Plastic bags: Ban or not to ban?

While environmentalists want a ban, some feel minimising use would do
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 13 Jun 08;

THE humble plastic bag has found itself back in the limelight once more, with environment enthusiasts pushing for a complete ban on the bags while others say otherwise.

Those rubbishing a ban argue that such carriers can be reused to bag junk. Also, they ultimately wind up in the incinerator, so concerns about them being non-biodegradable can be dismissed.

Mr Daniel Wang Nan Chee, former director-general of public health at the National Environment Agency (NEA), even wrote in to The Straits Times Forum page on Monday to urge Singaporeans to say no to any proposition of a ban.

Writing in his personal capacity, he said that without plastic bags, apartment-dwelling Singaporeans would be forced to chuck out wet refuse that would decay on the walls of chutes. The nightmare would not be just for cleaners. As vermin like cockroaches multiply, the health of residents would also be affected.

'We can easily reuse these plastic bags from supermarkets. The unwieldy small ones, such as those from pharmacies, and the thick ones when we buy clothing - which we can't reuse - are what we should be targeting in our campaigns,' Mr Wang told The Straits Times.

Plus, Mr Wang pointed out that plastic bags are safely incinerated with the rest of household refuse - contrary to the misperception that they release toxic fumes.

Associate Professor Ting Yen Peng, a chemical and biomolecular engineer at the National University of Singapore, agreed.

He said that unlike the lower temperatures of dumpsite bonfires, where cancer-causing chemicals are released from burning plastics, flaming plastic in incineration plants is safe.

'Under those high temperatures of 800 to 1,000 deg C, pollutants like dioxins and furans are not produced, and even if they were, NEA should have measures in place to trap them, before they are released into the air,' he said.

An NEA spokesman said Singapore's incinerators run at 1,000 deg C, filter out ash and neutralise any acidic gases produced.

Forum letter writer Faye Chiam argued that incineration may reduce the volume of waste, but plastic bag ash residues still have to be stuffed into Singapore's manmade landfill on Pulau Semakau.

Environmentalists say that besides disposal, the manufacture of plastic bags is also cause for concern. They point out that these bags are made from fossil fuel, the same source as that of petrol, which is expected to skyrocket to US$200 (S$274) a barrel this year.

Singapore's 4.5 million people use about 2.5 billion plastic bags a year.

When asked, those against banning the plastic bag offered some consolation.

Mr Wang said oil from trash such as plastics helps keep incinerators burning without an external source of fuel. NEA added that the four incineration plants supplied 2 to 3 per cent of Singapore's electricity supply.

But bags have to be binned in the first place, NEA conceded. Only refuse that makes it into chutes and rubbish bins can wind up in incinerators.

One reason for the NEA campaign, which began in 2006 to minimise the use of plastic bags, has been the high amount of plastic litter. Much of it chokes drains and forms a breeding ground for mosquitoes, its website said.

Unlike rotting food, plastic bags can stay in the ground or seas for hundreds of years, added environmentalists.

Ms Chiam pointed out how they entangle wildlife or can be mistaken for food, choking animals to death.

Mr N. Sivasothi, coordinator of the annual International Coastal Cleanup Singapore, can attest to this. Last year, its volunteers collected 2,600kg of trash along East Coast Park alone.

Current campaigns pitched by NEA and the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) do not aim for an eventual ban of plastic bag usage, the agencies said.

Instead, they are to minimise the number of plastic bags shoppers pick up while making their rounds. They have the support of stores such as NTUC FairPrice, Cold Storage and Ikea.

In supermarkets, Bring Your Own Bag Day on Wednesdays has gone from a monthly to weekly affair this month, where those without their own carriers have to purchase reusable cloth bags from stores.

Cashiers have had a range of responses from customers - from greenies with their own bags to those who dump all their groceries and walk out if asked to buy a bag.

Teacher Eleanor Barnabas, 28, brought up the largest complaint of shoppers thus far: They cannot remember what rule individual stores go by.

On a given day, will they be surprised by a free bag at checkout? Or will they have to buy a plastic one for 10 cents? Or pay $1.50 for a cloth carrier?

SEC chief executive Howard Shaw said he hopes shoppers will come up with their own strategy. On Wednesday, he began discussions with large retail stores like Metro, to discourage the use of plastic bags among shoppers.

'The mechanics have yet to be worked out, but cloth bags would be preferable, since people are much more likely to stash them in their home, office or car to use again,' he said.

Catching up with others
Straits Times 13 Jun 08;

SINGAPORE'S move to minimise the use of plastic bags is far from radical.

In 2002, Bangladesh was the first country to ban them as the millions of plastic bags contributed to blocked drains, worsening floods.

Indian states, starting with Maharashtra, followed suit in 2005, citing similar reasons. Some added that livestock were choking on bags, mistaking them for feed.

Taiwan, too, banned free distribution of plastic bags in 2003 and has since seen a 69 per cent drop in the use of plastic products. The government will be saying no to disposable wooden chopsticks next.

And just this month, China - where up to three billion plastic shopping bags are used each day - banned the giving of free polythene bags at shops and supermarkets, forcing consumers to pay for them. It also outlawed the manufacture of ultra-thin bags because, at under 0.025mm, this massive source of pollution cannot be re-used by consumers.

Australia's Environment Minister Peter Garrett plans to do away with free plastic carriers by year-end.

Farther afield, several parts of the United States are rethinking their bag use. San Francisco is considering replacing its tax, introduced in 2005 on every plastic bag in large supermarkets and pharmacies, with a complete ban.

New York has also called on large retailers to recycle bags.

London will rule out the use of ultra-thin plastic bags next year.

SHOBANA KESAVA


Are plastic bags really that bad?
The New Paper 13 Jun 08;

# NO - S'pore rubbish burnt, so landfill issue not relevant, says newspaper letter writer
# YES - Unnecessarily large number of bags burnt each year, says environment council


WE burn our rubbish and don't dump them in landfills.

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), this is what land-scarce Singapore does.

So do we really need to worry about plastic bags affecting our environment or even have a Bring Your Own Bag Day campaign?

The campaign, which kicked off in April last year, encourages customers to shop with reusable bags every first Wednesday of the month.

Mr Daniel Wang brought up the issue of plastic bags in a letter to The Straits Times Forum page on 9 Jun.

He said: 'When environmentalists first objected to their use years ago, the issue with them was that they were non-biodegradable.'

Plastic bags take 1,000 years to degrade in a landfill and they break into fragments that contaminate soil and water, according to environment experts.

'Later, the issue became waste minimisation, but both these issues are not applicable in Singapore's context,' Mr Wang wrote.

He said that all rubbish in Singapore is incinerated, so the question of non-biodegradability does not arise.

The issue of waste minimisation, he argued, is also unnecessary.

Mr Wang said: 'Many of us re-use the plastic bags that we get from supermarkets. We use them to line our kitchen bins and the wastepaper bins in our rooms.'

He said that many, including the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), have misunderstood the whole issue of plastic bags.

But experts say that the liberal use of plastic bags is still harmful to the environment.

The bags are made from petroleum or natural gas.

America's high plastic bag consumption rate (100 billion plastic bags annually) means using 12million barrels of oil to produce them.

HIGH PER-PERSON USAGE

Singapore consumes 2.5 billion plastic bags a year, which is equivalent to 625 bags per person or an average of 2,500 bags per family annually.

This is high compared to a bigger country like Australia, which consumes 6.9 billion plastic bags annually or 326 bags per person.

Said NEA: 'Plastic bags are made from oil, a finite resource. By using reusable bags during our shopping trips, we will use fewer plastic bags and help to conserve earth's resources.'

SEC's general manager Mr Yatin Premchand explained that the council is targeting Singaporeans' liberal and unnecessary usage of plastic bags.

These bags make up 19,000 tonnes of or about 0.8 per cent of the total waste Singapore disposes of in a year.

That weight is equivalent to about 95 blue whales or 2,000 double-decker buses.

Mr Premchand said: 'Singapore does incinerate its waste, but the very fact that we are generating so much of it from plastic bags alone is still a problem.'

Explaining that the council understands the need for people to use plastic bags for their trash, Mr Premchand said: 'We're not saying do not use plastic. We're just saying use them responsibly.'

Singapore's decision to discourage the use of plastic bags follows countries like Ireland, China, South Africa, Italy and Thailand.

In the US, cities like San Francisco and Oakland have already outlawed the use of plastic bags in large grocery stores and pharmacies.

Bangladesh banned plastic bags in March 2002 after discarded bags were found to have choked its drainage system in the 1998 and 1999 floods, according to a BBC report.

By Melody Zaccheus, newsroom intern