Bahrain: Plea to reuse plastic bags 

(MENAFN - Bahrain Tribune) Around 4 trillion plastic bags are being used by the global community every year, taking the total economic impact of such items to billions of dollars a year in addition to posing risks to sustainable growth. Plastic grocery bags account for around 500 billion per year, or almost 1 million per minute.

According to data, 96 per cent of the world's plastic is not recycled, an expert claimed. Rehan Ahmed, senior environmental specialist, Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife, Bahrain, in his presentation said the use of plastics worldwide has increased many fold in the last five decades. "The percentage of plastic bags returned for recycling in the USA is only 1 per cent, half a per cent in Britain.

The number of plastic shopping bags used each year in the USA is 14 billion with an annual cost to US retailers for giving away "free" bags accounting for $4 billion. Approximately 100 million barrels of oil are required to make the world's plastic bags each year.

Bahrain is generating high quantities of plastic and paper in the total waste stream out of which plastic constitutes around 224 tonnes per day, or 8 per cent, and paper around 613 tonnes per day, or 22 per cent of the waste stream. While only a modest quantity is collected, segregated and sent for recycling, the rest is disposed at Asker landfill site.

"The world plastic production is increasing at 3.5 per cent per year which means that every 20 years the amount of plastic will double. Plastic bags are one of the major uses of plastics. He cited that the alternative to plastic bags is not paper as paper bags use significant amounts of wood, petroleum and coal.

In his paper "Environmental Impact of Plastic Bags," Ahmed warned that plastic goods and packaging result in plastic waste which constitutes a sizeable percentage of the litter. Plastics pose risks to human health and the environment.

He said plastic grocery bags were introduced some three decades back.
Ahmed said: "According to estimates, around 8 per cent of the world's annual oil production is used as a feedstock for plastic production and manufacture. He said that plastic bags constitute a major component of litter. Bags litter streets and are found at communal bins, landfill sites, trapped in fencing, etc.

Nearly nine-tenths of floating marine litter is plastic. Plastic bags are among 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups. It causes clogging of storm-water drains, effluent pipes, inlets and outlets. Plastic bags are an eyesore and are difficult to make biodegradable as it takes around 400-1,000 years to disappear.

"If 1 tonne of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil are saved," Ahmed pointed out. "Plastic-bag use per person per year is very high in Taiwan which amounts to 900, in the USA it varies up to 700 while in Bahrain around 329 bags are being used by each individual. The figure is 326 for Australia, 316 for Ireland and 213 for Britain.

The world average is around 150. The solution to ordinary plastic bags is using biodegradable plastic bags, efficiently managing plastic bags and reusing bags as much as we can and enhancing segregation and recycling. The number of paper bags used each year in the USA alone is 10 billion for which the number of trees that have to be cut down is 14 million, translating to 714 bags per tree."

Prof. Sae'ed Al Alawi, director, continuous scientific education programme, University of Bahrain, spoke on "Plastics and Biodegradable Plastics." He underlined the advantages and benefits of plastic, as being attractive, hard, lightweight, cheap, durable and hygienic as well as being shaped and dyed easily. He mentioned biodegradable plastics which can easily decompose in a natural environment.