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Plastic bag sales in England halved in past year
- tomp 7y agoThe bigger cause for the more recent (accelerated) drop is IMO not the 5p fee, but the fact that many shops simply stopped offering the thin "single-use" plastic bags altogether! Still my praise goes to Whole Foods, the only shop (that I know) that offers paper bags.
- reallydontask 7y agoI agree, but even then we're talking about a 50% drop in usage from last year, which is impressive and surprising that so many bags are being used despite the charge.
- nicktelford 7y agoMy local Morrisons have started offering paper bags that are strong enough to be reusable. Best of both worlds!
- bencollier49 7y agoEvery time I used those I get paper cuts. Good on them for moving to them; I'm sure they'll improve the tech rapidly.
- physicsguy 7y agoBoots have started doing paper bags now - I got one last week when I went there.
- hannob 7y ago> Still my praise goes to Whole Foods, the only shop (that I know) that offers paper bags. It is far from clear that paper bags are any better in their overall impact.
- bencollier49 7y agoIn their impact on plastic waste?
- onion2k 7y agoOne thing that is very obvious is that they biodegrade. Even if they're equally bad for the environment in the short term they're not a problem that will take 1000 years to go away.
- kochthesecond 7y agoPaper bags are roughly 250 times worse than a plastic bag. Even worse if you color it.
- onion2k 7y agoI'd ask you to cite something that demonstrates evidence for that claim but you'll just post a link to a website funded by the plastics industry. For example - "Paper bags have a much higher global warming potential (GWP)." (http://www.allaboutbags.ca/papervplastic.html http://www.allaboutbags.ca/papervplastic.html) but when you scroll to the bottom of the page you see "Content compiled by the Canadian Plastics Industry Association.". Paper bags are not 250 times worse.
- kochthesecond 7y agoI was wrong, it was 43 times. https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-73-4.pdf#page92 https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-... page 93
- Grue3 7y ago
- kochthesecond 7y agoPaper bags are incredibly inefficient, and requires large swaths of forest. Plastic bags are incredibly resource efficient, but you must keep it from ever getting into nature.
- davesmith1983 7y agoAlmost all the plastic bags sold from major supermarket chains in the UK were bio-degradable. After a few years they literally turned into dust. I actually had one of these single use bags long enough in a closet for it to degrade to the point where it was basically dried paper mulch.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- pflanze 7y agoYou need to check very carefully before you can conclude they were bio-degradable. I have only seen degradable plastic carry bags in the UK which were not in fact bio-degradable. Traditional plastic bags manufactured to be falling into pieces don't mean that their pieces are good for the environment (rather the inverse). Real bio-degradable bags do exist but they are weaker and feel rubbery, and they are probably more expensive to make and people likely don't appreciate them, so you generally don't see them (the bags distributed by some London councils for collecting compost are of the real kind). See this older comment of mine: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10763281 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10763281
- abainbridge 7y agoI agree but large swaths of forest are a good thing. In most cases trees are a crop. If we want more of them, then the farmer needs to be able to sell them to someone. By increasing the usage of tree products, we increase the number of trees in existence at any point in time (because the farmer converts some land from a different crop to trees to meet market demand). Also, efficiency isn't everything. If you make something more efficient, then often the saving is passed on to the customer. The customer then spends the money they saved on something else that will have some environmental impact. Or worse, the classic example is plane flight. The industry got a lot more efficient. As a result people can afford to fly a lot more. The environmental impact went up hugely. (Thinking about this now, the efficiency of plastic bags is what made people use so many of them).
- benj111 7y agoAre paper bags not more widespread in the US??? In the 90s at least, on TV and film, if anyone brought home groceries, it was in paper handle-less bags.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- yardstick 7y agoOverall, has there been a noticeable change at the landfill level? Also have there been reductions in plastic bags making their way to waterways, streams, seas, etc? I ask this because the inevitable comments arise regarding people now having to buy rubbish/bin bags instead of reusing shopping bags. So, what is the net effect of this change on the environment?
- reallydontask 7y agonot sure but we no longer have a bag of bags filled to the brim, like we used to :)
- yardstick 7y agoUs too. I sincerely hope that it does actually translate to less plastic bags hitting the environment!
- toper-centage 7y agoAlso the old shopping bags were extremely thin. The new ones in countries that implemented the tax are much thicker. So what exactly is the net plastic here? What about including plastic tote bags? I know they are reusable, but how many times do you need to use a very struby plastic bag until you reach net plastic?
- Kliment 7y agoThe thinner ones like to fly away, get carried long distances by wind or water, and will shred and tangle around things spontaneously. They are much more of a danger to wildlife than the thick ones for this reason alone. Shifting the bag away from "disposable" and "single-use" category makes a difference on its own in terms of how much of it ends up in the environment.
- sbanach 7y agoLDPE (thicker, 'bag for life' etc) is about 4 times as bad, paper bags 3 times, vs HDPE (thin) bags assuming no reuse. The below UK gov study investigates impact of each (and other alternatives like cloth bags) and also considers reuse as bin liners, which significantly changes the numbers. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/291023/scho0711buan-e-e.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
- Waterluvian 7y agoThe large cloth bags you buy from the grocery store in Ontario are just the best things ever. They're a dollar each but they last years and years, hold far greater volume and weight, and are useful for all kinds of other tasks. I bought ten to help me transport bric a brac when I moved. It's one of those things where environmentalism doesn't even have to factor in once you realise how awful the previous technology was.
- noobermin 7y agoIt's one of those things that takes political will to achieve however in the first place because they can appear unpopular before they even are tried, and there in lies the rub. We just don't have time to ease into it this time, especially for climate change.
- ThomPete 7y agoAs far as I remember Cloths actually use way more CO2 in production than plastic. https://qz.com/1585027/when-it-comes-to-climate-change-cotton-totes-might-be-worse-than-plastic/ https://qz.com/1585027/when-it-comes-to-climate-change-cotto...
- _ph_ 7y agoWhile reducing our carbon footprint is certainly the most urgent problem we are facing, the footprint of creating a cloth bag isn't very large. This is a case where one has to ballance very different impacts onto the environment of two options. If we had a way to ensure that no plastic bag reaches the ocean and all of them get properly disposed of, this would be different. It also is a good idea, if those cloth bags get created somewhere close instead of being shipped around the globe.
- ThomPete 7y agoCreating somewhere close doesn't mean that all the ingredients will be created locally too. And then you suddently have a situation where ingredients needs to be shipped around the world. It might as well be that creating everything one place and shipping it globally is actually better. Also weight of cloth bags are higher and it's not certain that they will be used as many times as you might think before you buy a new one, loose it, forget it etc. In other words, it's not a good as you might think and it's certainly much more complex than just buying a tote bag vs. plastic. Much of this looks more like a fools errand to me. We are much better of using what we want to use. Cleaning our oceans from plastic is certainly a priority but the number one way to prevent that from happening is to make countries richer so they start caring and are able to deal with their plastic waste.
- on_and_off 7y agoGood ! Now we need to figure out how to stop packaging everything in dozens of layers of plastic ! I was amazed when I ordered deodorant from a company that tries to avoid plastic waste and I received it in an envelope made of several layers of paper (whereas most companies would have just used bubble wrap)
- masklinn 7y agoJapan is egregiously bad at this e.g. you buy a box of sweets / tea cakes / whatever, the box is shrink-wrapped, then the box contents is shrink wrapped (within the box), then the pieces are individually wrapped. There's a bit of a cultural logic (if you're sharing cakes you may want to know your colleagues / friends didn't put their paws on your piece) but it's maddening: https://madaboutmacarons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Doriyaki-shop-800x430.jpg https://madaboutmacarons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Dori.... They'll even individually shrink-wrap containers (bottom right of picture, they're shakers of gold leaf) (https://madaboutmacarons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/fukusa-mochi-gold-leaf.jpg https://madaboutmacarons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/fuku...)
- amrrs 7y agoI guess this is very important and also often overlooked whenever public policy makers talk about Plastic Ban. Where I live (India), It's only the Plastic Carry Bags are always targeted but what's forgotten is that almost everything that we buy - from Biscuit Packages to Shampoo Bottles - everything is just Plastic at different levels.
- praptak 7y agoI believe that the ban on bags isn't about plastic but rather bags themselves. They are easily carried away by wind, get stuck on trees, suffocate animals, etc.
- mprev 7y agoI’d love to know the name of that company. I’m buying 5 litre refills where possible but even when buying supposedly eco friendly products they’ve come wrapped in layer upon layer of plastic.
- vmurthy 7y agoIt is heartening to see the results. I have this one year old article [0] and an info-graphic which shows what other countries are doing [1]. As usual, the trouble seems to be in implementation. Speaking from experience here in Bangalore, plastic bags have decreased in availability but not disappeared :-( One highlight: Ireland introduced a tax on plastic bags in 2001(!) and usage dropped 90%. [0] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bengaluru-still-not-a-plastic-free-city/articleshow/64410546.cms https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-natio... [1] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/img/64410700/Master.jpg https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/img/64410700/Master.jpg
- benj111 7y agoYour link 1 makes reference to Ireland introducing a tax of 37 cents. As far as I'm aware it was 15 Euro cents, and it doesn't seem to match up with either USD or Indian Rupee amounts, so what currency would you expect that to be, or is it just wrong?
- knolan 7y agoThe Irish bag tax has been increased from €0.15 to €0.44 over the years.
- knolan 7y agoWhile Ireland has certainly lead the way in the plastic bag tax we’re still doing poorly when it comes to waste management. There’s still a culture that accepts fly tipping in picturesque areas of the countryside, litter is still a problem and public bins always seem to be full to bursting point and never emptied.
- kevingrahl 7y agoI‘m as much against (single use) plastics as the next guy but what’s the alternative here? Studies have shown multiple times [1], [2] that cotton bags require far more energy and water to produce than almost everything else and need to be reused circa 7.100 times for non organic and twenty-thousand times for organic cotton until they surpass plastic bags. I have some cotton bags and they are all produced as cheap as possible and I’m doubting wether they even can be used thousands of times before they disintegrate or some seams come apart. In fact LDPE bags have the lowest environmental impact of them all. Unbleached paper and bipolymer bags come close after that. The recommendation for end of life is always to reuse them as waste/trash bags by the way, recycling plastic bags has a larger environmental impact. So best to use LDPE bags a few times and then reuse as waste bag seems to be the best option. [1] - https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-73-4.pdf https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-... [2] - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/life-cycle-assessment-of-supermarket-carrierbags-a-review-of-the-bags-available-in-2006 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/life-cycle-assess...
- mehrdadn 7y ago> what’s the alternative here? Reusable plastic? Or even reusing the same 'single-use' plastic? Or just carry stuff with your hand when you're capable of doing so, even if it's mildly inconvenient. I already do that and I'm glad I don't get a plastic bag for no reason when it's just a handful of things I can carry.
- Fornax96 7y agoDon't forget about backpacks. No need to carry anything at all if you can just wear a backpack.
- mehrdadn 7y agoI feel like walking in and then out of a store with nothing in your hands and a backpack that becomes full with merchandise can look a tad bit shady to be honest. Obviously you'll have a receipt and they can ask you if they care, but I feel like I'd rather not raise eyebrows in the first place unless I have to...
- iamsb 7y agoOne of the product idea I had, but no skills or real desire to implement it was - a key chain which holds 1-3 cloth bags. Biggest behavioral change people have to do when moving to reusable bags is - remembering to carry. Most people carry their keys. You can use build a key chain which stores 1-3 bags for such times.
- anticensor 7y agoTurkey recently went the same way (plastic bags are charged ₺0,25 — ~5¢; ₺0,15 — ~3¢ is tax). Plastic bag use dropped by 75%.
- pfisch 7y agoToo bad like 90% of plastic in the ocean from land based sources comes from the Yangtze, Indus, Yellow River, Hai River, Nile, Ganges, Pearl River, Amur, Niger, and the Mekong. So this basically does nothing at all to address the issues we are after.
- yardstick 7y agoIt shows people can adapt. Hopefully other countries will see it can be done and adopt similar policies.
- simion314 7y agoI see a lot this weird reaction, some action is taken so the number of single use plastic is reduced in your country and area so your local rivers and beaches are 90% more clean but people like you can't see this good local thing because somewhere else this measures were not appalled yet. I assume you are the type that won't clean his house / room if is full of shit unless someone else also cleans it first.
- pfisch 7y agoI'm just not even sure if this is good at the end of the day. If it takes less energy to create and use plastic and then properly store it in a landfill then that is what we should do. I feel like we get confused about the source of plastic in the oceans and think that we can help clean it up by switching away from plastic, when the actual problem is improper disposal of plastic by the 3rd world. So is it good that we are reducing single use plastic in our country where we dispose of plastic properly? Because instead we just use a different material that has a greater contribution to global warming than the plastic did.
- simion314 7y agoNot sure in what country you are what I read on the internet most Western countries have issues with plastic bags floating int he air , bottles in rivers,side of the roads and forests where tourists hang out. I agree that collecting all plastic garbage and putting it in a big land fill is a good solution but encouraging people not to abuse the cheap or free plastic bugs systems in malls and shops is also a good solution. About poor countries I think you need to understand that there is no running water, public garbage collection and other western facilities there, accusing and not offering some real solution is just disingenuous,
- alex_young 7y agoWho's working on a bunch of low climate impact stores? I'd love to buy things indexed for climate impact and waste, but I don't think I've ever seen any options like that. Side effects like 'no bubble pack' and most things being made down the road would be amazing advantages I would think.
- kevingrahl 7y agoAs I‘ve just mentioned in another comment, we have a special store that sells groceries without packaging, bring your own container and fill it. Also some supermarkets in Germany work on removing packaging from fruits and vegetables where it’s not needed, which is nice to see. Coconuts, water melons, ginger and such get brandings with a laser. German supermarket giant EDEKA seems to be the leader so far, they have pilot projects where customers can bring reusable containers for products. [1] [1] - https://technology.risiinfo.com/packaging-technology-137 https://technology.risiinfo.com/packaging-technology-137
- alexstageint 7y agoThe Coop supermarket is replacing single use plastic bags with compostable ones. This seems the best plan to me. source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45612315 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45612315
- rthrowayay 7y agoThis headline is misleading because it refers to single use plastic bags. In London none of the shops I go to even sell these bags. However, they do sell multiuse bags which I mostly use similar to how I would use a single use bag.
- _Microft 7y agoRelated: The butcher's shop down the street here allows to bring own boxes to avoid wrappings and the bakery puts bread and rolls into cloth bags if you provide them. (Too bad that I have no image of our fancy Baguette bag) There are even normal supermarkets (not discounters) in Germany now that offer to sell fresh meat and cheese products into customer provided boxes to avoid wrapping and garbage. It works by bringing your own clean and sealable containers and put them on a tray; the person at the counter only handles the tray and puts things directly into the boxes, and adds a label with the contents and price for the cashier. Works well, imo.
- curiousgal 7y agoWon't even remotely work in the U.S. where it just adds more liability to the stores. All it takes is for a customer to bring a contaminated container and go "The meat you sold me made me sick! I am suing you".
- _Microft 7y agoI believe that. Lawsuits, healthcare and guns are most likely the biggest reasons that make Europeans frown when hearing about the US ;)
- rad_gruchalski 7y agoSuch a great news to read in the morning. It’s good to hear this is happening in the UK. I personally use a couple of bigger foldable plastic boxes and some cotton bags for good measure. The boxes can carry up to 25kg each, easily fit in a car, and I always have one of them, with some cotton bags, in the car. I had these boxes for 3 years or so. Haven’t used plastic bags in years!
- nishnik 7y agoIn one of the states in India, they banned plastic. But in a few months, the ban is in-effective. I really think to charge a small price for buying plastics is a better way than to ban
- phjesusthatguy3 7y agoI was surprised by "Shops are expected [my emphasis] to donate the money to charitable causes - and the charge is estimated to have raised £169 million since 2015." so I went looking and it looks like the only thing keeping them from just pocketing the money is a £20,000 fine.[0][1] [0]https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-42638548 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-42638548 [1]https://www.gov.uk/guidance/carrier-bag-charges-retailers-responsibilities#how-much-you-can-be-fined https://www.gov.uk/guidance/carrier-bag-charges-retailers-re...
- justanegg 7y agoif we cared so much about sea life, we would ban nets.
- crb 7y agoI live in England. My local supermarket no longer has the flimsy plastic bags at all, only the sturdy plastic "bag-for-life" (they'll replace it for free) kind. The flimsy bags were all re-used as kitchen bin liners. The sturdy bags can't be used for that. So I'm now having to buy single use plastic bin liners.
- longwave 7y agoYou might have been doing that, as was I, but a lot of people were not - and their flimsy bags were ending up as litter. This is what this policy is designed to prevent.
- gruez 7y ago>a lot of people were not So what were they doing? Not lining their garbage bins? I find that unlikely. They were most likely buying plastic liners (ie. bags). In that case, the smart thing to do is to get them to switch to reusing their plastic bags, not making it harder for people who already reuse plastic bags to get bags. >and their flimsy bags were ending up as litter I'm not convinced that any meaningful amount of plastic bags end up as litter. They're used to transport something, typically to someone's home, where there's easy access to a garbage bin.
- longwave 7y agoThey were already buying bin liners to use at home. When bags were seen as disposable they were often put in public litter bins (where they do not always stay, in busy areas with full bins) or simply discarded in the open environment. Anecdotally there seems to be much less of this going on now and the relatively common sight of Tesco carrier bags (other supermarkets are also available, but these seemed to be the worst offender) blowing down the street or caught in trees seems to have largely disappeared from what I have seen since this policy was introduced. There is still litter of course, but the most noticeable litter is now food wrappers rather than plastic bags.
- air7 7y agoOther comments have addressed the questionable environmental benefits of plastic bags over multi-use bags. However in terms of ocean pollution this is totally missing the mark. This is an unpleasant thing to discuss, but perhaps times are pressing. Developed countries, including the UK, have modern waste management meaning that close to 0% of its waste plastic ends up in the oceans. The only contributing factor is beach litter. Plastic in the oceans comes from poorer countries in SE asia where the waste management systems are inadequate and open air dumpster sites are the norm. [0] In fact, "90% of plastic polluting our oceans comes from just 10 rivers" [1] Our efforts should be directed there, financially and politically. It's not an easy problem since being harsh on poor counties and meddling in their internal affairs doesn't look good, but imo we have no choice. An important contributing factor is that the West sends some of its plastic to be recycled by some of these countries which in turn simply dump some of it instead and it finds its way to the oceans. We can no longer turn a blind eye to that. As part of the effort, we must ensure that either these counties actually do the recycling (perhaps with our aid), or we don't continue to buy their recycling services. [0] https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution [1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/90-of-plastic-polluting-our-oceans-comes-from-just-10-rivers https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/90-of-plastic-polluti...
- aembleton 7y agoOur plastic bags may not have ended up in the ocean. But they were turning up in canals, trees, parks, etc.
- dredmorbius 7y agoAs a Danish government study citing a "7,100 times" greater environmental impact of cotton over single-use plastic bags is being cited or referenced (often indirectly) here, I thought I'd take a glance at its assumptions. They prove ... interesting.[1] TL:DR; Cotton, particularly organic, is most heavily penalised for water consumption, though net carbon emissions consider. The study entirely ignores litter and acquatic impacts, and limits consideration to 100 year impacts on Denmark specifically. It is a fascinating case of very carefully delineated boundaries of consideration at odds with an inclusive long-term environmental assessment, and is absolutely not reflected in popular articles linked. You can paint a very good picture of a thing if you hide its worst features. I'm commenting as I read through the report, conclusions emerge as I do so (most are in a reply to this comment). "The effects of littering were considered negligible for Denmark and not considered." That is, one of the biggest concerns of plastics. and the environment -- long-term residency if tossed, especially in waterways or the ocean, simply isn't addressed. "The environmental assessment of each carrier bag was carried out taking into consideration different end-of-life options: incineration (EOL1), recycling (EOL2), and reuse as waste bin bag (EOL3) before being incinerated." That is, landfill disposal or composting are not considered. Cotton bags can be composted, if slowly. "The environmental assessment was carried out for a range of recommended environmental impacts (European Commission, 2010): climate change, ozone depletion, human toxicity cancer and non-cancer effects, photochemical ozone formation, ionizing radiation, particulate matter, terrestrial acidification, terrestrial eutrophication, marine eutrophication, freshwater eutrophication, ecosystem toxicity, resource depletion, fossil and abiotic, and depletion of water resource." A long list, but again notably lacking long-term environmental residence and impacts of items bypassing disposal processing. Looking at specific measures and bag types: Organic cotton bags: "Reuse for grocery shopping at least 149 times for climate change" This is well below the 7,000 headline number, and corresponds to three years of weekly shopping trips, fewer if used multiple times weekly. "at least 20,000 times considering all indicators; reuse as waste bin bag if possible, otherwise incinerate." Interesting, though I'm dying to find out what the least favourable indicators are, and how those might possibly be mitigated. Conventional cotton bags: Interesting to see how the less "eco-friendly" option fares... "Reuse for grocery shopping at least 52 times for climate change" That's one year of weekly use, a few months if more frequent. "at least 7100 times considering all indicators" And that's our headline number. Where does it come from? A footnote on the next page provides a clue: The highest number is due to the use of water resource, but also to freshwater and terrestrial eutrophication. I'm aware from previous research that cotton is famously water-hungry. A chief reason it's grown in river deltas (Nile, Mississippi). Choice of methodology is of interest: "The LCA carried out for this study was conducted according to the requirements outlined in the International Standards 14040 and 14044 (ISO, 2006a, 2006b). The present Section provides a detailed description of the LCA methodology utilized for the study: the goal of the LCA, functional unit and reference flow, the system boundaries, the choices for the modelling approach for addressing multi-functionality, the modelling tools, data requirements, impact assessment method, assumptions and limitations." I'm not familiar with these or alternatives, but at the very least the methodology isn't fully home-grown. Though it may have been carefully selected. "we defined a functional unit that allowed a fair basis for comparison for the grocery carrier bags" That is, comparison is standardised to weight and volume capacity. "Carrying ... an average volume of 22 litres and with an average weight of 12 kilograms.... After use, the carrier bag is collected by the Danish waste management system." Knowing that several multi-use alternatives are capable of both greater volume and mass, by factors of 2-4, I'd be interested to see if this is addressed and how. I'll note that toting 50kg of groceries may not be for the faint (or weak) of heart, though there is assistive technology.[2] From subsequent discussion, the reference unit is a minimum capacity, not a scaled reference. That is, some options (e.g., LDPE simple) are scaled up to meet this. capacity, others (Jute, cotton, composite) with greater capacity are not scaled down.[3] "The time horizon of the impacts in this LCA was 100 years." This raises all kinds of issues, from environmental residency (already excluded by presuming perfect wastestream recovery) to future value. discounting / present value analysis. Suffice to say there are a vast number of bodies buried, literally, in that innocuous sentence. "Secondary reuse ... was assumed as substituting a waste bin bag." So all y'all reuse-it-as-a-trash-bag peeps, you're covered. And yes, plastic beats organic here. Impact categories are listed in table 5, p. 39. As previusly, omissions are highly notable. The assumptions section,3.10, pp. 41ff, deserves close reading. Highlights only: "we did not take into consideration customers' behavioural patterns" That is, this is a highly idealised study. Useful as an engineering reference, perhaps, but not a full description of the real world. All models are false, yes. I've serious doubts this one is even useful, particularly as cited in practice.[4] "For biopolymer and textile bags, recycling was not considered." "Recycling of textiles was not taken into account since it mainly occurs outside the Danish waste management system." I'll simply note that the environment does not care about this distiction. On production impacts: "it was not possible to retrieve 'market' processes from Ecoinvert for all the carrier bags materials assessed" That is: while cotton production is extremely well understood and ducumented, chemical synthesis is not. Ignorance is not innocence. "For organic cotton, we modified the Ecoinvent dataset for conventional cotton production by subtracting environmental impacts connected to fertilizers and by lowering the production yield by 30%." Any intrinsic high-volume inputs to cotton will have a far greater impact on organic production. Stay tuned. "We could not find literature data on the production and manufacturing of the waste bin bag." Though addressed, an interesting and notable comment re: waste-bagging substitution. Tables 10-12 specifically list impact weights, and yes, water consumption is the most variable factor, from negative water consumption for LDPE (presumably H2O emissions from incineration) to 70 l/unit consumption for organic cotton. Net carbon emissions also penalise cotton. "The environmental impacts connected to the production of the organic cotton bag (COTorg) were considerably higher than those of the conventional cotton bag (COT). This is due to the fact that organic cotton production does not involve the use of synthetic chemicals such as and pesticides, which lowers the yield of the cultivation." That is: yield impacts are considered, but not environmental and soil impacts of fertiliser and pesticide use. Carbon emissions don't seem to be clearly attributed. I'm not sure what to make of this. Table 23 provides a colour-coded overview of impacts, though it omits the handy acronyms and abbreviations translator you'll need -- that's on p. 21. Further discussion in follow-up reply. ________________________________ Notes: 1. Source: Ministry of Environment and Food for Denmark, "Life Cycle Assessment of grocery carrier bags" (2018) https://www2.mst.dk/udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-73-4.pdf https://www2.mst.dk/udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-... (PDF). Mind the TLS cert errors. 2. The venerable wheeled folding shopping trolley, e.g., https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/1/56758-super-deluxe-swiveler-folding-multi-use-cart.html https://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/1/1/56758-super-deluxe-swiv... 3. "Life Cycle", Table 3. Required reference flow for each carrier bag 4. See, e.g., Will Dunn, "How Britain fell in love with the tote bag – and why it’s a dangerous fiction", cited elsewhere in this thread, by which I found the Danish report. https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/environment/2019/07/how-britain-fell-love-tote-bag-and-why-it-s-dangerous-fiction https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/environment/2019/07/ho...
- ed_blackburn 7y agoI'd like to see paper bags available too. If I forget a cotton bag, rather than buy another bag, the option to purchase a paper bag feels more ecologically friendly? Am I right?
- flurdy 7y agoFor me also the change to "smart shop", i.e. you scan and bag your groceries as you walk around, had meant the end of plastic bags for me. I now have to think for a second how many bags I need beforehand, not just grab them on checkout. These days I always have a few reusable bags in the boot of my car that I grab on my way into the shop. The big sturdy rectangular ones that fit snuggly in a trolley and then straight into the boot of the car. And a more insulated bag for cold items. On top of a foldable one in my work bag for small items on the way home if I commuted by train. I hated the old flimsy but free bags they had in the UK, I did not trust them enough to reuse. They quickly ripped, could not contain anything runny/liquid, etc. I am glad they disappeared, both for environmental and personal reasons.
- stuaxo 7y agoI'm sure more people are reusing bags than before, I am not the best at it, but have about a 50 percent success rate at remembering to bring one, or just don't use a bag.