Ethylene Politics: The Anti-"Plastic Bags" Campaign Returns

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2008-05-20 03:12

Geo Energy Network
Chaguanas, TX

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This is an extract from an e-mail that was circulating last month:

Quote:
“Between 500 billion and a trillion plastic grocery bags are consumed worldwide each year. The most ubiquitous consumer item on Earth, the lowly plastic bag is an environmental scourge like none other. Say no to plasic bags! Intention of project is to use the strength of numbers and synergy of action to make positive changes. It is our goal to wake awareness of problems to population and give people means to act in few single steps. People do not like problems, they strive to forget them (if you don't think about it maybe it will disappear). Because of that please send this email to your friends and ask them to do the same. With time news will spread and awareness will grow and with awareness the will to act will be stronger.”

There have been varied responses to the expressed sentiments, the skeptics to this idea have been quick to state that the clamour against plastic bags, is little more than “tokenism” and that when people give up plastic bags, they are suffused with such a “green glow” that they fill their “green bags” with items as bad if not worse like plastic packaging, aluminium cans, etc. Further assertions have included the labelling of the campaigns to ban plastic bags as “picking the low-hanging fruit”, in that it allows politicians to claim they are doing something positive for the environment, pacify the environmentalists, and that it distracts attention and alleviate pressure on the politician to act upon other more serious forms of environmental degradation such as “overpopulation, overfishing, chemical pollution”, etc. and is too heavily focussed on “wildlife getting caught up in these bags” while ignoring the fact that the ubiquity of plastic bags depends on the raw materials of plastics, ethylene, being readily available as a very cheap by-product of oil and gas refining, and that if plastic bags are banned, this very ethylene will still end up in the environment (and not in a form that creates any value).

2008-05-20 03:18

Geo Energy Network
Chaguanas, TX

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My personal opinion is that, up to a point, both sides of the debate have some merit. This campaign of aversion to plastic bags is nothing "new". Like many other aspects, it is simply a "recycling" of an idea from the last time "environmental consciousness / green living" became popular in the early 1990's.

To some extent, plastic bags are very useful, and many of us have become accustomed to recycling or re-using them (albeit on a small-scale) for storing various items, such as documents. That can lead to problems with some of these "eco-friendly" plastic bags, especially the photo-degradable ones. Sometimes you might unknowingly put something in one of those, and a few months later instead of being stored in a bag, you find it surrounded by "shards" of crumbling powdery plastic-bag residue.

But as cynical or critical as some of that may sound, and the fact that plastic bags probably do not represent much in terms of the "bigger picture" of the environmental issues at stake, it does represent an example of small-scale individual action, and helps to some extent in providing a "beacon of hope" to many, at a time of both increased apathy and pessimism to environmental issues and the sustainability of our future.

The reality is that individuals can do little or nothing (directly) to address the "real" issues of water pollution, emissions, and the environmental policies of politicians and corporations, but at least this is something. That scenario mentioned, of people being "suffused with a green glow" and then doing things which neutralise the positive effects of their actions may be true to some extent, but it is unlikely that it would be so for the majority of people (we can still hope).

Back in the early 1990's, one of the watchwords was "Think Globally, Act Locally" and that resurgent concept is just as (if not more) relevant now than it was then. It is like watching history repeat itself, but there is no reason to not be optimistic that it may last longer this time. This is the most practical way any "culture" of environmental concern can become entrenched, and remain in the mainstream. It's really up to us (not the politicians or the corporations). We as a "species" have not reached where we are today by chance or an inability to adapt to new circumstances in our environments. Survival is entrenched in our DNA, and despite modern technology natural selection will always prevail.

Overall, plastic bags may not be much in terms of solving the bigger environmental aspects of sustainability, but they are a useful starting point, and a way to encourage people to begin (and continue) thinking more about the impacts of their simple day-to-day activities, and reassure them that their small (local) actions can indeed cumulatively add up to something more substantial (globally).

In any case, some of the concerns about plastic bags, such as the effects of plastic materials on endangered species of marine turtles, are quite valid.

2008-05-20 03:31

Geo Energy Network
Chaguanas, TX

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Overall, the "plastics" environmental issue is really just another dimension of our cultural addiction to oil and gas. As already noted, the availability of plastics for making consumable / non-durable / disposable items such as grocery bags and packaging materials, is dependent upon the ubiquity of ethylene as an industrial by-product of the oil industry, and therefore one of the arguments against campaigns to ban plastic shopping bags, or to reduce the quantity used in packaging materials, is the ethylene will still end up in the environment.

However, one implication of the increasing unavailability of (or competition for) hydrocarbons as time progresses, is that reliance on cheap ethylene for plastics production (as a de facto waste transfer mechanism) is in itself inherently unsustainable. Therefore, this adds another dimension to the plastic materials sustainability debate – we should probably be looking for some substitute material for things like plastic bags (and bottles, packaging materials, etc.) for reasons other than their (direct) environmental impact.

Plastics are, by definition, organic materials. So, the question is, what processes exist that sustainably produce materials? The only such process I can think of, offhand, is photosynthesis in green plants, which is the materials production process closest to being "sustainable" – as long as the sun shines (i.e., solar energy is available for the plants to convert directly into matter). At the present time ethylene is made from ethane by "steam cracking", another process makes ethanol. Since ethanol can be made from cellulose in a sustainable way then it is conceivable that we can still have very useful polymers such as high density polyethylene as part of a biopolymer suite, from this source. However it is likely that it will be far too expensive to use in disposable products like bags and packaging materials.

Environmental problem solved? By no means! But, it is instructive to note that the environmental "scourge" (as the anti-"plastic bags" campaigners describe it) will, like all other things related to fossil fuels, peak at some time. Unless a very cheap substitute source for plastic manufacture is found, it is only a matter of time before it is too valuable to be simply "given away" as in the case of grocery bags. Source stocks for making plastics will always be available, but the fact remains that the allocation and distribution of this material will change in the short- or medium-term future.

2008-05-23 23:00

Frank K
Colorado Springs, CO

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Paper or plastic? People are creatures of habit, and sometimes it takes more than their environmental consciousness to force change. In Colorado Springs during the drought of a few years ago, watering restrictions were imposed. It forced a dramatic decrease in water usage, but surprisingly when the water restrictions were lifted, the water usage didn’t go back up much. People’s habits were largely changed. So what would happen if grocery and other stores were mandated to charge a 10 cent “environmental fee” for every plastic or paper bag used? We would see a dramatic reduction in plastic bags and more usage of canvas bags. If after a year government decides to eliminate the fee, people by then will have adjusted to their canvas bags. In Michigan it is very hard to find a discarded aluminum can or bottle on the side of the road or around a picnic ground or beach. That’s because stores are required to charge a refundable deposit on selected cans and bottles. The practice of returning bottles and cans has become a habit for Michiganders and they don’t litter…even for those bottles that are not a part of the mandated charges. Hitting one’s pocket book forces a change in habits...a change that is now embodied in their life styles.

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