The bad news, national and international - why we go on campaigning
This page contains stories and links illustrating the scale of the problem and the sometimes lamentably slow progress towards solving it. As more and more people become aware of the problems, and more and more shoppers do use their own long-life bags, why are so many governments and stores, small and large, so loath to take action?
Supermarkets lose heart in green war on plastic carrier bags, Independent on Sunday, 22/8/10
Campaigners call for legislation as retailers fail to meet targets to cut one of the most visible signs of waste. Britain's biggest supermarket chains will come under fire this week for handing out tens of millions more carrier bags than last year, derailing attempts to reduce the environmental impact from billions of disposable bags. New figures will show that the industry missed its target of halving the number of plastic bags used in 2006 for the second consecutive year.
Our comment: "No store is confident enough of its market share or green enough to take action on its own, so the only way to get them to stop giving away so many plastic bags is to legislate either to ban them or to impose a sufficiently deterrent levy, say 50p".
Now Atlantic is found to have huge "garbage patch"
A huge expanse of floating plastic debris has been documented for the first time
in the North Atlantic Ocean. The size of the affected area rivals the "great Pacific garbage patch" in the world's other great ocean basin, which generated an outcry over the effects of plastic waste on marine wildlife. Read 20/8/10 Independent story by Steve Connor, Science Editor at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/now-atlantic-is-found-to-have-huge-garbage-patch-2057402.html?action=Popup&gallery=no.
Examination of gray whale from west Seattle reveals unusual stomach contents, including more than 20 plastic bags, small towels, surgical gloves, sweat pants, plastic pieces, duct tape, and a golf ball, April 2010. List and photo of foreign material found in the whale's compiled by Cascadia Research, Olympia, WA at http://www.cascadiaresearch.org/CRC%20-%201035%20stomach%20content.pdf.
Some plastics marked as ‘degradable’ might not be as environmentally-friendly as consumers think, according to new Defra-funded research (March 2010)... Defra’s Environment Minister, Dan Norris said: “The research published today clearly shows us that consumers risk being confused by some claims made about oxo-degradable plastics. As these plastics cannot be composted, the term ‘biodegradable’ can cause confusion. Incorrect disposal of oxo-degradable plastics has the potential to negatively affect both recycling and composting facilities. See also the Loughborough University Research Summary on "The Environmental Impact of Oxo-degradable Plastics" at
http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=EV0422_8859_OTH.pdf
Greener Kingston comment: "Watch out, greenwash about! And it can damage your recycling."
Plastic rubbish blights Atlantic Ocean
Scientists have discovered an area of the North Atlantic Ocean where plastic debris accumulates. By Victoria Gill, Science reporter, BBC News, Portland
Greener Kingston comment: "Most people have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (see below) - but plastic waste is accumulating closer to home too, and probably getting into our food chain."
Recycling Plastic: What a Waste, Our Toxic Burden from Plastics
by Lisa Kaas Boyle, Co-Founder Plastic Pollution Coalition, Huffington Post, September 16, 2009
Tesco misleads on plastic bag progress, The Times, August 4, 2009
Britain’s biggest supermarket chain has published misleading figures giving the impression that it had met an industry target to halve the use of plastic bags.
United Nations Environment Programme Head Calls for World-Wide Ban on Pointless Thin Film Plastic Bags, June 2009
‘Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "Marine litter is symptomatic of a wider malaise: namely the wasteful use and persistent poor management of natural resources. The plastic bags, bottles and other debris piling up in the oceans and seas could be dramatically reduced by improved waste reduction, waste management and recycling initiatives. "Some of the litter, like thin film single use plastic bags which choke marine life, should be banned or phased-out rapidly everywhere-there is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere.
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=589&ArticleID=6214&l=en
July 2009 - 346 million down, only 372 million to go! May 2009
Leading supermarkets have narrowly missed a Government target to reduce carrier bag use by 50%. Last year, seven supermarket chains signed up to a voluntary scheme aimed at reducing the number of bags given out by 50%. In May 2006, 718 million bags were being given out, and figures released on July 17 show that by May 2009 the number had almost halved to 372 million, a reduction of 48%, but missing the target by 2%.
Towards a Plastic-Bag-Free Kingston comment: "This is both good news and bad news. It's good that there are fewer plastic bags going into the system, but it still leaves an enormous 372 million - and that's just from these 7 supermarket chains! And it may mean that the promised Government ban or levy on plastic bags will be quietly dropped?
Rainforest Action Network asks fashion stores to source the paper they use in their carrier bags carefully. See http://cms.ran.org/media_center/news_article/?uid=4824 - and take your good cloth bag when you go clothes shopping too.
"Drowning in plastic: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of France", (Daily Telegraph, 24/4/09)
"There are now 46,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometre of the world's oceans, killing a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals each year..." See: Sea of Plastic, the QUEST Community Science Blog explores local science, nature, and environment issues & experiences in Northern California. August 2008, http://www.kqed.org/quest/blog/2008/08/22/reporters-notes-sea-of-plastic/
Towards a Plastic-Bag-Free Kingston comment: "Estimates about the size of the plastic garbage patch vary, and this is about more than just plastic bags - but plastic bags are part of this horrific oceanic pollution and we can all do our bit not to add to it."
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch.
The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii
A "plastic soup" of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing ... (Independent, Tuesday, 5 February 2008)
www.independent.co.uk/.../the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html
