Plastic Bags

Which do you choose: paper or plastic?

When standing at the checkout line, do you choose paper or plastic? Or — do you bring your own bag? What is the right thing to do? Every day, millions of consumers choose plastic bags. Retailers also love plastic bags – they’re cheap and easy to use and take up very little space. But the dangers of Plastic Bags are known – and they are many.

The gift from the plastics industry that just keeps on killing

They're so aerodynamic that even when properly disposed of, they can still blow away and become litter. They easily escape from the garbage truck, landfill, seafaring vessel, and average consumer’s hands.

Not only are they a visible eye-sore, plastic bags can be dangerous to wildlife. They are often mistaken as food by marine mammals and seabirds, many of which die each year by ingesting them . These animals suffer a painful death, the plastic wraps around their intestines or they choke to death.

Furthermore, plastic bags do not biodegrade, they photodegrade, which means they slowly break down into smaller and smaller bits that can contaminate soil and waterways. This process can take 1000 years. As the polyethylene breaks down, toxic substances from the plastic, inks, and colorants, leach into the soil and enter the food chain. These bags are a slow-acting poison.

The Solution: A Simple Ban

Because of this, the Massachusetts Sierra Club is supporting a simple ban on these bags from large stores. Ultimately, we hope that consumers bring their own bags, just like they now do in so many other cities and countries.

The spirit of the Sierra Club’s effort to ban or sharply reduce the use of plastic carry-out bags is to bring people together on a tangible environmental issue. The goal is to reduce the amount litter around us and to take another step toward cleaner neighborhoods, waterways, and public spaces.

Proposed Legislation

In 2009, the Sierra Club introduced H798/S395, in coordination with Rep. Matt Patrick and Se. Jamie Eldridge, legislation in support of a ban of plastic carryout bags for retail establishments with gross income in excess of $500,000. Ultimately, we hope that consumers bring their own bags, just like they now do in so many other cities and countries. Store owners would no longer need to pay for the distribution of carry-out plastic bags. Many are already selling reusable cloth bags for 50 cents to $1. Some are offering affinity discounts by placing barcodes on the bags that result in a 5-10¢ discount.

This proposed legislation would prohibit certain retail establishments from providing non-compostable petroleum-based plastic checkout/carryout bags (subsequently referred to as plastic bags) to customers at point of sale locations in stores. As such it would significantly help reduce the negative financial, energy and environmental impacts associated with the production and disposal of plastic bags. Most of us are aware of the litter problem associated with these bags due to their visibility snagged in trees and other structures along our roadways. Click here to see the proposed bill.

Plastic bag bans have been implemented in cities, provinces, and countries around the globe, including San Francisco, Nantucket, Westport, Paris, Israel, Canada, Rajasthan (India), Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Taiwan, Singapore, and Modbury (England). The Sierra Club believes that a ban (or sharp decrease of) carry-out plastic bags makes sense for the Commonwealth.

There are other bills that have been proposed that would also ban plastic bags, including House Bill 719 An Act Relative to Plastic Bag Reduction, sponsored by Rep. Lori Ehrlich. The Sierra Club supports this bill as well.

Plastic Bag Facts

• It takes 1.6 billion gallons of petroleum to make the 380 billion bags that Americans use each year.
• It has been estimated1 that worldwide 4 billion plastic bags end up as litter each year. Tied end-to-end this number of bags could circle the earth 63 times! However, the negative global impact of plastic bags extends far beyond this one example.
• Because of their structure and weight, single-use plastic bags are carried by the wind into forests, ponds, rivers, and lakes. Single-use plastic bags made up about 9% of the debris found along various U.S. coasts in a five-year study.

• Four out of five grocery bags used in the U.S. are plastic

• The U.S. uses 100 billion plastic shopping bags each year, which are made from an estimated 12 million barrels of oil and cost retailers an estimated $4 billion

• Production of 1 pound of plastic for shopping bags produces approximately 6 pounds of the global warming greenhouse gas carbon dioxide .

• Thus considering that an average shopping bag weighs 1.15 ounces, the manufacture of every 2.3 plastic shopping bags produces 1 pound of carbon dioxide.

• Plastic bags are not biodegradable, and although they do degrade through mechanical action  and photodegradation in the presence of light, these processes are slow taking an estimated 400 to 1000 years to occur.

• In a recent study it was found that the ocean waters near the surface of the central Pacific northeast of Hawaii contained 6 pounds of plastic for every one pound of plankton.

• Hundreds of thousands of birds and marine animals are killed each year by plastic bags and other plastic debris floating in the world’s oceans due to ingestion and entanglement.

• Sea turtles and whales are especially prone to dying from ingestion of waterborne plastic bags since these objects are mistaken for some of their favorite foods (jellyfish and squid) and block their digestive tracks when swallowed.

• In April 2002 the stomach of a dead Minke whale that washed up on the Normandy coast was found to contain 800 kg (1764 pounds) of plastic bags.

• In April 2002 the stomach of a dead Minke whale that washed up on shore was found to contain 1700 pounds) of plastic bags. A small green sea turtle was brought into the Melbourne Zoo – which died shortly after arrival. Its stomach was coated with over 50 square feet of plastic. These are not isolated events.
• The Ocean Conservancy, which conducts annual International Coastal Cleanups, reported an astounding 7 million pounds of trash along an estimated 17,000 miles of coastline. Of the 40-odd items tallied from light bulbs to fishing line, the top three items recorded were 3 million cigarette butts, 1.5 million plastic bags, and 1 million food wrappers/containers. While cigarette butts may be unsightly, the plastic bags are one of the most dangerous forms of debris posing a serious threat to wildlife.
• Every year, Americans throw away some 100 billion plastic bags after they've been used to transport a prescription home from the drugstore or a quart of milk from the grocery store. It's equivalent to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of oil.

• It takes 1.6 billion gallons of petroleum to make the 380 billion bags that Americans use each year.[i] 

• It has been estimated that worldwide 4 billion plastic bags end up as litter each year. Tied end-to-end this number of bags could circle the earth 63 times! However, the negative global impact of plastic bags extends far beyond this one example.

• Because of their structure and weight, single-use plastic bags are carried by the wind into forests, ponds, rivers, and lakes. Single-use plastic bags made up about 9% of the debris found along various U.S. coasts in a five-year study.[ii]

• Four out of five grocery bags used in the U.S. are plastic[iii]

• The U.S. uses 100 billion plastic shopping bags each year^{1, [iv]} , which are made from an estimated 12 million barrels of oil and cost retailers an estimated $4 billion²

• Production of 1 pound of plastic for shopping bags produces approximately 6 pounds of the global warming greenhouse gas carbon dioxide[v].

• Thus considering that an average shopping bag weighs 1.15 ounces³, the manufacture of every 2.3 plastic shopping bags produces 1 pound of carbon dioxide³.

• Plastic bags are not biodegradable^{1, [vi]} and although they do degrade through mechanical action[vii] and photodegradation⁴ in the presence of light, these processes are slow taking an estimated 400 to 1000 years to occur.

• In a recent study⁴ it was found that the ocean waters near the surface of the central Pacific northeast of Hawaii contained 6 pounds of plastic for every one pound of plankton.

• Hundreds of thousands of birds and marine animals are killed each year by plastic bags and other plastic debris floating in the world’s oceans due to ingestion and entanglement[viii]^{, [ix], [x], [xi],} [xii].

• Sea turtles^{1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10} and whales^{1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 10} are especially prone to dying from ingestion of waterborne plastic bags since these objects are mistaken for some of their favorite foods (jellyfish and squid) and block their digestive tracks when swallowed.

• In April 2002 the stomach of a dead Minke whale that washed up on the Normandy coast was found to contain 800 kg (1764 pounds) of plastic bags^{5, 6}.

• A small green sea turtle was brought into the Melbourne Zoo – which died shortly after arrival. Its stomach was coated with over 50 square feet of plastic. These are not isolated events.

• The Ocean Conservancy, which conducts annual International Coastal Cleanups, reported an astounding 7 million pounds of trash along an estimated 17,000 miles of coastline. Of the 40-odd items tallied from light bulbs to fishing line, the top three items recorded were 3 million cigarette butts, 1.5 million plastic bags, and 1 million food wrappers/containers. While cigarette butts may be unsightly, the plastic bags are one of the most dangerous forms of debris posing a serious threat to wildlife.

• Every year, Americans throw away some 100 billion plastic bags after they've been used to transport a prescription home from the drugstore or a quart of milk from the grocery store. It's equivalent to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of oil.

Support the Ban on Plastic Bags

The Sierra Club has long been committed to minimizing the negative environmental impact of human activity and because this legislation would significantly reduce such impact from plastic bags.

Contact your State Representative and State Senator:
If you know who your  legislators are, click here to contact them. If you're unsure, click  here. Ask them to Support the Updated Bottle Bill, H3515

Has your City/Town passed a resolution of support? Click here to see the list that have. If yours isn't on the list, contact your City Council, Board of Aldermen, or Selectmen and ask them to pass our municipal resolution.

Volunteer!: There's lots you can do to help pass the Bottle Bill Update! Contact Phil Sego (See Contacts page) for more information.