Why and how I am wasting fewer plastic bags
By Sarah Douglas, UMBC Eco-Ambassador
Plastic bags are handed out all over, but I’ve learned the negative impacts of plastic bags on the environment are endless and that reusing bags is easier and better.
This may seem like a bleak outlook, but there are several things that we, as students and inhabitants of this earth, can do to reduce our plastic bag usage. Personally, I have adopted a few simple habits to reduce the number of plastic bags I use on campus and to reuse bags when I do end up using them.
Making simply changes can really have a great impact on the amount of plastic bags that enter the waste system and litter our environment and wildlife habitats. Start now and make the change! Here at UMBC we can set a better example for society at large.
By Sarah Douglas, UMBC Eco-Ambassador
Plastic bags are handed out all over, but I’ve learned the negative impacts of plastic bags on the environment are endless and that reusing bags is easier and better.
- Using our limited and polluting oil… to make disposible bags? Americans use and throw away 100 billion plastic bags every year, which requires 12 million barrels of oil per year to manufacture. (The Wall Street Journal).
- Our Collective impact: The average American family takes home 1,500 plastic bags a year (Natural Resources Defense Council).
- Our environment in crisis: Scientists estimate that every square mile of ocean contains approximately 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it (United Nations Environment Programme).
- Long-lasting impacts: A single plastic bag can take up 500 years or more to degrade (Measuring biodegradability, ScienceLearn.org) hurting wildlife and and creating litter in the process.
Using less plastic is one of the ways I feel better knowing everyday I'm helping to improve UMBC's impact on the world.
This may seem like a bleak outlook, but there are several things that we, as students and inhabitants of this earth, can do to reduce our plastic bag usage. Personally, I have adopted a few simple habits to reduce the number of plastic bags I use on campus and to reuse bags when I do end up using them.
Carry reusable bags (they are sold at almost every grocery store for only a dollar or two)
Reduce: Skip the bag at Outtakes!
Recycle:
- Montgomery County actually charges customers five cents for every plastic bag taken out of stores. So using reusable bags actually saves money!
- Reusable bags are much sturdier and easier to carry across campus than flimsy plastic bags.
- Often I will go to Outtakes to use an extra meal from the week and only buy a few drinks or some granola bars. I really do not need a plastic bag to carry these small items back to my dorm, so I let the cashier know I don’t want one.
- I save all of my plastic bags in a bin under my bed and reuse them as liners for my trash cans instead of using a regular trash bag and wasting even more plastic. Reuse the plastic bags you have!
- When my supply of plastic bags becomes overwhelming, I take them to a local grocery store where they take and recycle plastic bags. The recycling bins are usually near the entrance to the store.
- Unfortunately plastic bags cannot go in the recycling bins on campus because they clog up the equipment that recycles bottles and cans.
Making simply changes can really have a great impact on the amount of plastic bags that enter the waste system and litter our environment and wildlife habitats. Start now and make the change! Here at UMBC we can set a better example for society at large.
