https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4793507/Re:_Oz_Planstic_Bag_Bans_-_not
Originally Posted By: Shannow
From Silk's thread on cotton bags...
Originally Posted By: Shannow
My "single use" bags brought the groceries home.
Then packed my lunch for work
Then either collected the use kitty litter; or
Lined the kitchen bin/tidy to gather the junk before going into the bin.
"single use"...used three times.
Now I need to buy bags to put the kitty litter in, or line the kitchen tidy.
https://www.news.com.au/technology/envir...15bcb71e20c708f
Quote:
A 2009 report produced for Woolworths by researchers at RMIT calculated the environmental impact of single use carrier bags versus their reusable counterparts.
The classic supermarket bag, the type being banned, is made from high density polyethylene (HDPE). Compared to other bags it’s not that great environmentally — but it certainly doesn’t have the worst impact.
On measures such as its contribution to global warming and water usage, it actually scores well. In landfill they compress and so take up very little space. But it falls down on energy consumption and the effect on marine life.
Other research has said light density polyethylene (LDPE) bags, the thicker type available for a few cents at the supermarket, are generally worse than their thinner counterparts.
So called “green bags” made from polypropylene (PP), use fewer materials but produce a lot of waste, but overall they are better than HDPE bags.
Quote:
However, “single-use” plastic bags aren’t really used once at all.
“Most shopping bags are used twice because people take them home and use them as rubbish bags or for picking up dog poop and that further reduces their environmental impact,” said Dr Thornton.
Every time an HDPE bag is reused, the environmental hurdle other bags have to jump over to better them increases. Paper bags, which aren’t all that strong, have to be used six times; green bags 20+ times and a cotton bag more than 260 times.
If you use a plastic bag to carry your shopping home, take your lunch to work and then pick up your pet’s waste then, according to Woolies figures at least, you might have to use your green bag hundreds of times for it to be truly green in comparison.
And YES, now that they've got that win under their belt, they didn't even have time to take a breath before announcing drinking straws are their next target.