Contents Introduction 2 Triple Bottom Line 2 Environmental 2 Economical 2 Social 2 Materials Chart 3 Recommendation 5 Bibliography 5 Introduction As the world’s population slowly increases, the need to recycle becomes more evident to safeguard the future of the environment for future generations. With Australia using 3.92 billion single use plastic bags each year of which 50 million ending up in Australia’s litter system, green-minded Australians have started using the green reusable shopping bags (Plastic as a Resource, 2015). Although some people switched over to using the green bags, there is evidence that suggest they are not as environmentally friendly as some people might think. This report will investigate triple bottom line sustainability, materials and provide a recommendation for future shopping bags. Triple Bottom Line The commonly known “phrase triple bottom line” stands for the three things that make a product sustainable. These three things are: how environmentally friendly the product is, how economical it is and how socially acceptable this product is (Slaper & Hall, 2011). Environmental How environmentally friendly are green shopping bags?? Well most green shopping bags are made from non-woven polypropylene or NWPP for short. Polypropylene is a by-product of petroleum. During the process of refining oil propylene gas is produced. The gas is put into a reactor then becoming propylene powder. Stabilisers are mixed with the powder and the combined
The author proves the falsehood of the long known assumption that plastic is a threat to our planet. By citing the research done by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the author convinces his readers that not only are plastic bags not harmful as people think, but also beneficial. This surprises his audience and shows them how exaggerated the cries of environmentalists, which gets the readers wondering what else have they falsely believed in and what other information are paper-bags advocates hiding from them, and that pulls them into the argument and intrigues them further. Additionally, Summers lists the harmful consequences of using reusable bags by presenting research results and observations. This alarms the audience and raises concern in their
The Ad-lider company is not advertising its products and rather focusing on the interview with focused groups. This is one of the major weaknesses of the company. Advertising can be used to inform, persuade, build brands, encourage purchase and remind customers about product and so on. Since Ad-lider is not advertising about its product so the company is not being able to build the brand of the company or its product in the market.
Australians approximately use 6.9 billion plastic bags per year (Errata Nolan ITU, 2002). The high consumption of plastic bags highlights one outstanding issue. The adverse impact, consumption and disposal of plastic bags have towards the environment. This involves the resources used to make
The author Adam B. Summers states in his article "Bag Ban Bad for Freedom and Environment" that plastic grocery bags are not that bad for the environment as we thought, but will infringe citizens' basic right. He effectively builds his argument by using comparison and reliable statistics.
“Bag2bag” program is the most important one among them. Kroger reused more than 1billion pounds of corrugated cardboard in 2007. It resulted in a 14 percent increment over the previous year. In majority of the stores plastic bags, dry-cleaning bags and plastic shrink-wrap can now be reused via Kroger’s recycling program. 9.1 million pounds of plastic recycled from the stores and distribution centers as a result of this program. The grocery bags used in many retail departments contain 25% reused content as a direct consequence of “Bag2bag” program. (Kroger Sustainability Report,
People must start using reusable bags and bottles in order to decrease the amount of waste that is filling the planet. Plastic bags take between fifteen and one thousand
Plastic bags begin as crude oil, natural gases, or other petrochemical derivatives. By some estimates almost 12 million barrels of petroleum oil are used to make 100 billion plastic bags. One solution is to stop using plastic bags. Plastic bag bans are spreading across the country with over 100 community bag bans across 16 states. Hawaii right now is the only state in the nation to adopt a full statewide ban. Internationally,19 countries from Bangladesh to Ireland have passed bans. Reducing plastic bag usage and shoppers to use reusable bags will help decrease our demand for a new fossil fuel and reduce our environmental impact. As a nation we need to begin to move away from the concepts of single use and waste. Plastic is made from oil.
Serving as the number one source of our plastic use, companies opt for plastic containers because it's easy, feasible, and convenient. Food packaging alone makes up for 30-40% of landfills with much of that plastic being carried into the oceans. Going off of this, a new concept that's quickly becoming popular are package free grocery stores. These cost- effective grocery stores have everything you could possible need in bulk form and consumers bring glass or reusable containers, or cloth bags and fill them with the food they need. First popping up in cities like Berlin, Vienna, and Barcelona, many are finding this a more sustainable and eco-friendly option resulting in these sort of grocery stores quickly spreading across the ocean, with the first one in the United States expected to open in Brooklyn, New York. Business operators are extremely optimistic that this could serve a very impactful solution to getting rid of unnecessary plastic. (Che Jenny).
The triple bottom line is a company concept that was introduced in 1994 by John Elkington it is a way to measure the financial, social and environmental performance
Summers’ facts and examples in this article to support his claim that banning plastic bags would be bad. A fact that he uses in his article is that the bill would have prohibited grocery stores and convenience stores at least $2 million in gross annual sales. People often debate that plastic bags hurt the planet and marine life. However, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, plastic bags, sacks, and wraps make up about 1.6 percent of all solid waste materials. Out of that little percent, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bags, the most common plastic grocery bag, only make up about 0.3 percent of them.
Each year there is an increase in demands for plastic bags, and therefore more are shipped, creating further environmental pollution concerns. This increase in demand has lead to the phenomenal upsurge in the use and misuse of plastic bags globally, both in developed and developing countries. Statistics show that 4 to 5 trillion plastic bags are produced per annum, whereby North America and Western Europe account for nearly 80% (Geographical, 2005; Reusable Bags, 2005). Cheeseman (2007) states that approximately “380 billion plastic shopping bags are used in the United States annually”; in turn, only 0.6% of this is recycled.
Plastic bags cause a massive amount of pollution to the earth. It lets out lots of CO2 into the air with the production of it. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that if let out too much at one time can hurt the planet. Not only do plastic bags produce pollution while being made, but also when they are decomposing. Plastic bags go on to last for up to 10-1000 years. That is possibly 1000 years that a plastic bag goes on to add the huge amount of trash in the world. Although plastic bags take so long to decompose they do eventually break down. Exposure to a lot of sunlight and wind will also speed up the process of the decomposition of plastic bags. The breaking down of plastic bags seems like a good thing, however it is the complete opposite. Plastic bags are broken down into microscopic particles that are toxic. Those toxic particles then go on to hurt the environment. An articles states, “They break down into tiny toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them.”. This goes to show that those
Introduction: Have you ever wanted to help the environment, but you just didn’t know how? When we go shopping we see a lot of people carrying bags made of plastic. I must admit; plastic bags can be very convenient at times, but the use of plastic bags has it disadvantages. If you knew about the dangers of the use of plastic bags, then I'm sure you will think twice about using plastic bags and use tote bags instead.
Five hundred billion used globally and one hundred billion of them end up in U.S. landfills, taking about one thousand years to decompose, but only 5.2 percent were recycled (Borrud, 2007, p.75).-These are the figures plastic bags have produced every year. Human beings invented plastic bags for the convenience of carriers and packers. However, just as other great inventions, say, nuclear energy and biotechnology, plastic bags are causing serious issues like global warming, environment pollution and energy consumption. They are gradually becoming sword towards ourselves. In responding to this problem, the city of San Francisco has become the trail blazer to prohibit non-biodegradable plastic bags in its large supermarkets and pharmacies.
For my project, I will refuse to use plastic bags and I will use reusable bags instead. I am aware of the harmful effects plastic bags have on the environment, specifically in the ocean, and I want to do my part to help reduce this harm. Whenever I go grocery shopping, or just shopping in general, I will bring my own reusable bags to the store and refuse any plastic bags if they are offered to me. I do not go shopping very often (maybe once every two weeks), but when I do, I will be sure to always have a reusable bag with me. I plan to start now and carry this project on as long as I can, but it will most likely only last for the semester, as once I go home I will probably not be grocery shopping for myself.