Polythene: Bags of trouble!

ENVIRONMENT: The environmental issues associated with plastic shopping bags have featured in the news in the past 10 years.

Now that the Government has banned polythene bags less than 20 microns from next year, are we, as a nation, aware of the gravity of this problem and are ready to face it?

Some time ago, a sample survey has been done about the consumption pattern of polythene in city and urban areas.

It showed that while 85 percent of the common people use up to 15 polythene bags per week, the use is up to 300 polythene bags per week in 50 percent of the shopkeepers and more than 500 polythene bags per week in about 40 percent of the shopkeepers.

Maximum use of polythene is as multipurpose carry-bags for carrying vegetables, grocery items etc., while 18 percent of the sample population used it for packaging purpose.

According to this survey although 80 percent of the population were well aware about the fact that polythene was not degradable, about 90 percent of the population knew that polythene could cause clogging of drains while 50 percent of them have actually experienced the problem a number of times in their own locality.

So, if we are aware of the problem why is our strange attitude regarding disposal of polythene? Polythene bags lying in garbage heaps and blowing here and there has become a common sight today at most of the public places, residential colonies, tourist complexes etc., which not only is an eye-sore but also has serious environmental implications.

It is a common practice to pack up the household trash in poly-bags and throw it away.

Hardly do we care that by doing so we are not even allowing the biodegradable kitchen-waste to get decomposed freely in the soil by microbes or even allowing the same to be eaten by animals!

In developed countries like Britain polythene bags have been used in the same way as it has been in Sri Lanka.

But problems have arisen only in our country, not in Britain. Why?

One would like to attribute it to general behaviour of users, in the words of environmental planners 'problem of collective action'.

The argument is that people who use polythene bags dispose them of hither and thither without considering the consequences. In disposing of polythene bags attitude of users is 'not in my back yard'.

It is said that there are two parameters that contribute to successful management of polythene bags in Britain.

One is people's attitude and the other one is efficient waste collection activity of borough authority.

Each citizen contributes towards a clean environment. Every body puts waste generated in house in wastebasket, after the basket is full every one takes it to the dustbin outside home and empty it there.

On the other hand the authority responsible for collecting waste is very careful in ensuring that no polythene bag or waste spills over dustbin on the street or drain.

Different countries have adopted a range of approaches to discourage the use of plastic bags in an attempt to cut down on the number of bags finding their way into the environment Years ago supermarkets in Ireland have been forced to charge shoppers a tax on each new plastic bag.

The idea was introduced as an attempt to curb the litter problem created by so many bags. It worked. Within a couple of months, shoppers have switched to re-using carrier bags.

Customers routinely turned up "pre-armed" with a clutch of polythene and one of the bigger chains said the number of bags they distributed dropped by 50 percent within three months.

Another example is Bangladesh who slapped an outright ban on all polythene bags after they were found to have been the main culprit during the 1988 and 1998 floods.

Look at our own country. Per capita consumption of polythene which stood at two kilogrammes in 1980, has increased to a staggering 4.5 kg in 2005. An environmental catastrophe seems to occur around us with alarming regularity.

Yet, I believe there is a simple way each and every person can make a difference. It doesn't involve travelling the world to clean up oil spills or standing in the path of bulldozers to prevent land clearing. It actually involves shopping.

Whenever you go marketing, take your own bag with you. Make this a rule. In this way you do not have to accept polythene bags from vegetable and fruit vendors anew.

If you are buying grocery and the shopkeeper has paper bags then ask him to pack your grocery in them.

As a good citizen, you should try for optimum utilization of each resource. So before disposing off a polythene bag, use it to its fullest. These are small things but when cultivated into habits, may snowball into a major conservation force.

So next time you go marketing, hold your head up proudly as you reuse an old bag. You may not be in a rickety Jeep chasing a group of pirate loggers but you have made a big contribution to the pollution - free future of the country.