A study conducted on different types of bags and their impact on the environment it was found that cotton bags may be less green and can cause more global warming.
Health Effects of Global Warming
Greenhouse effect causes excessive heat to build up in the earth’s atmosphere causing global warming and affects the environment and health.
Greenhouse effect causes excessive heat to build up in the earth’s atmosphere causing global warming and affects the environment and health.
And that a cotton bag has to be used 131 times before it has the same environmental impact like its plastic counterpart
And if a plastic bag is re-used as a bin liner, a cotton bag has to be used 173 times - nearly every day of the year - before its ecological impact is as low as a plastic bag on a host of factors including greenhouse gas emissions over its lifetime.
Italy to Ban Plastic Bags From January 1
Italy is set to ban plastic bags from shops and supermarkets across the country on January 1 as shoppers eager for the New Year's sales prepare to swap to biodegradable, fabric or paper bags.
Italy is set to ban plastic bags from shops and supermarkets across the country on January 1 as shoppers eager for the New Year's sales prepare to swap to biodegradable, fabric or paper bags.
Paper bags, used by some clothes chains such as Primark, need to be used three times to fall below the environmental impact of the thin plastic carrier.
Advertisement
Ban Plastic Bags, Says UN Official
Plastic shopping bags that are usually sold in groceries must be banned, according to Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Program.
Plastic shopping bags that are usually sold in groceries must be banned, according to Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Program.
The report said using a thin plastic bag, made from a plastic called high-density polyethylene (HDPE), equates to generating 1.57kg of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that scientist believe leads to global warming.
Advertisement
British Village Set to Go Green With the Help of Mumbai
Picturesque Overton in Hampshire are voting to select designs for cotton bags that will be manufactured in Mumbai and will help the village turn plastic-free.
Picturesque Overton in Hampshire are voting to select designs for cotton bags that will be manufactured in Mumbai and will help the village turn plastic-free.
Cotton bags typically made in China have a greater environmental impact because of the water and fertiliser required in their production, as well as their transportation and greater weight.
"The HDPE bag had the lowest environmental impacts of the single use options in nine of the 10 impact categories," the Daily Mail quoted the researchers as saying.
"The bag performed well because it was the lightest single use bag considered," they said.
Plastic bags have also come under fire for using up oil and for littering the countryside and fouling the marine environment for wildlife.
However, the research found that biodegradable bags made of starch were not a greener option than HDPE bags as they are less environmentally friendly to make and heavier.
"In practical terms of global warming potential, eutrophication [a form of river pollution] ozone layer depletion, toxicity and ecotoxicity the current starch polyester blend bag is significantly worse than conventional single-use options due to the high impact of raw material production on those categories," the authors wrote.
An Environment Agency spokesperson said the report focuses on the greenhouse gas emissions of manufacturing different types of carrier bags.
"Much of the environmental impact of these bags is associated with the primary resource use and production," the spokesperson said.
"The final report due to be published in the next two weeks, will show that all multi-use bags - plastic, cotton or paper - need to be reused on multiple occasions to justify the additional carbon footprint of their production.
"If they are, then their overall carbon footprint can be less than single use plastic bags," the spokesperson added.
Source-ANI
