Plastic Bags are 100-per-cent Recyclable

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association appreciates the opportunity to ensure that decisions made about plastic shopping bags are made based on fact and good science, not erroneous information.

The writer of a recent Minus 20 article (”Go green with cloth bags”, Leader-Post, Aug. 5), repeats a number of myths — stating, for example, that research shows that plastic bags are bad for the environment.

Not true. Research (Recycle Quebec, Paris Life Cycle Study, the EPA) in fact shows that plastic shopping bags are one of the best environmental choices for carry bags; second only to reusable bags.

Plastic shopping bags are less than one per cent of landfill, less than one per cent of litter and, because they are inert, they actually help fight global warming because they do not break down if they are landfilled. This means they do not emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas, that paper and other organic materials do when they degrade.

Plastic shopping bags are also made from natural gas, that same clean energy we use to heat our homes. And their production represents less than one-tenth of one per cent of Canada’s petroleum production annually.

And, since plastic bags are 100-per-cent recyclable, they do not continually use oil. Recycled bags can be remade into new bags or into other plastic products like siding, decking, laminate sub-flooring or drainage pipes. London Drugs, Safeway, Superstore, Sherwood Co-op and the Ukrainian Co-op all offer in-store bag recycling in Regina. To find out where plastic bags can be recycled in Regina, log onto www.myplasticbags.ca

The writer is also wrong on bag bans, which have been proven worldwide not to work. As the experience of Taiwan and Ireland shows, they actually contribute to more, not less, resource consumption and more greenhouse gas emissions, particularly if people switch from plastic to paper bags.

There are no simple solutions to these problems, but a good place to start is with the straight facts. Let’s work to improve plastic bag re-use and recycling, not destroy it.

Cathy Cirko

Cirko is vice-president, Canadian Plastics Industry Association.

Mississauga, Ont.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 9:18 amand is filed under Reusable Bags. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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