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Bring Your Own Bag and Help Saving Plastic Bags
Over use of plastic bags involves environmental and health issues. Thus, reducing the usage of plastic bags and using cloth bag as an alternative at the dining hall takeout services at Rutgers, the State University of NJ can help amend these issues.
Authors: Gargi B. Patel, Sweta S. Solanki with Julie M. Fagan, Ph.D
Tag words: Plastic bags; RU Dining Hall take out service; Alternative of plastic and paper bags; Use cloth or reusable canvas bags instead of plastic bags
Summary:
The most visually obvious environmental issue concerning people is the over use of plastic and paper bags. Littering of the landscape, clogging the waterways and endangering wildlife as well as humans are the only a few of the detrimental results of using plastic bags. Plastic bags takes hundreds of years to decompose and the recycling rate is very low. It is made out of many harmful chemicals (such as BPA, HDPE, LLDPE, ethylene) which have negative effects on the environment, as well as to human health. Plastic bags are mistakenly eaten by marine animals and clog their intestines which results in death by starvation. Plastic bags float and mislead marine animals such as turtles that swallow them as food. Also, chemicals such as BPA have negative health effects toward humans, which include disruption of reproduction, as well as endocrine dysfunctions. To avoid this environmental and health issue, one needs to avoid the use of plastic bags and create an alternative path to get a risk-free environment worldwide. In order to have big changes, small changes are necessary. Together we, the students at Rutgers, can make a change. There are many ways to produce less waste and for that we say reduce, reuse and recycle. However, people don’t realize that reduce and reuse come before recycle. We can reduce and reuse plastic bags which are used at Rutgers dining hall takeout services. By acknowledging students about this issue, banning plastic bags and using cloth or reusable canvas bags instead are the ways to control this issue. (SS) http://www.envirosax.com/plastic_bag_facts
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67EwbQSynHw 2
Introduction:
(SS) In United States, approximately 380 billion plastic bags are being used every year. This number means that 1,200 bags are used per US resident every year. One hundred billion of the 380 billion are just plastic shopping bags. In addition, approximately 12 million barrels of oil is required to make that many plastic bags and this is one of the main reasons why reduction of plastic bags is important. Even though there is recycling, and the bins are located everywhere in every corner of almost all cities in the United States, people do not pay much attention to recycling properly. Compared to the uses of plastic bags, the amount of recycling of those plastic bags is very low. Only 1-2% of plastic bags are getting recycled. “There's harsh economics behind bag recycling: It costs $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for $32”. http://sarawittenberg.suite101.com/environmental-dangers-of-plastic-bags-a123185 http://static.reuseit.com/PDFs/The%20Christian%20Science%20Monitor.pdf
There are multiple reasons for why people should not use plastic bags. One of the reasons to avoiding plastic bags is the marine animals and birds who die each year as a result of plastic pollution. The united national environment program estimates that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating in every square mile of the ocean. Most of the time plastic bags are mistakenly ingested by animals, clogging their intestines which results in death by starvation. Plastic bags float and mislead marine animals such as turtles that swallow them as food. Many scientists believe that jellyfish look similar to plastic bags and thus many marine lives consume it. In addition, the result comes out to be death of all those marine animals that ingested it. Another problem with plastic bags is that plastic bags are very thin and light, and that makes it easy for them to just fly around with the wind. They are easily blown around, get stuck on trees, and litter gardens and parks. It can kill small birds as well. Thus, it is harmful for the animals and birds lives. Another alternative for the plastic bags is the paper bags. However, Americans consume more than 10 billion paper bags per year and 14 million trees are being cut down every year for paper bag production. Thus, uses of paper bags instead of plastic bag is not a good alteration since paper production requires hundreds of gallons of water as well as toxic chemicals like sulphurous acid, which can lead to acid rain and water pollution.
Thus, there should be an alternative for plastic bags which people need to use to avoid the environmental and health issues. The alternative way is to use cloth bags instead of plastic bags. Since paper and plastic both have almost same impact on the environment, cloth bags or reusable canvas bags are the risk-free material for alternative uses. It is hard to convince people to start using new products, including cloth bags, but by properly educating people by showing them documentary films such as BAG IT, and by making factual flyers and posters, it should encourage people to bring their own bags. http://plasticbags.planetark.org/about/wildlife.cfm 3
Furthermore, not all plastic and paper bags go into a landfill. Most of the wastes from plastic and paper bags enter into rivers, sewers and even seas and oceans. They block waterways, drainages, and create more pollution issues. There are many countries around the world that actually take this issue regarding plastic bags very seriously and they have taken actions against it. Countries such as Bangladesh (2002) placed a ban on plastic bags. Some areas in the United States, such as San Francisco, have also passed a bill and put a ban on providing plastic bags at the shopping and grocery stores. “Jersey City, NJ is hoping to soon pass an ordinance banning plastic bags. If successful, it would be the state's first plastic bag ban.” http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6167 msnbc.com march 8, 2007
Even though people are taking actions on this issue, it cannot be enough to fix the issue. There are many programs currently in progress to make the system of recycling more efficient and to reduce the use of plastic bags. The Borough of Tinton Falls Department of Public, NJ has volunteer programs where they distribute two bags per residential address in exchange for 20 plastic shopping bags for each reusable shopping bag. Programs where people can bring plastic bags and gain few cents per each plastic bags can encourages people to recycle their wastes. These programs are small steps in achieving a much larger goal of recycling. http://www.tintonfalls.com/content/115/669/152/675/220/default.aspx http://www.livestrong.com/article/182003-what-are-the-dangers-of-plastic-bags-for-food- storage/
Plastic Bag Composition:
(GP) Plastic has its different forms and people consume plastic in various styles, such as desktop computer cover, carpets, disposable spoons, and forks. Plastic is easy to use, yet very difficult to be decomposed. Plastic is made of polymers, made of monomers and other elements. Few examples of monomers are ethylene, styrene, propylene, vinyl chloride, and ethylene glycol. More chemicals are added to modify plastic quality. Some of the chemicals, for example, phthalates, provide softness to Polyvinyl Chloride. Other chemical is butadiene that helps to make plastic # 7. Sometimes the composition of plastic includes heat, bacteria, light, and coloring agents to form a desired shape of coloring plastic. Coating of the material ends the process of plastic composition and it finally proceeds for packing.
Plastic has different forms in the market. Some of the known forms are Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS), polyamides (PA), phenolformaldehydes (PF), Melamine formaldehyde (MF), High density polyethylene (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE) polyesters (PES), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polylactic acid (PLA), polystyrene (PS), polyurethanes (PU), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), urea formaldehyde (UF), and many more. From all these different forms, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE (Linear LDPE), ethylene, PP, and PLA are mainly used for plastic bag creation. 4
Ethylene is also known as ethane. Ethylene can be found naturally in the environment. Consumers do not have direct access to buy ethylene. Ethylene is used in a production of polyethylene and other industrial chemicals such as, ethylene glycol, and ethylene dichloride. Polymers of ethylene are used to manufacture fibers, bottles, piping, food packaging films, trash liners, and plastic bags.
Propylene also exists naturally in the environment. Polypropylene helps to make plastic bags at industrial level.
Butadiene is used primarily as a chemical intermediate and as a monomer in the manufacture of polymers of plastic bags. Butadiene cannot be sold alone, however its chemical products are very useful in plastic bags production.
High density poly ethylene (HDPE) This form of plastic bag is mainly used for grocery bags and it is made of linear unbranched chains. In order to initiate the polymerization, a process named Ziegler Natta Vinyl Polymerization, is used. It uses TiCl3, a transition metal to catalyze the reaction. Another complex is metallocene. This complex creates novel co-polymers, which helps to produce plastic on larger base.
Low Density Poly Ethylene This form of plastic bag is mainly used for garment bags preparation and they are branched chains. A polymerization of this form is dependent on the free radical. An ancient method of achieving this form of the plastic uses benzoyl peroxide, an initiator molecule instead of metal complex. Benzoyl peroxide breaks down in the system and generates free radicals. These radicals join with ethylene and make a new radical. This process keeps repeating with other ethylene monomers and creates a huge new single bonded carbon atom polymer chain. The process ends when the terminator radical joins the growing chain.
Linear LDPE This form of the plastic bag composition is well known and the mostly used because it is manufactured to make shopping bags. It is linear unbranched chains. It is made up of heavy plastic composition since shopping bags need to be strong enough to carry products. Other property for this form is as same as HDPE mentioned above. http://www.ecolife.com/recycling/plastic/what-plastic-made-of.html http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/print/8238plasticsbags.html
Plastic releasing dangerous chemicals: 5
(GP) Plastic is not just made of high formulated chemicals but it also has side effects when the environment is not appropriate. One of the chemicals that plastic carries is Bisphenol A (BPA), which has caused an issue worldwide (U.Cin 2008). Take-out at dining hall contains hot beverages and liquids sometimes. Since students cannot carry everything at the same time without bags, they need to have bag to carry the food over. All dining halls at different universities provide plastic bags. However, the issue with the plastic bag and hot beverages is that when plastic gets into a contact with the hot food, it releases the chemical BPA. This is also true for the plastic containers, whether they are new or old. Research study at University of Cincinnati has shown that BPA can transfer from different polycarbonate plastics (U.Cin 2008). BPA is created by humans and known as endocrine disrupter, which is responsible for endocrine dysfunctions. It alters the natural hormones. BPA side effects also disrupt the reproduction and brain development in severe cases (U.Cin 2008). This chemical is used in reusable water bottles, water pipes, and dental sealants. However, extra care is needed for BPA plastic containers carrying hot beverages.
Mr. Belcher at University of Cincinnati has strongly concluded on BPA and its harmful effect with plastic bags as below:
"There is a large body of scientific evidence demonstrating the harmful effects of very small amounts of BPA in laboratory and animal studies, but little clinical evidence related to humans," explains Belcher. "There is a very strong suspicion in the scientific community, however, that this chemical has harmful effects on humans."
His team has been researching on BPA for 2 years, and they have noticed that prior to boiling water exposure, the rate of released BPA from plastic ranged from 0.2 to 0.8 nanograms per hour. After exposure to heat, rates increased to 8 to 32 nanograms per hour. Thus, plastic releases BPA 15 to 55 times faster when it is in contact with hot beverage (U.Cin 2008).
Controversy with BPA:
According to ABC News, Jaime Hennessey reported that San Francisco has banned the production of plastic containing BPA. Mayor has passed the law in June 2006 to replace the plastic bags which contains BPA. People have claimed a detection of BPA in human bloodstream, which has created a controversy in the society. BPA sometimes contains plastic # 7, which is believed to be a very strong plastic, non-disposable and hard to recycle. The point of controversy here is FDA, who thinks BPA is safe and it is okay to use. Whereas, scientist believe that BPA may bring harm such as obesity, cancer, puberty, and attention deficit disorder.
Evidence of BPA side effects:
Many researchers have done experiments with the plastic bag use and BPA effects on animals for many years. Below are some evidences that scholarly journals have provided:
Journal of Endocrinology: July 2006, brain damage and behavior change in mice 6
Tufts University: Japanese researcher – breast cancer and miscarriages
Spanish and Mexican researcher – diabetes
However, Steve Hentges, a chemist and director of the American Plastics Council, believes that in order to be fully protected from BPA, a person would have to consume more than 500 pounds of food or drink compared to the normal dose by nutritional health science committee. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2138565&page=1 http://www.ecolife.com/recycling/plastic/what-plastic-made-of.html http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080130092108.htm http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/print/8238plasticsbags.html
Life Cycle of Plastic Bags (Gargi Patel)
Source: http://www.plasticbageconomics.com/index.php?option=com
As seen in the cycle above, plastic bags are derivatives of HDPE extracted from natural gas. The bag is produced and if it is used properly by recycling, people can be saved from its harmful effects. The ultimate waste from plastic bags can be discarded successfully. HDPE stabilizes the plastic through ethylene polymerization in plastic bags but at the same time, it decreases the sperm levels and act as a neurotoxin in worse case. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is proven to be carcinogenic material; hence it causes liver, kidney, and brain damage.
Plastic bag causes Environmental Damage: 7
Plastic bag littering on the road is very common in this country. Even in the universities, students trash their plastic bags from take out in an inappropriate way. An article says that plastic makes up to 80% of the litter on roads, parks, and beaches and 90% of the floating litter in the ocean. Every square mile of ocean there are more than 46,000 pieces of plastic. Ocean is highly concentrated with plastic bags littering that puts marine life in danger. Statistically, over 100,000 different birds, seals, and whales die every year. Turtles simply die due to suffocation by ingesting plastic bags. Thus, plastic bags are harmful not only for humans but also for marine lives and related environmental issues.
According to William F. Carroll Jr., a polymer chemist at Occidental Chemical Corporation and president-elect of the American Chemical Society, "With the possible exception of a little lubricant to help in extrusion, plastic bags are pretty much just the native polymer." http://www.plasticbageconomics.com/index.php?option=com http://www.fmi.org/docs/media/bg/Plastic_Bag_Backgrounder.pdf http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/print/8238plasticsbags.html
PROBLEM:
(GP) Unfortunately, students do not disposed plastic properly. We see plastics blowing around in the streets and they often end up in streams and the oceans. These bags can be dangerous to animals, such as turtles, especially in marine environments, where plastic bags resemble jellyfish and other food items.
SOLUTION:
(GP) One solution to this problem is to make bio-degradable bags, such as those from starch. Starch, obtained from corn or potatoes, can be converted into lactic acid, which can be polymerized to the biodegradable plastic known as polylactide. Another solution is to add an ultraviolet-light absorber to make the material degrade when exposed to sunlight. Unfortunately, these solutions can make the plastics more expensive, so they have not caught on with consumers. Also using paper instead of plastic to carry food products will be a great help towards the environment because it is less expensive and contains less chemicals, so that less packaging is required. The material is lighter than the other plastic alternatives providing it with better carbon polymers.
Environment is inestimable. All living and non-living systems in the environment have existence values that are inestimable. If people realize the amount of destruction they make to the environment and animals, they can surely switch to reusable bags. Not only people need to 8 control on their plastic bags consumption, but also they need to make sure that reusable bags are recycled properly and not blowing off the streets.
(SS) Thus, reusable canvas or cloth bag would be a good alternative of a plastic or paper bag. Cloth bags will not have any health related issues since it does not contain any harmful chemicals like plastic bag contains. Also, canvas or cloth bag has a wide mouth opening which is even easier for people to carry food around. An issue might come with a cloth bag is that it can cause a sanitizing problem however, people can wash the cloth bag and thus, there would be no sanitizing issue.
There are many other shops such as Walgreens, CVS, and ShopRite which are participating in recycling. Shoprite has a deal where customers can bring their own reusable bags and can get discounts in paying taxes. CVS also have a deal to go green where they sale this green CVS card and every four scan, customer gets a dollar back. This CVS green card is only for a dollar. So, when customer uses this CVS green card, they avoid asking for a plastic bag. http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/print/8238plasticsbags.html
Service Project:
(SS) Our service project mainly focuses on spreading awareness regarding the harmful effects on the environment associated with the wide usage of plastic bags on campus at Rutgers University. Initially, we approached this project through researching online about plastic bags which are made out of petroleum and contain harmful chemicals such as Bisphenol A (BPA) and having meetings with the managers of dining halls from all four campuses at Rutgers.
David Walters, the manager of Neilson Dining hall, has been working there for almost 22 years. He stated that 7,000 plastic bags are being provided to students on a weekly basis at Cook campus takeout service. Ross Giarratan, a general manager of the Busch Dining Hall, said that 6,100 plastic bags are being used by students every week for takeout. In addition, College Avenue campus, which is the central campus at Rutgers University, has the highest number of uses of plastic bags. Tom, the manager of Brower commons, said that 15-16 cases are being used each week for takeout service and each case contains 1000 plastic bags. Rutgers just rebuilt the Livingston dining commons this year. Michael Samatovicz, the manager of Livingston Dining Commons said that 6,069 to 6,186 bags are being used for the take out service each week. Although Rutgers recycles almost 100% of all of its goods, the amount of plastic bags used is enormous. Livingston dining hall does not carry paper napkins for takeout in order to help the recycling process. Also, all the waste food goes to the animal farm which is a great use of waste. Rutgers is doing well for recycling but the only issue is that the students are not recycling properly since many of them are not aware of the rules when it comes to waste disposal.
After learning that Rutgers consumes approximately 1.5 million of plastic bags per year, we thought students should be made aware about the disadvantage of plastic bags and inspire them to bring their own bag to carry takeouts. The final proposal is as follows: Each freshman 9 student with a meal plan will receive a water bottle and a cloth bag. The minimal cost of these products would be included as an extra fee in their meal plan expenses. Students would then be encouraged to bring their own, wide-mouthed cloth bags or reusable bags and water bottles to the dining hall for takeout. Students would be charged 5 cents per plastic bag usage. Getting charged only 5 cents each time they forget to bring their cloth or reusable bag that will remind students to bring their own bags next time.
The reaction of the managers of the each campuses dining hall was not positive. After talking with each of them, one sees that having a system of using cloth bag at the dining hall takeout service is not going to be a problem. However, the problem comes when students have to follow the system. According to them, students will not remember to bring the cloth bags each time when they come for takeout at the dining hall. That is the reason why our project’s main goal is to charge people for plastic bags. This way, students will remember to bring their own cloth bags when they have to pay from their own pockets. However, one of the managers mentioned that when the issue comes to charge on plastic bags, student will deny and protest it. The manager of Busch dining hall stated one problem that can be one reason for not using cloth bags at takeout. He said that using cloth bags at the dining hall takeout might create sanitizing problems. Since many students may avoid washing those bags, it might create bacteria and as a result, students will get sick.
After having meetings with all four managers and getting their reactions on it, we went to the facilities supervisor of dining hall services, Steve Riecks. He gave the exact number for the plastic bags that has been used by all four dining hall services. First Quarter is 560 cases, 2nd Quarter is 196 Cases, 3rd Quarter is 172 Cases, and 4th Quarter is 574 Cases, which totals to a yearly amount of 1,502 Cases. Each case has 1,000 plastic bags. He really liked the idea of using cloth bags instead of plastic bags. He also mentioned that he is actually looking for the right cloth bag which has a perfect shape and is free of sanitizing issue. He also said that financial issue is not taken into account for getting the cloth bags since students’ meal plans already include the packaging cost. The main concern is to just educate people to recycle effectively and get involved with these kinds of projects that are going on all over the Rutgers campus. Mr. Riecks was very positive and energetic about the topic. He had seen many students come up with these new ideas, but no actions have been taken after because of the lack of participation. He is “one-hundred percent in” for getting the cloth bags at the dining hall takeout. However, he said that the question comes in every staffs’ mind is how students will react to it. It is the students who have to follow the rules and accept the changes. Thus, the main goal on this project is to get students involve in this issue.
Our project also includes a Facebook page called “Say ‘NO’ to the Plastic Bags and BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag).” “https://www.facebook.com/pages/Say-NO-to-the-Plastic-Bags- and-BYOB-Bring-Your-Own-Bag/175384922545085?sk=wall&filter=1”. This helps to spread the issue to people all around the Rutgers network and around the world, as well. This page can also help us look at people’s comments and concerns about this issue. We are wrote a proposal to the general manager of the Rutgers Dining hall service, David Osmun, to see the positive 10 reaction on it. In addition, the news outlet that we contacted was The Daily Targum and HCCC [Hudson County Community College] Newspaper.
Also, I attended and participated in one of the meetings of an on-campus student organization called SEA, Students for Environmental Awareness. Mukund Bangalore, the treasurer of SEA said that SEA has a campaign this year to reduce plastic bag consumption. They have titled their plan 'BYOB: Bring Your Own Bag' to reduce the amount of plastic bags consumed at takeout. He said that they want to encourage students to either bring their own reusable canvas bag or re-use a plastic bag. They have created a flyer and posters for the campaign. He said that they want to post the flyers in the dining halls. However, they have not yet gotten approval to place the signs in the dining hall. They will be doing this at the beginning of next semester. They did post the flyers in on-campus apartments. Also, after attending a documentary film called BAG IT organized by NJPIRG (New Jersey Public Research Group), I found out that there are many organizations at Rutgers who are thinking and taking actions to make a change at Rutgers. This event gave out reusable plastic bags to each student who attended this event and this can encourage students to bring their own bag to carry food and other items around and that way can help avoid getting new plastic bags. This can help us toward our project to let people know what the issue is today.
SEA organization: https://sites.google.com/site/rutgerssea/ 11
Flyer created by the SEA organization at Rutgers University.
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Say-NO-to-the-Plastic-Bags-and-BYOB-Bring-Your-Own- Bag/175384922545085?sk=wall&filter=1 12 13
Proposal to the Facility Supervisor of the Rutgers University (SS) Make it a Habit and Grab it
11/28/2011 Steve Riecks Facilities Supervisor Rutgers, The State University of NJ [email protected]
Dear Mr. Riecks,
The danger of plastic inspired us to inquire about the total use of plastic bags provided by the dining hall takeout service. In our Ethics in Science class, we created a project committed to reduce the use of plastic bags in each campus at the dining halls.
After learning that Rutgers consumes approximately 1.5 million of plastic bags per year, we thought students should be made aware about the disadvantage of plastic bags and inspire them to bring their own bag to carry takeouts. The final proposal is as follows: Each freshman student with a meal plan will receive a water bottle and a cloth bag. The minimal cost of these products would be included as an extra fee in their meal plan expenses. Students would then be encouraged to bring their own, wide-mouthed cloth bags or reusable bags and water bottles to the dining hall for takeout. Students would be charged 5 cents per plastic bag usage. Getting charged only 5 cents each time they forget to bring their cloth or reusable bag that will remind students to bring their own bags next time.
One of our concerns is plastic contains a chemical Bisphenol A (BPA), which is known to cause endocrine dysfunctions, disruption in brain and hormone development. Research study at University of Cincinnati has also shown that if BPA is more rapidly released in hot temperatures. Dining hall take out lunch/ dinner contains hot food and beverages. Our concern is when the plastic of the bags interacts with hot food; it can release to BPA and harm students’ health. In order to prevent issue, it will be wise to reduce plastic bags and replace with cloth bags.
Educating students by showing documentary films such as BAG IT, making flyers and posters, will encourage them to bring their own cloth or any reusable canvas bags. In addition, this will impact Rutgers as well as to the environment.
With the help of yours, we hope to fulfill this proposal for all the students who live on campus and get takeout for lunch/dinner for fall 2012. For more information, please contact our professor Dr. Julie Fagan, [email protected]. Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to hear from you.
Sincerely, Gargi Patel and Sweta Solanki
Proposal to the President of the Rutgers University 14
(SS) Make it a Habit and Grab it October 19, 2011
President’s Office 83 Somerset Street New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Dear President McCormick, The danger of plastic inspired us to inquire about the total use of plastic bags that provided by the dining hall takeout service. In our Ethics in science class, we created a project committed to reduce the use of plastic bags in each campus at the dining hall. According to Steve Riecks, a Facilities Supervisor at Rutgers University, 1502 cases of plastic bags are being used each year at dining hall take-out service. Each case contains 1000 bags. The final proposal is as follows: each freshman student with a meal plan will receive a water bottle and a cloth bag. The minimal cost of these products would be included as an extra fee in their meal plan cost. Students will be encouraged to bring their own, wide-mouthed cloth bags or reusable bags and water bottles. Also, student should get charged 5 cents for plastic bag. Getting charged each time when forget to bring cloth bag or reusable bags will remind students to bring it with them next time. With the help of yours, we hope to fulfill this proposal for all the students who live on campus and get takeout for lunch/ dinner for fall 2012. For more information, please contact our professor Dr. Julie Fagan, [email protected] . Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to hear from you.
Sincerely, Gargi Patel and Sweta Solanki
Sent to The Daily Targum
(SS) Title: Can we only use plastic bags to carry lunch/dinner takeout? 15
The most visual environmental issue around people is a use of plastic, paper and Styrofoam, a carried out materials. Plastic is being used everywhere from grocery stores, shopping centers to colleges’ dining hall take out services. Littering the landscape, clogging waterways and endangering wildlife are the results of using plastic bags. It takes hundreds of years to decompose and the recycling range is comparatively low. According to Eco-cycle observation, only 1-2% of plastic bags are being recycled in USA. Moreover, thousands of marine animals die each year by plastic pollution. Alternative of plastic is paper which is also hard to decompose. It takes thousands of gallons of water and toxic chemicals such as sulphurous acid causing water pollution to decompose paper.
One of the chemicals that plastic carries is Bisphenol A (BPA), which has caused an issue worldwide. There are many health related issues leading with this chemical. Research study at University of Cincinnati has shown that BPA can transfer from different polycarbonate plastics. BPA is created by humans and known as endocrine disrupter, which is responsible for endocrines dysfunctions. It alters the natural hormones. BPA side effects also disrupt the reproduction and brain development in severe cases. Dining hall take out lunch/ dinner contains hot food and beverages. When the plastic interacts with hot food, it releases BPA chemical. Thus, plastic bags are dangerous for human health as well.
Just to mention some numbers of the uses of plastic bags at all four campuses at Rutgers University, Brower Dining hall (College Avenue) uses 15000-16000 plastic bags, Neilson dining hall (Cook campus) uses 7000 plastic bags, Livingston Dining hall uses 6069-6186 plastic bags, and Busch Dining hall uses 6100 plastic bags each week. According to Steve Riecks, a Facilities Supervisor at Rutgers University, 1502 cases of plastic bags are being used each year from all four campuses and each case contains 1000 bags. This number is extremely massive. Although Rutgers recycles almost 100%, the amount of plastic bags is way too much. Rutgers is doing well with recycling but the issue is the students, who are not recycling properly.
We can make a difference at Rutgers University on campus. As a solution, we can start using plastic wisely and comparatively. We can use reusable bags and water bottles instead of getting new plastic bags each time. We can use cloth bag for the alteration of plastic and paper bag at dining hall takeout. Cloth bag has no risk to the health as well as to the environment which can be a good alternative for the plastic and paper uses. So why not start using cloth bag instead of plastic? Is it really hard to remember to bring cloth bag each time you go for take-out at the dining hall? Share this with friends and families and avoid the risk of health and environmental issues by reducing the use of plastic.
So, say NO to the plastic bag, GRAB a cloth bag and make a HABIT…!! Send to HCCC [Hudson County Community College]
(SS) Title: Can we only use plastic bags to carry lunch/dinner takeout? 16
The most visual environmental issue around people is a use of plastic, paper and Styrofoam, a carried out materials. Plastic is being used everywhere from grocery stores, shopping centers to colleges’ dining hall take out services. Littering the landscape, clogging waterways and endangering wildlife are the results of using plastic bags. It takes hundreds of years to decompose and the recycling range is comparatively low. According to Eco-cycle observation, only 1-2% of plastic bags are being recycled in USA. Thousands of marine animals die each year by plastic pollution. In addition, an alternative of plastic is paper which is also hard to decompose. It takes thousands of gallons of water and toxic chemicals such as sulphurous acid causing water pollution.
One of the chemicals that plastic carries is Bisphenol A (BPA), which has caused an issue worldwide. There are many health related issues leading with this chemical. Research study at University of Cincinnati has shown that BPA can transfer from different polycarbonate plastics. BPA causes endocrine disrupter, which is responsible for endocrines dysfunctions. It alters the natural hormones. BPA side effects also disrupt the reproduction and brain development in severe cases. Dining hall take out lunch/ dinner contains hot food and beverages. When the plastic interacts with hot food, it releases BPA chemical. Thus, plastic bags are dangerous for human health as well. Thus, there should be an alternative for plastic in order to have a safe environment and a health life
According to Steve Riecks, facilities supervisor at dining hall, Rutgers, the State University of NJ (New Brunswick campus) consumes 1.5 million plastic bags yearly for the dining hall takeout service. Although Rutgers recycles almost 100%, the amount of plastic bags is way too much. Rutgers is doing well with recycling but the issue is the students, who are not recycling properly.
This issue is not just in Rutgers but it is worldwide. As a solution, we can start using plastic wisely and comparatively. We can use reusable canvas bags, cloth bags and water bottles. Cloth bag has no risk to the health as well as to the environment which can be a good alternative for the plastic and paper uses. Making flyers, posters, showing those documentary films such as “BAG IT” can help to spread and educate this issue to our community and to the world.
Why not start using cloth bag instead of plastic? Is it really hard to remember to bring cloth bag each time you go for take-out at the dining hall? Share this with friends and families and avoid the risk of health and environmental issues by reducing the use of plastic.
So, say NO to the plastic bag, GRAB a cloth bag and make a HABIT…!! B.Y.O.B Bring Your Own Bag.
References: 17
http://www.envirosax.com/plastic_bag_facts http://sarawittenberg.suite101.com/environmental-dangers-of-plastic-bags-a123185 http://static.reuseit.com/PDFs/The%20Christian%20Science%20Monitor.pdf http://plasticbags.planetark.org/about/wildlife.cfm http://www.sierraclub.org/sustainable_consumption/articles/bags3.asp http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6167 http://www.tintonfalls.com/content/115/669/152/675/220/default.aspx http://www.livestrong.com/article/182003-what-are-the-dangers-of-plastic-bags-for-food- storage/ http://www.ecolife.com/recycling/plastic/what-plastic-made-of.html http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/print/8238plasticsbags.html http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2138565&page=1 University of Cincinnati. "Plastic Bottles Release Potentially Harmful Chemicals (Bisphenol A) After Contact With Hot Liquids." ScienceDaily, 4 Feb. 2008. Web. 18 Oct. 2011http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080130092108.htm http://www.plasticbageconomics.com/index.php?option=com http://www.fmi.org/docs/media/bg/Plastic_Bag_Backgrounder.pdf http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/print/8238plasticsbags.html