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How do you properly dispose of a plastic bag?pabenny wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25 2019 11:59amOn the basis that
- Plastic carriers have a markedly lower carbon footprint than paper (assuming each is only used once)
- Most plastic carriers supplied to UK households are properly disposed of – either through domestic waste, or through effective recycling schemes
I would argue that plastic carriers are environmentally preferable.
Proper disposal of plastic bags - if you put it in your household waste, it's likely to go to (properly managed) landfill, or to be incinerated. It's unlikely to end up littering or as ocean plastic. As for supermarket collections - Plastic carriers and also shrink wrap from pallets etc are all LDPE, which is relatively easy to recycle. And since the collections are dedicated to a single type, in theory, it all can be recycled in Europe. Whether it is recycled is another matter.Chadwick wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25 2019 2:02pmHow do you properly dispose of a plastic bag?
I know you can chuck it in the collection bin at Tesco, but what happens to them after that? Are they easily recycled?
Similar question with paper bags. Are they more easily recycled than the plastic ones? Does that tip the balance?
Precisely! This can be said about a lot of things...!!!pabenny wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25 2019 2:45pmProper disposal of plastic bags - if you put it in your household waste, it's likely to go to (properly managed) landfill, or to be incinerated. It's unlikely to end up littering or as ocean plastic. As for supermarket collections - Plastic carriers and also shrink wrap from pallets etc are all LDPE, which is relatively easy to recycle. And since the collections are dedicated to a single type, in theory, it all can be recycled in Europe. Whether it is recycled is another matter.Chadwick wrote: ↑Tue Jun 25 2019 2:02pmHow do you properly dispose of a plastic bag?
I know you can chuck it in the collection bin at Tesco, but what happens to them after that? Are they easily recycled?
Similar question with paper bags. Are they more easily recycled than the plastic ones? Does that tip the balance?
There is a good and established infrastructure for recycling paper waste, and there is every reason to believe that most paper collected for recycling is actually recycled.
Does that change the balance between paper and plastic? I don't think so. If a paper bag is three times worse than a plastic one, and if both are used only once, the disposal process of plastic would have to be much worse to offset the preference when used.
The answer is ultimately that it depends. It depends whether you re-use bags. It depends where they are sourced and whether that is from recycled material. It depends on the disposal options.
Does that mean we should do nothing? No. But it maybe shows that abandoning plastics can a kneejerk reaction driven by public opinion rather based on sound evidence.
The plastic bags our loo rolls come in are recyclable - they are put in the plastic bag collector bin at the supermarket.blythburgh wrote: ↑Wed Jun 26 2019 9:43amWe have none and the plastic bags in our house are the ones that held the loo rolls. We save them for when we need to put something in a bag, sealing and then dumping in black landfill bin.
A bit pale shade of green but I do try.
We keep ours and use them many times over, typically until they fall apart. Even then there's sometimes a need to wrap something dirty up for handling and a useless carrier bag is as good as anything.blythburgh wrote: ↑Sat Aug 10 2019 10:54amI do get plastic bags with stuff I have bought on the net. But I use an indelible pen to remove my details and pass the bag on to a small charity that does not have plastic bags with their logo on. At least they get used twice at least this way.
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