Jane Dow
Mankato Area Zero Waste
Americans use an average of 365 plastic bags each, totaling 100 billion a year. Minnesotans throw away more than 500 tons of plastic bags and packaging every day.
The MPCA states that less than 10% of plastic bags used in Minnesota get recycled with the rest ending up in our environment. It is estimated that 22 million pounds of plastic pollution enter the Great Lakes annually.
They are one piece of a much larger plastic pollution problem. Forty percent of plastic production is throwaway packaging and plastic including plastic bags we don’t need. It’s not just ocean animals dying from plastic pollution, it’s all the animals in the world including us.
Plastics never completely break down. They just break into microplastics that are the size of a pencil eraser and nanoplastics that are the size of a virus. We have microplastics along with the 16,000 toxic chemicals added to them in our brain, liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, blood cells, blood vessels, intestines, uterus, ovaries, testicles and fetuses.
Doctors estimate the health care costs from microplastic and chemical additives to be $1.5 trillion a year. The toxic chemicals are called hormone disruptors because they interfere with the hormones that regulate our bodily systems.
The potential health effects from both the microplastics and the chemicals are heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, dementia, intestinal inflammations like inflammatory bowel disease, infertility, premature births, deformities of the reproductive organs at birth, early onset of puberty, lowered immune response, allergies, asthma, obesity, diabetes, ADHD, autism and cancers — especially of the testicles, prostate, breast, ovaries and brain.
We eat and breathe in about 3.8 million particles of microplastic a year from our plastic food and drink containers and from contaminated soil, water and air.
Besides the harm to our health, plastics are contributing greenhouse gases that accelerate global warming. Ninety nine percent of plastics are made from ethane, a byproduct of fossil fuel fracking. Plastic production releases CO2 equal to emissions from 50 million cars and its emissions are predicted to outpace coal emissions by 2030.
If current production stays on track, yearly plastic production could reach 1.1 billion metric tons by 2050. The fossil fuel industry plans to focus 80% of its production in single use plastic to replace the market it is losing in fuel, electricity and heat.
We can begin to change by eliminating those throwaway packaging and plastic items and replacing them with reusable, sustainable products like metal, glass, paper, cardboard and compostables.
A fee on plastic bags is a simple way to encourage people to bring their own reusable cloth or paper bags. Twelve states, as well as Minneapolis and Duluth, have a fee or ban on plastic bags.
Twelve million barrels of oil are required to produce the 100 billion plastic bags used annually. Plastic bags are unsightly litter in our community that clog sewers, storm water drains and recycling equipment, taking time and money to clear.
One study estimates the cost of bag clean up and landfill space at 17 cents per bag. They kill wildlife that eat them, clogging up their digestive system so they starve. And when plastic bags break down, the micro and nano plastics they leave in our environment release toxic global warming gases methane and ethylene. Microplastics attract and absorb pollutants as well.
We can’t ban plastic bags because the plastics industry lobbyists influenced legislators to pass legislation banning our local government from banning plastic bags. But Minnesota senators McEwen Fateh, Port, Oumou Verbeten, and Mitchell introduced bill SF 1598 overturning the law that prohibits local governments from banning the use of plastic bags.
Visit cleanwater.org/actions/ban-minnesotas-ban-plastic-bag-bans to sign the letter to end this bad law. Local communities should have the right to local control. In the meantime, we can put a fee on plastic bags.
In Washington, D.C., and California, a fee on plastic bags resulted in a 75% reduction in use. Eighty five percent of the stores reported a positive impact from the fee. A survey found an overwhelming reduction in bag use, significantly cleaner streets and strong public acceptance. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see that response in Mankato?
We need to start reusing products instead of buying single use plastic and throwing it away. Instead of plastic bags, bring reusable bags. Use BPI Certified compostable bags for trash and reusable or compostable food ware in place of plastic throwaway food ware.
Bring your own reusable utensils, containers and plates to restaurants and for take-out if they use single use plastics. Say no to plastic straws and condiment packets. Be compassionate and thoughtful by protecting our planet and all living creatures including us from plastic pollution and harm.
Jane Dow, Sue Hytjan and Betty Winkworth are members of Mankato Area Zero Waste, a grassroots organization that partners with Mankato, North Mankato and Lake Crystal to reduce waste in all forms.