I wanted to let you know July 3rd is International Plastic Bag Free Day #InternationalPlasticBagFreeDay. If you go shopping this morning and all your stores has is #plasticbags bring your own bags to use for the purchases you make. Even at home instead of using plastic bags in your trash cans go old-school and use brown paper bags. I promise you it will not hurt.
International Plastic Bag Free Day, celebrated on July 3rd, is a global initiative that aims to eliminate the use of plastic bags. Plastic bags may seem like a grocery shopping convenience, but plastic bags are also a huge strain on the environment. Did you know it can take up to 500 years for plastic bags to disintegrate, so plastic bags make up a large portion of what stays in our landfills and pollutes our waterways.
For most of our history, single-use products were blasphemous. But through the end of the Industrial Revolution and into the modern era, plastic became a cheap and plentiful resource and plastic bags are just one perfect example. From birth to ban, the history of the plastic bag has impacted our world.
In 1933, polyethylene, the most commonly used plastic, was created by accident at a chemical plant in Northwich, England. While polyethylene had been created in small batches before, this was the first synthesis of the material that was industrially practical, and it was initially used in secret by the British military during World War II.
By 1965, the one-piece polyethylene shopping bag was patented by the Swedish company Celloplast. Designed by engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin, the plastic bag quickly begins to replace cloth and plastic in Europe. After controlling 80 percent of the bag market in Europe, plastic bags went abroad and were widely introduced to the United States in 1979. Plastic companies began to aggressively market their product as superior to paper and reusable bags.
Did you know it wasn’t until 1997 that sailor and researcher Charles Moore discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the largest of several gyres in the world’s oceans where immense amounts of plastic waste have accumulated, threatening marine life. It was discovered that plastic bags are notorious for killing Sea Turtles, which mistakenly think they are Jellyfish and eat them.
Bangladesh become the first Country in the world to implement a ban on thin plastic bags in 2002 after it was found that plastic bags played a key role in clogging drainage systems during disastrous flooding. Other Countries quickly followed suit, including South Africa, Rwanda, China, Australia and Italy.
International Plastic Bag Free Day looks for safer alternatives to demonstrate that a world without the use of so much plastic is possible. International Plastic Bag Day is part of the Break Free from Plastic Movement, which began in September 2016, and has been joined by nearly 1,500 different organizations. The movement is looking for solutions to the plastic pollution crisis, to make the planet safer for humans, the environment and wildlife.
LET’S CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL PLASTIC BAG FREE DAY
- The best way to celebrate International Plastic Day is also the easiest to do. Wherever you find yourself on July 3rd, from the grocery store to the park, to a restaurant, make sure not to use and not to ask for any plastic bags.
- Another spectacular way to celebrate is to recycle and upcycle the things around you. Even if you have some plastic bags lying around, don’t throw them away. You can use those plastic bags as extra trash bags or an alternative to a lunchbox as just a few examples.
- .Use International Plastic Day to give Mother Nature a helping hand (or thumb).International Plastic Day is the perfect time to finally plant a new tree or plant flowers. The planet and the wildlife around your house will thank you!
FACTS ABOUT PLASTIC BAG USAGE
- Did you know it takes over 700 years for single-use plastic to begin decomposing, and 1000 years to degrade completely.
- .In 2008, a beached Sperm Whale was found with almost 50 pounds of single-use plastic in its stomach.
- According to some reports, only 1% to 3% of plastic bags are recycled globally.
- In the Northern Pacific, there are 6x more single-use plastic particles than plankton.
WHY INTERNATIONAL PLASTIC BAG FREE DAY IS IMPORTANT
- A decrease in plastic bags means a direct correlation in more Whales, Sea Turtles, and Dolphins!
- Not only is it important to do so, but it’s easy and oftentimes cheaper to utilize a reusable bag. Wherever you shop, you can generally find them near the check-out.
- There are 7 billion people on the planet, and it’s vital that every single person does their part. Reduce, reuse, and recycle today!
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
