(Published in Manila Standard Today under the Greenlight Column, August 1, 2011)
Every time I drive through MdDonald’s or Jollibee to buy my 5-year old son a burger meal, it’s always heartwarming to see the use of paper bags instead of the lowly plastic bag. In Pasig City alone, more than 320 “quick service restaurants” (QSR) including fast food chains such as have started using paper bags for takeout.
The new symbol
The paper bag has become the symbol of a new environmental revolution that’s sweeping the country and the world over. Conversely, the plastic bag has become the symbol of environmental scourge.
In January this year, the city council of Muntinlupa passed an ordinance prohibiting commercial establishments from using plastic bags and styrofoam. Los Banos likewise followed and other municipalities might follow.
Several malls owners have implemented a “no plastic bags’ day” once a week to lessens the use of plastic bags, which Malacanang expressedly supported.
The Department of Environment and Natural resources (DENR) is already studying alternatives to plastic bags. In fact the agency is supporting two Senate bills that seek to regulate the use of plastic grocery bags and push for the use of environment-friendly alternatives.
Ban plastic
Elsewhere allover the globe, many countries are already ahead in banning plastic bags. For example, Bangladesh started to ban the use of plastic bags in Dhaka, after being found to be responsible for the 1988 and 1998 floods which submerged a big part of the country. Previously, 9.3 million plastic bags were dumped in the city everyday, which goes into drainage and sewage lines.
Many more countries have taken the lead to ban plastics bags such as Mexico, India, Burma, Rwanda apart from the more industrialized countries like the U.S., England, and Australia. Other countries such as Italy, Belgium, and Ireland have chosen not to ban plastic bags, but to tax those establishment that use it.
Because plastic bags are not biodegradable, its destructive impacts to the environment is huge – from clogging drainage and causing floods to killing wildlife in the rivers and oceans. Despite these, there is still an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags that are used worldwide annually – of which close to 400 billion come from the U.S.
A sustainable solution?
While the biodegradable paper bag presents a tempered solution to the harmful effects of plastic bags, is its use a sustainable solution to protect the environment?
Paper comes from trees. Producing paper consumes natural resources primarily trees - lots of trees. According to the National Cooperative Grocers Association, the U.S. consumes 10 billion paper grocery bags each year, requiring 14 million trees. Paper bag production requires trees to be cut down, therefore reducing a major absorber of greenhouse gases.
Moreover, according to a Wall Street Journal report, producing paper bags consume more water and energy, and emit more greenhouse-gas emissions than that of producing plastics bags.
So what’s better – paper bags or plastic bags? Probably neither. But what paper bag use has brought to the fore is the consciousness to take care of the environment. It has spawned a movement towards finding sustainable solutions.
One solution is the use of biodegradable plastic bags. There are already technologies available to achieve this, and in fact the DENR is closely studying this. Another is the use of reusable bags which is now being practiced in big grocery stores across the country.
Other countries have resorted to alternatives that not only limit the use of plastic bags, but also give a boost to local industries. In Bangladesh, bags made of Jute, a vegetable fiber that is spun into coarse threads has seen a surge of exports by up to 70 percent year-on-year in 2010. The Jute bags are exported to eco-friendly foreign buyers which make this an alternative to plastic bags.
In the end, we have to find a sustainable solution to the urgent environmental problem.
-------------------------------
Reynaldo C. Lugtu Jr. teaches strategy, management and marketing courses in the MBA Program of De La Salle University, Graduate School of Business. He may be e-mailed at rlugtu2002@yahoo.com, or visit his blog at http://rlugtu.blogspot.com.
Every time I drive through MdDonald’s or Jollibee to buy my 5-year old son a burger meal, it’s always heartwarming to see the use of paper bags instead of the lowly plastic bag. In Pasig City alone, more than 320 “quick service restaurants” (QSR) including fast food chains such as have started using paper bags for takeout.
The new symbol
The paper bag has become the symbol of a new environmental revolution that’s sweeping the country and the world over. Conversely, the plastic bag has become the symbol of environmental scourge.
In January this year, the city council of Muntinlupa passed an ordinance prohibiting commercial establishments from using plastic bags and styrofoam. Los Banos likewise followed and other municipalities might follow.
Several malls owners have implemented a “no plastic bags’ day” once a week to lessens the use of plastic bags, which Malacanang expressedly supported.
The Department of Environment and Natural resources (DENR) is already studying alternatives to plastic bags. In fact the agency is supporting two Senate bills that seek to regulate the use of plastic grocery bags and push for the use of environment-friendly alternatives.
Ban plastic
Elsewhere allover the globe, many countries are already ahead in banning plastic bags. For example, Bangladesh started to ban the use of plastic bags in Dhaka, after being found to be responsible for the 1988 and 1998 floods which submerged a big part of the country. Previously, 9.3 million plastic bags were dumped in the city everyday, which goes into drainage and sewage lines.
Many more countries have taken the lead to ban plastics bags such as Mexico, India, Burma, Rwanda apart from the more industrialized countries like the U.S., England, and Australia. Other countries such as Italy, Belgium, and Ireland have chosen not to ban plastic bags, but to tax those establishment that use it.
Because plastic bags are not biodegradable, its destructive impacts to the environment is huge – from clogging drainage and causing floods to killing wildlife in the rivers and oceans. Despite these, there is still an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags that are used worldwide annually – of which close to 400 billion come from the U.S.
A sustainable solution?
While the biodegradable paper bag presents a tempered solution to the harmful effects of plastic bags, is its use a sustainable solution to protect the environment?
Paper comes from trees. Producing paper consumes natural resources primarily trees - lots of trees. According to the National Cooperative Grocers Association, the U.S. consumes 10 billion paper grocery bags each year, requiring 14 million trees. Paper bag production requires trees to be cut down, therefore reducing a major absorber of greenhouse gases.
Moreover, according to a Wall Street Journal report, producing paper bags consume more water and energy, and emit more greenhouse-gas emissions than that of producing plastics bags.
So what’s better – paper bags or plastic bags? Probably neither. But what paper bag use has brought to the fore is the consciousness to take care of the environment. It has spawned a movement towards finding sustainable solutions.
One solution is the use of biodegradable plastic bags. There are already technologies available to achieve this, and in fact the DENR is closely studying this. Another is the use of reusable bags which is now being practiced in big grocery stores across the country.
Other countries have resorted to alternatives that not only limit the use of plastic bags, but also give a boost to local industries. In Bangladesh, bags made of Jute, a vegetable fiber that is spun into coarse threads has seen a surge of exports by up to 70 percent year-on-year in 2010. The Jute bags are exported to eco-friendly foreign buyers which make this an alternative to plastic bags.
In the end, we have to find a sustainable solution to the urgent environmental problem.
-------------------------------
Reynaldo C. Lugtu Jr. teaches strategy, management and marketing courses in the MBA Program of De La Salle University, Graduate School of Business. He may be e-mailed at rlugtu2002@yahoo.com, or visit his blog at http://rlugtu.blogspot.com.
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