Coined the ‘Icon of Consumer Living’, plastic bags are a clear symbol of our throwaway society.
It is time that we examine our old habits and begin making the necessary improvements!
Plastic bags = Cause of major environmental and health concerns
Plastic bags are one of the top items of litter on our community beaches, roads, sidewalks, and parks. Plastic bags are light and hard to contain. Because of their light weight, plastic bags fly easily in wind, float along readily in the currents of rivers and oceans, get tangled up in trees, fences, poles, and block municipal drainage systems.
Most plastic bags are made of polyethylene; they are hazardous to manufacture and take up to 1,000 years to decompose on land and 450 years in water. The fact that plastics are not biodegradable means that the plastic bags in circulation and future production of plastic bags will leave a legacy that will stay with us for a long time: in our landfills, in our oceans, in our streets, and in our bodies.
Benefit of Plastic Bag Ban = Long-term Reduction in Pollution & Waste
Plastic bags are everywhere!
Every day we are handed countless plastic bags: when we go to the grocery store, retail clothing store, book store, restaurants, etc. Sometimes, plastic bags are convenient, as they are water resistant and light and inexpensive compared to paper bags. BUT, most of the time, plastic bags are superfluous and avoidable. Statistics show that we are consuming more and more plastics every year. It is estimated that an average individual uses around 130 plastic bags per year.
Vancouver = Canada’s Premier Coastal City
Countless plastic bags end up in our ocean and harm our marine wildlife. Many marine animals and birds mistakenly ingest plastic or become entangled and choke in plastic bags that are floating around. A plastic bag ban is a proactive step towards reducing this lethal pollution in Canada’s largest coastal city.
Benefit of Plastic Bag Ban = Increased human health and of our marine food chain
When plastic bags enter our marine environment, they slowly break up into smaller pieces, mostly the size of small krill. These plastic morcels fill our oceans, some in concentrations as high as 6 pieces of plastic to every 1 piece of krill. The billions of pieces of plastic that float around in our oceans attract and concentrate toxins and pollutants like DDT. A process known as bioaccumulation of toxins occurs as these morcels are ingested up the food chain, to what is served for dinner at many homes in Vancouver on a nightly basis. Plastic in our oceans is slowly killing us and the systems we rely on for nourishment. A plastic bag ban would go a long way to restoring human health and the health of our living oceans.
Time to join the International Plastic Bag Ban Movement
Many foreign cities and countries have already started taking progressive steps towards banning plastic bags. Some are banning plastic bags altogether while others are implementing a tax on plastic bags to decrease their use. Steps towards eliminating plastic bags have been taken in many American cities, Ireland, Bangladesh, China, Israel, western India, Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Taiwan, and Singapore and in many other jurisdictions worldwide. It is time for Vancouver to join the international movement, and take steps against the release of plastic bags into the natural environment!
Community Support
A City of Vancouver plastic bag ban is supported by members from the following organizations: *Surfrider Foundation (Vancouver Chapter) *Sierra Club (Lower Mainland Chapter) *Zero Waste Vancouver *Council of Canadians *Georgia Strait Alliance *UBC Environmental Law
