Natural Environment Blog

Plastic bags have been blamed for the death of a crocodile that was recently captured off Magnetic Island,  near the Australian city of Townsville.  

The crocodile died of starvation after 25 plastic shopping and garbage bags, a plastic wine cooler bag and a rubber float found in his stomach prevented him digesting food.

Relocation

The crocodile, dubbed ‘Whitey’, which had initially been relocated from 1,000 km away, was captured again  because it had moved too close to Magnetic Island where it forced the closure of a popular tourist beach.

Magnetic Island, which is a popular tourist destination in itself, is also a popular launching pad to the Great Barrier Reef - the world’s largest coral reef system. 

In April, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had relocated the crocodile from Bamaga, Cape York to an area south of Townsville as part of a scientific experiment to see whether it would establish a new home range.

The Impact of Plastic Bags on WIldlife

The impact of plastic bags on the environment has been well documented, and research has found that plastic bags cause the death of hundreds of thousands of marine creatures each year. But it’s not often that you hear of plastic bags causing the death of crocodiles.

Russell Reicheldt chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) said “I didn’t know it was a problem for crocodiles specifically, you tend to hear it more as a problem for turtles,”

“But it … reinforces our general view that the amount of marine debris in the ocean is too much and it’s damaging wildlife” he continued.

Alan Feely executive director of Queensland Parks and Wildlife said that Whitey had probably been digesting plastic bags long before he was relocated to Townsville. 

“When we got him he was pretty emaciated and there was evidence before then that he had not been acting normally” he said.

He added that the death should be a reminder to all about the impact rubbish had on animals.

Australian Seabird Rescue spokesman Keith Williams said wildlife living near built-up areas had a heightened risk from plastic but the damaging material was in all the world’s oceans.

Outrage

Magnetic Island residents are outraged that the crocodile was moved from Cape York in the first place. Tourism activities - such as diving/snorkelling tours - account for the majority of the island’s income, and residents claim that the presence of the crocodile had put many out of business. 

But State Tourism Minister Desley Boyle claimed that crocodiles in urban areas are an attraction rather than a deterrent and can give cheap thrills to international tourists. 

Ms Boyle told Parliament in Cairns that crocodiles in waters close to populated areas lured tourists and provided them with photo opportunities.

Wal-Mart has announced that they plan to cut their plastic bag waste by a third by 2013.

They plan to achieve this goal by selling reusable bags. Wal-Mart already sells reusable bags for a dollar each, but they plan to make these even more affordable, with a cheaper model being released next month in Arkansas. 

The initiative is expected to cut the equivalent of 9 billion plastic bags from stores each year, and eliminate more than 135 million pounds of plastic waste globally in the next five years. 

Wal-Mart say that their aim is to reduce plastic bag waste by 25 percent in the U.S., and 50 percent worldwide.

Matt Kistler, senior vice president for sustainability at Wal-Mart says:

If we can encourage consumers to change their behavior, just one bag at a time, we believe real progress can be made toward our goal of creating zero waste”

This is encouraging news, although I wonder what’s stopping them from aiming a bit higher. A 25% reduction in the U.S. doesn’t seem like much. But I guess it’s a good start. 

And at least the world will have 9 billion less paper bags each year.

Then, we’ll need to figure out how to get rid of the other 999,999,991,000,000,000 plastic bags that we use each year!Wal-Mart to Reduce Plastic Bag Waste by 33 Percent

It was great to read that a United States amusement park has encouraged kids to collect almost 40,000 plastic bags.

Playland Amusement Park in Westchester, NY, provided free rides to kids who turned in 100 plastic bags or more on June 28.

Dubbed “Plastic Bag Day”, the event resulted in 39,995 plastic bags being retrieved. This means there are now 39,995 less plastic bags that can harm the environment.

The plastic bags will eventually be recycled into products such as outdoor decks and fencing.

Source: Mid Hudson News

Eight years ago in India, cows were found to be dying on the streets from what was initially thought to be a mystery disease. Closer inspection revealed that the cows were dying from plastic bags. They were mistakenly ingesting the plastic bags while eating food at the side of the roads.

At the time, it was estimated that over 3,000 cows were dying each month from plastic bags. According to the audio story attached to this article by the National Public Radio, between 15,000 and 20,000 cows die each month from plastic bags.

Unfortunately, although a plastic bag ban was pushed for, the plastic bag industry managed to persuade against it. In the end, only ultra-thin plastic bags were banned. But it appears that these ultra-thin plastic bags are continuing to be manufactured and distributed in India.

So the result is that more and more cows are continuing to die an excruciatingly painful death from ingesting unused plastic bags.

We all know that plastic bags are bad for the environment. And we all know why it’s important to do something about the plastic bag problem. Most plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to degrade. Until now that is.

Daniel Burd, a Canadian high school student has discovered a method for degrading polyethylene plastic bags. He made this exciting discovery during a science project. He wanted to prove that a procedure could be developed to degrade plastic bags.

The discovery won Burd first place prize of $9,800 in the Canada-Wide Science Fair, the Waterloo, Ontario. Burd has also received almost $34,000 in college scholarship offers.

During the project, Burd was able to degrade 43 percent of a plastic bag within six weeks. Burd plans to refine his process so that he can degrade the polyethylene in a much shorter timeframe.

Burd achieved the degradation by isolating microorganisms from soil, then using them to facilitate the degradation process.

This discovery sounds like it has a lot of potential. Of course, it’s early days yet, but wouldn’t it be great if a process could be developed to degrade all the plastic bags already scattered throughout the natural environment? And what if a process could be developed to degrade all the plastic lying in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

Source: Red Orbit

In the lead up to China’s plastic bag ban, which commenced on June 1, there were many reports about mixed feelings. For example, although most people agreed plastic bags are a problem for the environment, many weren’t so enthusiastic about being charged for plastic bags.

Well, if this article from Zhejiang Online is anything to go by, there’s still hope yet.

On the first day of the plastic bag ban, in Hangzhou, supermarkets and free markets both experienced a large decrease in the use of plastic bags. This resulted in a large increase of the sale of environmentally friendly reusable shopping bags. Mr. Yang Juanmei, marketing manager of Huarun Wanjia Supermarket, said sales of eco-friendly shopping bags increased by 200 percent. And at the Yeqingdou Free Market, sales of environmentally friendly shopping bags matched that of the previous 7 days.

Also keep in mind that many people bought their reusable shopping bags/baskets prior to June 1. According to estimates from supermarkets and free markets, more than 50 percent of customers brought their own reusable shopping bags or baskets.

Furthermore, it seems that the elderly were more likely to bring their own shopping bags. Mr. Shen Shuangquan, manager of Yeqingdou Free Market estimated that, in the morning of June 1, 90 percent of shoppers - most of who are elderly - brought their own bags! As the day progressed, many younger shoppers came and purchased plastic bags.

77% Decrease in Plastic Bags!

And most importantly, if my interpretation is correct, in Wanshouting Free Market, the number of plastic bags provided decreased by 77 percent. As many as 100,000 plastic bags were provided in the old days, but on June, this number was closer to 23,000 (3-4000 sold to customers and 20,000 sold to vendors for fresh food, deli, and bakeries).

In other markets, the plastic bag reduction was less pronounced, but still significant.

I know it’s still early days, and Hangzhou has a relatively small population (6.5 million), but if this trend continues around the nation, China’s plastic bag ban will play a major part in worldwide efforts to reduce our plastic bag consumption.

As mentioned previously, China released new standards for plastic bags which will ban ultra thin plastic bags from being produced.

These standards are to take effect from today.

The new law also bans supermarkets and other retailers from providing free plastic bags to their customers. If a retailer wishes to provide plastic bags, they need to charge for them.

Some retailers are concerned about this. They’re worried that they will drive customers away if they charge too much for the plastic bags. Further to this, the plastic bags that are fully degradable are usually more expensive than the non/less-degradable bags. No doubt, this will also have an impact on supermarkets’ pricing decisions.

Hopefully the Chinese will embrace the idea that there are alternatives to plastic bags. Also, now that they’re being forced to pay for plastic bags, more Chinese will start taking their own reusable shopping bags to the supermarket. Given China’s enormous population, this should reduce the world’s plastic bag consumption quite considerably.

Having said this, only time will tell.

I just read this article on the CBCNews website regarding the reduction in orders for plastic bags across Manitoba. It seems that, ever since supermarkets started selling reusable bags, the number of orders for plastic bags has dropped by about 5 percent.

Great news for the environment.

This is a recurring theme too. As soon as retailers offer reusable bags, orders for plastic bags take a dive.

Another example is Australia. Between 2002 and 2005, plastic bag usage dropped from 6 billion to 3.92 billion. That’s around 35 percent less plastic bags! This was helped by the federal government’s campaign to encourage Australian’s to carry reusable bags to the supermarket. This campaign spawned the “Green Bag”, which is available at many supermarkets across Australia.

Individual retailers can make a difference too - regardless of the government’s policy. For example, Fred Meyer has revealed that it used 3.5 million less plastic bags in 2006 than in 2005. The reduction was a direct result of their reusable grocery bag program.

Further to my post about China’s new standards for plastic bags, here’s an article in the China Daily about a new variety of plastic bag. These plastic bags come with safety tips and suggestions on preserving the environment.

And yes, given the amount of awareness of the environmental impact of plastic bags, this does seem quite ironic. The fact that the plastic bag was even produced is not good for the environment.

But, as ridiculous as this may seem at first, I think the idea has enormous potential. If the right message is planted on these bags, it could have a very positive impact on the environment. After all, by placing a message on plastic bags, you’re targeting those people who haven’t yet chosen to carry reusable bags.

Time will tell.

China has officially released its new standards for plastic bags. The standards, which will be implemented in June, are an attempt to help eliminate the devastating impact that plastic bags are having on the environment.

The new standards prevent supermarkets and other retailers from handing out colorized plastic bags. These bags are usually made from wasted plastics, which pollute the environment.

The standards also ban plastic bags less than 0.025 millimeters thick. The theory behind this is that, by having thicker bags, people are more likely to reuse their plastic bags. Many bags in China are currently only 0.001 to 0.020 millimeters thick.

As encouraging as it is to hear this news, it would be better if China could encourage larger eco-friendly shopping bags - such as reusable jute bags. Reusable bags like these can hold much more than plastic bags, and they can last for many years.