Bagsquatch Blogs: Why There Should Be Less of Me
By: Bagsquatch
Hello, Internet. If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting me yet, I’m Bagsquatch. Mascot, sustainability educator, and Penn Stater.
Take a good look at me. I’m easy on the eyes, yeah? Welp, that’s all thanks to Penn State’s EcoReps. If it wasn’t for them, bits and pieces of me would be scattered through landfills, destined to end up as microplastics in the food chain.
Have you ever thought about the life cycle of a plastic bag? Well, let’s chat about it. Us plastic bags start our lives as natural gas. Yep, the same stuff that you put in your car. An estimated 0.2% of the global oil supply is dedicated to the creation of plastic bags. That’s 60 million barrels of oil annually, just on plastic bags. Don’t even get me started on the other guys.
I’ll spare you the details of how exactly we’re made and manufactured, but just know it is an expensive and wasteful process. After we’re produced, we’re shipped off to whatever retailer. On average, a plastic bag provides 20 minutes of usefulness before we are discarded and left to litter the earth.
All that work, money, and resources for 20 minutes of use? Are you kidding me?
Most recycling bins are not open to plastic bags because the soft plastic will damage recycling equipment. Even at the recycling plants that can handle soft plastics, there is a separate struggle. Recycling a plastic bag takes 85 times more energy than it takes to create a new one. This means that the majority of these bags are thrown away, with an estimated 98% ending up in landfill.
I am made of over three hundred plastic bags. Thankfully, the EcoReps found a way to repurpose me and give me new life. If it weren’t for them, all three hundred of my bags would take over one thousand years to degrade. Even then, the microplastics still remain. These toxic little critters enter the soil and oceans, eventually affecting the food chain.
I love my life, but there needs to be fewer of me on this Earth. You can make so many simple switches to reduce your plastic bag intake. Bring a reusable bag with you to the mall or grocery store. Instead of using single-use produce bags, buy a reusable one. You can even make reusable bags out of old clothing or fabric you have at home!
It’s time to make a change. For yourself, your children, your children’s children, and so on. Be smart – be sustainable.
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