the environment, plastic bags can take over 500 years to decompose.
Now the good news. A growing number of governments are acting and demonstrating that all cities, whether rich or poor, can become environmental leaders. Cities and states are learning from the experience of others that have introduced bans and regulations on single-use plastic bags. This assessment analyses what has worked well, what hasn’t, and why. The assessment also shows that action can be painless and profitable with huge gains for people and the planet that helps avoid the costly pollution clean-up. In addition, action will drive the kind of innovation that will help construct the future global economy we need. This means the responsibility is on us to be smarter in how we use and recycle this miracle material.
So where do we start? We need data. When you have data, on what your efforts are accomplishing, you can set targets and goals, and if you don't meet them, you can change the way you're going about it.
We measure and record sustainability to track and assess progress; encourage and expand participation, meet or anticipate new requirements, evaluate sustainable trade-offs, find and address damaging methods, and communicate benefits and goals.
Ok. So. How do we measure sustainability? Better yet, how do we measure single-use plastic bag sustainability. When people talk about measuring single-use plastic bag impacts, the conversation almost always focuses on disposal. But, the impact of single-use plastic bags begins long before disposal. The best way to measure the single-use plastic bag’s environmental impact is through a Life Cycle Assessment or LCA. LCA gives us a full picture of the bags' impact through every stage of its existence, from birth to death.
Birth: A bag is born when we manufacture it. Impacts in the making of a bag include energy for the processing, as well as the raw materials to make them, like the 12 million barrels of oil that are extracted through the use of drilling wells. But wait - that’s not all. We need to consider the energy and materials used to transport it to where you, the consumer, will use it. Now, when you reuse a bag, you don’t cause all those impacts, so by using them again and again and you’ll keep reducing your impact.
Life: The life of a bag is a useful part of its service. For single-use plastic bags, the average useful life is just twelve minutes. Canvas bags are designed to be used once a week for a year, replacing one bag a week, or 50 bags a year. Polypropylene bags are designed for 2-3 years of weekly usage, replacing up to 1,000 plastic bags. Again, the more we re-use any one bag, the lower the impact of the bag on our environment.
Death: Here is where we focus on disposal. Disposal issues include litter, deterioration of our waterways, blemishing our landscapes, and high costs for disposal and clean-up which amounts to $11 billion per year. Even though not all of that is from single-use plastic bags, it costs $0.30 to clean up each piece of litter out of our cities, streets, and roadsides. And as a reminder, it takes 500 or more years for a plastic bag to degrade.
So now, let’s talk about different ways to decrease the impact of single-use plastic bags on the environment. The three I would like to discuss are Voluntary Reduction, Public Education, and Policy Instruments.
Voluntary reduction strategies are designed to persuade and to educate, not dictate. These strategies recognize and build on the complexity of bag usage, consumer needs, and the necessity for bags for impulse purchases and to manage household waste. Reduction strategies focus not just on reduction, but the reuse and recycling to encourage responsible use and minimize litter impacts. Reduction strategies also include a wide range of product stewardship activities focused on the 3 Rs to shape and encourage change in consumer behavior.
Public Education. This is vital and must be a part of the plastic pollution solution. The problem of plastic pollution has become a learning platform, one that can empower others to be change agents in their communities. This action should include the education of stores and consumers that use plastic bags and their effects on the environment.
Lastly, policy instruments. Policy instruments vary from bans to taxes for both and or regulatory and economic. As of January 2020, eight states ban the bag, but nearly twice as many have laws protecting them such as Indiana. Early this month, the Washington Governor signed into law legislation that bans the use of single-use bags in the state, which goes into effect on January 1, 2021. This includes an 8-cent fee for paper and reusable bags handed out in stores. That fee will increase to 12 cents in 2026.
While it is hard to measure the impact of pre-existing plastic bag bans, but some initial findings look promising. And a study by San Jose, California found that a 2011 ban instituted there has led to plastic litter reduction of approximately 89 percent in the storm drain system, 60 percent in the creeks and rivers, and 59 percent in City streets and neighborhoods.
Plastic products are everywhere. We use them every day in our homes, schools, offices, and during our travels in-between places. Our modern world has become so dependent on the convenience of mass-produced, readily available plastic products, like disposable bags, bottles, and cups, that it’s surprising to consider that the world was once plastic-free.
So, as a quick recap, I’d like to go over the actions once more along with the positive impacts.
Our oceans have been used as a dumping ground, killing marine life. In cities around the world, plastic waste clogs drains, causing floods and breeding disease. Consumed by livestock, it also finds its way into the food chain. Single-use plastic bags account for billions of pounds of all plastic waste globally, and much of it is thrown away within just a few minutes of its first use. When discarded in landfills or in the environment, plastic bags can take over 500 years to decompose.
Now the good news. A growing number of governments are acting and demonstrating that all cities, whether rich or poor, can become environmental leaders. Cities and states are learning from the experience of others that have introduced bans and regulations on single-use plastic bags. This assessment analyses what has worked well, what hasn’t, and why. The assessment also shows that action can be painless and profitable with huge gains for people and the planet that helps avoid the costly pollution clean-up. In addition, action will drive the kind of innovation that will help construct the future global economy we need. This means the responsibility is on us to be smarter in how we use and recycle this miracle material.
So where do we start? We need data. When you have data, on what your efforts are accomplishing, you can set targets and goals, and if you don't meet them, you can change the way you're going about it.
We measure and record sustainability to track and assess progress; encourage and expand participation, meet or anticipate new requirements, evaluate sustainable trade-offs, find and address damaging methods, and communicate benefits and goals.
Ok. So. How do we measure sustainability? Better yet, how do we measure single-use plastic bag sustainability. When people talk about measuring single-use plastic bag impacts, the conversation almost always focuses on disposal. But, the impact of single-use plastic bags begins long before disposal. The best way to measure the single-use plastic bag’s environmental impact is through a Life Cycle Assessment or LCA. LCA gives us a full picture of the bags' impact through every stage of its existence, from birth to death.
Birth: A bag is born when we manufacture it. Impacts in the making of a bag include energy for the processing, as well as the raw materials to make them, like the 12 million barrels of oil that are extracted through the use of drilling wells. But wait - that’s not all. We need to consider the energy and materials used to transport it to where you, the consumer, will use it. Now, when you reuse a bag, you don’t cause all those impacts, so by using them again and again and you’ll keep reducing your impact.
Life: The life of a bag is a useful part of its service. For single-use plastic bags, the average useful life is just twelve minutes. Canvas bags are designed to be used once a week for a year, replacing one bag a week, or 50 bags a year. Polypropylene bags are designed for 2-3 years of weekly usage, replacing up to 1,000 plastic bags. Again, the more we re-use any one bag, the lower the impact of the bag on our environment.
Death: Here is where we focus on disposal. Disposal issues include litter, deterioration of our waterways, blemishing our landscapes, and high costs for disposal and clean-up which amounts to $11 billion per year. Even though not all of that is from single-use plastic bags, it costs $0.30 to clean up each piece of litter out of our cities, streets, and roadsides. And as a reminder, it takes 500 or more years for a plastic bag to degrade.
So now, let’s talk about different ways to decrease the impact of single-use plastic bags on the environment. The three I would like to discuss are Voluntary Reduction, Public Education, and Policy Instruments.
Voluntary reduction strategies are designed to persuade and to educate, not dictate. These strategies recognize and build on the complexity of bag usage, consumer needs, and the necessity for bags for impulse purchases and to manage household waste. Reduction strategies focus not just on reduction, but the reuse and recycling to encourage responsible use and minimize litter impacts. Reduction strategies also include a wide range of product stewardship activities focused on the 3 Rs to shape and encourage change in consumer behavior.
Public Education. This is vital and must be a part of the plastic pollution solution. The problem of plastic pollution has become a learning platform, one that can empower others to be change agents in their communities. This action should include the education of stores and consumers that use plastic bags and their effects on the environment.
Lastly, policy instruments. Policy instruments vary from bans to taxes for both and or regulatory and economic. As of January 2020, eight states ban the bag, but nearly twice as many have laws protecting them such as Indiana. Early this month, the Washington Governor signed into law legislation that bans the use of single-use bags in the state, which goes into effect on January 1, 2021. This includes an 8-cent fee for paper and reusable bags handed out in stores. That fee will increase to 12 cents in 2026.
While it is hard to measure the impact of pre-existing plastic bag bans, but some initial findings look promising. And a study by San Jose, California found that a 2011 ban instituted there has led to plastic litter reduction of approximately 89 percent in the storm drain system, 60 percent in the creeks and rivers, and 59 percent in City streets and neighborhoods.
Plastic products are everywhere. We use them every day in our homes, schools, offices, and during our travels in-between places. Our modern world has become so dependent on the convenience of mass-produced, readily available plastic products, like disposable bags, bottles, and cups, that it’s surprising to consider that the world was once plastic-free.
So, as a quick recap, I’d like to go over the actions once more along with the positive impacts.
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