PLASTIC BAGS- AN ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL PROBLEM

It is known to all, at least those who live in the city of São Paulo, that plastic bags are being distributed in supermarkets again. However, there was retaliation by some supermarkets concerning this decision of the ECJ (Court Judicial) of São Paulo. In this post I will try to show, in a simple and concise way, the difficulties of implementing changes in the way people consume and its consequences on the environment.

                Plastic bags represent a huge threat to biodiversity, in this case, a penguin died because of a bag that hung it, but some other animal could choke when trying to consume a bag like that. Nevertheless, imagine billions of bags like these in oceans and rivers around the world. Now imagine several other products and waste that humanity produces and cause damage on the environment as large as or larger than this.

                An alternative to avoid these problems would be to use biodegradable bags, in other words, plastic bags which, when exposed to the environment, degrade faster than non-biodegradable.
There are laws that seek to regulate these products, but as noted, many companies do not comply with these laws, therefore, should strengthen the supervision and quality control to avoid these obstacles.

           

Even like this, biodegradable bags are not the best alternative for you to carry your purchases, because, though it takes only one month or two to decompose (differently of the common ones that take years to decompose) still exist risks of animals doing the same, trying to eat or something like this, before they could be decomposed.

           

            Not only in São Paulo city but even in others cities of the country, communities of supermarkets try to abolish the use of plastic bags, but they commit mistakes when they try to offer alternatives to the consumer. In my opinion, at the moment that the consumer is paying for the purchase, the cashier could offer the reusable bag, even if they had to pay for them.

The political and economic impasses regarding the replacement of plastic bags should be left aside, because the goal is bigger than this: environmental awareness. These obstacles should be solved later or even ignored because the planet can not wait to our bureaucracy, and what is at stake is the humanity survival and the biodiversity preservation.

Therefore it is clear that the environmental awareness is something really important to the public, so that citizens become more critical and engaged in works and projects to the benefit of the environment and thus, as a result, the improvement of the quality of life. Moreover, the public and private institutions that are involved, in this case supermarkets and communities, should invest in less polluting alternatives, reusable or sustainable, even if it means a cost for them.

References and internet sources:

Images: Google images

Penguin dead because of a plastic bag: http://g1.globo.com/espirito-santo/noticia/2012/08/pinguim-e-encontrado-morto-com-sacola-enrolada-no-pescoco-no-es.html (Brazilian Website)

Plastic bag outside the law: http://g1.globo.com/jornal-hoje/noticia/2012/07/sacola-biodegradavel-brasileira-fica-intacta-apos-seis-meses-enterrada.html (Brazilian Website)

Bill of biodegradable bag: http://www.seculodiario.com.br/exibir.php?id=193 (Brazilian Website)

The environmental consequences are left out: http://www.seculodiario.com.br/exibir.php?id=126 (Brazilian Website)

Thank you very much for coming here and I hope you enjoy the material. Don’t forget to write down here your comments and suggestions.

André da Cunha.