Websailor's Wacky Wildlife World
Created | Updated Nov 22, 2009
A quirky look at wildlife. To be taken with a pinch of
salt, but with more than a grain of truth!
Blowing in the Wind - it's in the bag at last - Or Is It?
These last few weeks in the UK we have been regularly battered by strong winds among other things. Apart from the usual problems with things going 'awol' in thegales, and fences coming down, there has been an additional problem which is most unsightly. With recycling taking off after the long holiday, the streets have been festooned with plastic bottles, plastic bags, cans and paper.
Hedgerows and trees are 'decorated' with 'flags' of plastic bags and the bare ground beneath exposes the plethora of rubbish that humans discard without thought. The risks to birds and animals at this time of year are increased tenfold as they scavenge for scarce food. Quite apart from the wildlife issue, it is so depressing to see our streets, verges, playing fields and parks disfigured in this way. Oh, and it isn't just towns and cities that suffer, this mess has spread far and wide throughout our countryside, on to beaches and out in to the sea.
I would like to back up that statement by asking you to take a look at this BBC film.
By now most New Year Resolutions have been broken and we are probably feeling guilty. However, there is one resolution that appears to be gaining ground. The BYOB campaign: Bring Your Own Bag.
There is welcome news for 2008 which 'cocks a snook' at those doubters who say letters, protests and petitions do not work. At last there is movement on one eyesore at least.
Along with many other people I have converted to cotton/hemp,canvas and fabric shopping bags, and it seems councils, governments and supermarkets are finally taking notice too.
It first cropped up when Ireland taxed plastic bags, reducing the use of plastic bags by over 90%. Now other places have taken the matter further and banned plastic bags altogether. Soon, many countries have or will impose bans on plastic bags, and more are considering it in part. The tax in Ireland has raised millions of euros for environmental clean up projects.
From June 2008, China will ban very thin plastic bags and shoppers will have to pay for sturdier plastic bags. Hong Kong is also to tax plastic bags.
It is a huge step for China, no doubt conscious of the world's attention attracted by the Olympic Games, as they are one of the largest producers of plastic bags. Since being introduced in China about a decade ago, about 3 billion bags are used daily there!
Bangladesh was apparently the first big country to ban such bags, and Taiwan has put measures in place to limit their use. Thailand, too, is cutting down on them.
Plastic bags, other than the biodegradable kind, can take 400 to a 1,000 years to decompose, and they still leave behind dangerous chemical residues. More and more villages, towns and cities, states too, are making their own arrangements to remove this scourge from our environment.
In the United States, San Francisco was the first city to take action against plastic bags. On the US mainland from Annapolis, Maryland to Portland, Oregon similar moves are afoot. New York City Council supports reducing the use of plastic shopping bags, too. It has been found that they block drains during rainy periods, causing huge problems.
Campaigns are ongoing in Hawaii in Honolulu and Maui counties. There is a film from the BBC on this subject - 'Hawaii - Message in the Waves' which draws attention to the problems.
and there is a good deal more information on the website, too. Please click the pictures on the side of the page for more videos. I would urge anyone to look more closely at this site. You can even listen while reading this! The problems discussed there apply not just to Hawaii, but to all of us.
Of course there are dissenters, on grounds of cost, use of more paper (ie.trees) etc. Use of bio-degradable plastics such as corn starch could screw up recycling schemes, and would need to be coloured very differently to avoid contamination. There is also a problem with obtaining sufficient supplies of some alternatives.
Plastic bags are a huge danger to marine life and pelagic birds (those that spend the bulk of their time at sea), to birds, wild mammals and domestic livestock alike. An Australian report states that plastic bags pose a direct threat to some 20 marine species. Many countries with coastal borders are re-thinking, and large, global supermarkets are gearing up for the change, albeit reluctantly in some cases.
It appears that Australia may be heading towards a ban. Australians use about 4 billion disposable plastic bags a year, and an estimated 94 million end up in parks, rivers, bays and beaches, much as they do in the UK. On 'Clean Up Australia Day' almost half a million bags were collected, yet there is still some strong opposition to a ban!
'Clean Up Australia' says 784,000 barrels of oil are burnt each year to provide the near 4 billion bags used in Australia. Yet others say the bags are made from petrochemical waste which would be simply dumped if not used for plastic. So once again, solving one problem creates another. Surely, it makes sense for such durable material to be used only for items with a long lifespan, not for disposable single use goods.
Jakarta, Indonesia, has a major bookstore which has been running a 'no plastic bags' campaign since April 2007. They are encouraging customers to use a tote bag made from 100% recycled cotton to carry their books instead. BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) schemes are flourishing there too.
Closer to home all 33 London Councils are trying to get a bill through Parliament to ban plastic bags. 80 villages, towns and cities, such as Brighton and Bath have, or are considering bringing in bans.
Devon of course, that beautiful county, sports the market town of Modbury which went ahead unilaterally and banned the bag.
In South Wales, Porthcawl is taking the first step towards banishing Bridgend's Plastic Bags in the hope of stopping shops handing them out. If successful there, the plan will be rolled out across Wales.
Hay-on-Wye, famous for its book shops, looks like being the first Welsh town to succeed, having made a lot of progress already. Cardiff Council is supporting the move but will wait until the National Assembly or the UK government implements a ban!
A member of the Scottish Parliament has been campaigning for a ban in Scotland too. A Glasgow based packaging company is calling on all independent retailers to swop plastic for degradable alternatives. Two of the largest supermarkets in Scotland are to change to 100% degradable bags. These are not biodegradable, which require a chemical agent to be added, but bags that degrade on their own.
There is no doubt that things are moving in the right direction, but it is up to individuals to apply pressure, and also support initiatives if we are to make a real impact.
I have come back to this wildlife issue because it is something that we can do something about, it is easy, and the benefits are huge. The start of a new year is surely a good time to make that resolution and see if we cannot turn 2008 in to the year we really made a difference to our surroundings and to wildlife.
PS. Having written this I don't think I want to hear a plastic bag mentioned ever again!
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