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A plastic bag ban or charge is a law that restricts the use of lightweight plastic bags at retail establishments. In the early 21st century, there has been a global trend towards the phase-out of lightweight plastic bags.[1][2] Single-use plastic shopping bags, commonly made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastic[citation needed],[3] have traditionally been given for free to customers by stores when purchasing goods: the bags have long been considered a convenient, cheap, and hygienic way of transporting items. Problems associated with plastic bags include use of non-renewable resources (such as crude oil, gas and coal),[4] difficulties during disposal, and environmental impacts. Concurrently with the reduction in lightweight plastic bags, shops have introduced reusable shopping bags.
Various governments have banned the sale of lightweight bags, charge customers for lightweight bags, or generate taxes from the stores that sell them.[2][5] The Bangladesh government was the first to do so in 2002, imposing a total ban on lightweight plastic bags.[6] Between 2010 and 2019, the number of public policies intended to phase out plastic carryout bags tripled.[7] As of 2022, such bans have been introduced in 99 countries, with varying degrees of enforcement, and 32 countries instead impose a charge per bag. Bans and charges have also been enacted by some jurisdictions at the sub-national level.[citation needed]
Issues
Plastic bags cause many minor and major ecological and environmental issues. The most general issue with plastic bags is the amount of waste produced. Many plastic bags end up on streets and subsequently pollute major water sources, rivers, and streams.
Even when disposed of properly, they take many years to decompose and break down, generating large amounts of garbage over long periods of time. Improperly discarded bags have polluted waterways, clogged sewers and been found in oceans, affecting the ecosystem of marine creatures.[3] Huge volumes of plastic waste end up in the oceans every year, causing threats to marine species and disruption to the marine food chain. Several microbial species colonize on plastic particles enhancing their harmfulness, and plastic particles driven by winds form garbage patches in various parts of the oceans.[8] The UN estimates that there will be more plastics than fish in the oceans by 2050 unless countries comes up with urgent measures to promote efficient production, use and waste management of plastics throughout their life cycles.[9]
Plastic bags have been found to contribute to global warming. After disposed of, if exposed to consistent sunlight the surface of such plastic produces significant amounts of two greenhouse gases – methane and ethylene. Furthermore, due to its low density/high branching properties, it breaks down more easily over time compared to other plastics leading to higher exposed surface areas and accelerated release of gases. Production of these trace gases from virgin plastics exponentially increases with surface area/time, thus LDPE emits greenhouse gases at a more unsustainable rate compared to other plastics. At the end of a 212-day incubation, emissions have been recorded at 5.8 nanomoles per gram per day (nmol⋅g−1⋅d−1) of methane, 14.5 nmol⋅g−1⋅d−1 of ethylene, 3.9 nmol⋅g−1⋅d−1 of ethane and 9.7 nmol⋅g−1⋅d−1 of propylene.[10]
Two primary kinds of direct damage to wildlife are entanglement and ingestion.[11] Animals can become entangled and drown.[12] Plastic bags are often ingested by animals that cannot distinguish them from food. As a result, they clog their intestines which results in death by starvation.[12] Plastic bags can block drains, trap birds and kill livestock. The World Wide Fund for Nature has estimated that over 100,000 whales, seals, and turtles die every year[13] as a result of eating or being trapped by plastic bags. In India, an estimated number of 20 cows die per day as a result of ingesting plastic bags and having their digestive systems clogged by the bags. It is also very common across Africa to have sewers and drain systems clogged by bags which cause severe cases of malaria due to the increased population of mosquitoes that live on the flooded sewers.[14] The term "white pollution" has been coined in China to describe the local and global effects of discarded plastic bags upon the environment.[15]
Lightweight plastic bags are also blown into trees and other plants and can be mistaken for food. Plastic bags break down by polymer degradation but not by biodegradation. As a result, any toxic additives they contain—including flame retardants, antimicrobials, and plasticizers—will be released into the environment. Many of those toxins directly affect the endocrine systems of organisms, which control almost every cell in the body.[16] Research shows the average operating "lifespan" of a plastic bag to be approximately 20 years.[17]
Plastic bags dumped in the Pacific Ocean can end up in the Great Pacific garbage patch. 80% of the plastic waste comes from land; the rest comes from oil platforms and ships.[18] This can be eaten by marine animals, and block their breathing passages and digestive systems. Plastic bags not only add to the Great Pacific garbage patch, they can be washed ashore around the world.[19]
Methods
The two most popular methods of phasing out lightweight plastic bags are charges and bans.[7] The charge strategy is said[who?] to have all of the same results in plastic bag reduction as a plastic bag ban, with the additional benefit of creating a new revenue source.[20] The plastic bag charge method also protects consumer choice, which the ban does not.[20]
Recycling of plastic bags can be another method of phase-out. However, only 5% of plastic bags make it to recycling facilities.[20] Even when bags are brought to recycling facilities, they often fly out of these bins or recycling trucks and end up as litter on the streets.[21] Another issue with recycling is that different bags are made from different yet aesthetically similar types of plastics.[20] Bags can be either made of bioplastics or biodegradable plastics, and if accidentally combined in a compost, the bioplastics could contaminate the biodegradable composting.[20] These bags can also jam recycling equipment when mixed with other types of plastic, which can be costly to repair.[21] For example, costs of repairs rounded out to be about $1 million per year in San Jose, California.[21]
Impact
According to a 2018 study in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, a five-cent tax on disposable bags reduced disposable bag usage by 40 percentage points.[22] According to a 2019 review of existing studies, levies and taxes led to a 66% reduction in usage in Denmark, more than 90% in Ireland, between 74 and 90% in South Africa, Belgium, Hong Kong, Washington D.C., Santa Barbara, the UK and Portugal, and around 50% in Botswana and China.[7]
A 2019 study in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management found that the implementation of a ban on plastic carryout bags in California led to a reduction of 40 million pounds of plastic through the elimination of plastic carryout bags but that Californians purchased 12 million pounds of plastic through trash bag purchases.[23] The study showed that before the introduction of the ban between 12% and 22% of plastic carryout bags were re-used as trash bags.[23]
Criticism
Plastic bag bans can lead to larger black markets in plastic bags.[7] Studies show that plastic bag bans can shift people away from using thin plastic bags, but it can also increase the use of unregulated single use paper bags or unregulated thicker plastic bags in areas where these are provided for free.[24] Further, the bans can drive significant increases in sales of trash bags because people could no longer reuse their old grocery bags for things like lining small trash cans.[25][26][27][28]: 270 .[7][29]: 1 [28]: 254 [28]: 270 [excessive citations]
The production of some non-plastic bags (e.g. paper, cotton, using virgin plastic such as plastic having thickness of 50 micron) can produce more greenhouse gas emissions than plastic bags, which means that greenhouse gas emissions may increase on net following plastic bag bans. Alternatives to plastic bags would need to be reused over a hundred times to make them more environmentally friendly than plastic bags.[26][30] They are also viewed as less sanitary than plastic because they can bring germs from outside the store to high contact volume surfaces like carts and check out stands.[30]
Legislation around the world
 | This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: Details about Australia are not completely accurate. (February 2024) |
Summary
