There was a fascinating article in the Saturday Times magazine about these faddy cloth bags with "I am not a plastic bag" written on the side.
Apparently, people in the UK get through about 290 plastic bags a year each. Further, it takes "430,000 gallons of oil to make 100 million plastic bags". Horrifically large figures, eh? What it means it, one gallon of oil makes 233 plastic bags, so each of us consumes one-and-a-quarter gallons of oil a year to feed his plastic bag addiction.
Seeing as the alternative use for that oil is driving twenty or thirty miles in a car, that seems like a pretty good swap to me.
I'm So Glad I Never Clapped For Them...
35 minutes ago
10 comments:
This is why boycotting Esso petrol stations does nothing to the company as it makes a third of all plastics consumed in the UK
Henry
I can't boycott petrol stations because I don't have a car!
I know but can you boycott those lovely plastic containers that all supermarkets use?
I used to be a responsible citizen and use cloth bags instead of plastic bags, but I've sort of gone back to plastic bags again.
If people don't get plastic bags, what do they throw out the cat poo in?
Kitty Litter of course!
If people are making plastic bags then that's the most profitable thing they can do. If it was more profitable to sell it for petrol, they'd be doing that.
I don't use cloth bags because:
A) AFAIK they cost money, plastic bags get given away for 'free'
B) They make you look like a dingus and I derive utility from not looking like a dingus
I heard Labour was going to make it illegal for plastic bags to have holes in them so that they can be used more than once!
The naptha used to make plastic bags is a waste product of the oil industry, which if it wasn't used to make plastics, would be flared off. Wasting oil is not a reason to boycott plastic bags.
Anon, a brief internet search suggests that you are right. Damn. You could have chipped in with that earlier!
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