By David Okul
July 18, 2019
Plastic bags were hailed as one of the marvelous inventions of the 20th century. Although the product was primarily invented in 1907 by Leo Baekelan, its widespread use occurred post World War II. Baekelan and other early inventors created plastic in small batches and the industrial production of polythene was in 1933 when a chemical plant in Northwich, England created it by accident. It was secretly used by the British military during World War 2. A Swedish company called Celloplast patented the polyethylene bag in 1965 by engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin.
It became even more popular in the 1970s in Europe and by 1980s most countries in the world had switched from the use of paper to plastic. By the mid-1990s, countries were appreciating the adverse environmental impacts of plastics. For instance, in 1997, a researcher discovered and reported the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that demonstrated how plastic was killing sea turtles as they mistook them for Jellyfish.
With the UN estimating that approximately 5 trillion bags of plastic are produced per year, plastics are often described as the number one consumer product in the world. But the plastic shopping bags are now emerging as one of the worlds’ most banned products because of their adverse environmental impacts. As of July 2018, the United Nations estimated that 127 nations have either implemented some sort of ban or tax for the bags. The bans are so widespread that even the terrorist group Al Qaeda joined in the banning. Strange world!
The European Union took steps to ban the bags as an effort to clean up the European beaches. The European Union targets that by 2025, plastic bottles should be made of recycled content and by 2029, 90% should be recycled. In the United States, New York followed the steps took by California to ban the bags. Other states have mandatory recycling or reuse programs while at least 10 states have placed preemptive bans. Reusethisbag presents a list of countries that have implemented some sort of restrictions
Countries in the third-world (such as Bangladesh, Cameroon, Burundi, Rwanda, Myanmar, Kenya and Nepal)are leading the world in banning plastic. More developed countries (e.g. Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom) tend to favor taxes in controlling the plastic menace. Many other countries favor partial bans or tax.
Countries are increasingly taking action against plastics
Bangladesh implemented a ban in 2002. Before the ban, there was a widespread fallacy that plastic bans and taxes would disproportionately harm poor nations and people who relied on the ‘free’ or inexpensive plastic paper bags to carry their belongings. As of April 2019, Africa led the bans with 34 countries implementing bans and taxes. 31 of the countries were in sub-Saharan Africa, among the world’s poorest regions. Kenya implemented a ban in 2017. Its ban is among the most punitive with violators facing up to 4 years in prisons and/or US$ 38,000 in fines for using or distributing plastics.
Generally, the bans have proven to be a success in reducing the number of plastic wastes generated. For instance, Denmark passed the first plastic bag tax in 1993 and on average, a person uses four plastic bags a year. In contrast, a person in the United States uses 300 bags a year.
The bans of plastic bags often spawn to the bans of other products such as plates, cups, cutlery, straws, and bottles. Single-use plastics account to 40% of the plastics manufactured on the global scale.
Despite the numerous bans on the product, plastic bags are still ubiquitous in many parts of the world. Part of the reason for the limited success of the bans is the political opposition to the bans. Additionally, the WRI (2018) report that over 90% of the countries implementing bans favored partial over total bans. Partial bans have various exceptions on thicknesses and usability. For instance, In Kenya, companies can use plastic bags to package their products as long as they label them.
At Silvica, we believe that responsible consumer behavior is key in addressing the issues of plastic menace. If consumers are to increasingly shun plastic packaged products, the industry will be forced to comply. But, the issue is not as easy as that. Plastic is probably the cheapest form of packaging and consumers will often prefer cheaper products. Talk of conundrums!
David Okul is an environmental management professional with over 10 years experience on donor projects, conservation, forestry, ecotourism, and community-based natural resources management. When not working on active environmental management projects, I spend my time writing for Silvica on a variety of topics.
