rashidsmom: Plastics & Eco Bags in Davao City

THE most popular plastic in the world, polyethylene is resistant to water, acids, alkalies and most solvents. This makes it suitable for use as shampoo containers, children's toys and even bulletproof vests. Its other uses include films or sheets for packaging, shower curtains, unbreakable bottles, pipes, pails, drinking glasses, insulation for wire and cable, moldings, coatings and lamination.

It's also used for cloth, tarpaulin, polyethylene tanks and containers with high capacity of up to 12,000 gallons, welding rods, implants (for chin, cheeks and jaw line reconstruction or cosmetics), plastic used in motorbikes, canoes and kayaks, foams, linear fittings and even hula-hoops.

Discovered by accident in March 1933, polyethylene has since become an industry of its own. Its most common use is as plastic bags. An estimated 500 billion to one trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide every year. In the US, an estimated 12,000,000 barrels of oil are required to produce the 100 billion plastic bags used annually. Retailers spend an estimated $4 billion on their plastic store bags, passing the cost on to consumers.

Plastic bags are everywhere for people's convenience. They are oftentimes bought from a store at the entrance or within a market place. They may be given free by the stall-owners of the market to buyers of merchandise. They are located most times at the paying counters of department or grocery stores for the convenience of customers.

Introduced only 25 years ago, plastic bags are accumulating in our environment at an alarming rate. Also, despite the mistaken belief that plastic bags decompose and disappear, they actually slowly break down into toxic bits that pollute our oceans, rivers, lakes and soil. In addition, countless animals, most notably marine mammals, choke to death after mistaking plastic bags for food.

In other countries, such as India and Pakistan, the use of plastic bags has been banned. In India, plastic bags were choking its cows, which are considered sacred in that country. In Islamabad, Pakistan used plastic bags are found in abundance in the streets and are responsible for clogging drains and sewerage lines. In Islamabad`s rural areas, these bags decrease the productivity of the arable land because they do not rot or turn into compost. (See http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Polyethylene)

The move to ban the use of plastic bags in Davao City may become effective only if a national law is enacted prohibiting the manufacture, distribution, sale and use of plastic bags. The plastic bag menace may already be in Davao City and elsewhere judging from the indiscriminate waste disposal practice of the Davaoenos.

Bringing your own eco bags to the grocery has not yet picked up in Davao City. Majority of the malls and groceries still use their plastic bags when packing items. SM does the green eco bag thing but only on Wednesdays. They should do it daily though. It's a lesson learned from Ondoy's wrath in Manila. We should ALL use our reusable bags when doing the rounds in our malls.

Sales ladies and cashiers at other malls (G-Mall, Victoria Plaza and others) still look at me funny when I hand them my eco bags for my stuff. Sometimes they even refuse to use them but eventually give in after a couple of minutes of mindless persuasion.

Davao legislators should pass a law on using eco bags now. I've read Pilar Braga commended SM for their green bag advocacy. Bonguyan made s privilege speech on the overuse of plastics. Maybe more should follow suit.

Their efforts are laudable. But frankly, it is doable for everybody to do their share in significantly lessening the amount of plastic bags wasted via shopping. We should commend and encourage similar efforts and campaigns by local establishments. Let us call on other local supermarkets, groceries, and malls to encourage the use of reusable bags for their shoppers.

A concerted effort by Davao shoppers will create a big and remarkable impact on the amount of solid waste we generate. Plastics are difficult to recycle. The disposal of plastics are also a big environmental concern.

Bring your reusable ecology conscious bags to the malls and refuse using plastic bags NOW. Besides it's more chica and fashionable than those icky plastics right?!

Here are my grocery bags...

my Mother Earth Bags which are sooppeerr cheap (they have a mulitply site where you can order)