Beach Clean Up: Compostable Bags or Plastic? Easy answer... To facilitate easy transportation from indoors to outdoors, and to keep garbage cans more sanitized.
Now I must ask, what was done in yesteryear? There was no such thing as a plastic bag.
In the "Old Days" garbage was tossed in a small pail with a handle, then carried outside to a large garbage can that was put out to the curb on collection days. Every now and then, those pails were washed out. However, plastic bags changed all that, so to avoid using plastic bags today, we need to look into Compostable Bags and taking some additional action.
Households were not zero waste back in yesteryear, nor is zero waste an easy task to accomplish today. First action is to reduce, recycle, and reuse. I put out one garbage can a week, while most of my neighbors with the same situation as me, put out two garbage cans twice a week. All with their garbage tied up nice and tight in a plastic bag. I am also guilty for using plastic bags, but that is mostly because the municipality and unions, do not want their collection agents picking up garbage cans filled with loose debris, and turning the cans upside down to dump out all that garbage. Spillage, when that occurs is a mess, germs can spread, and town / city employees risk back injuries. So most townships and cities want garbage to be bagged.
Nevertheless, still using plastic bags, will cause long term issues in landfills. One such issue I learned about on my first job out of college. I was working as a Specialist Level 2 environmental scientist at a newly designed garbage recycling plant. There I learned the plastic bags when burned, give off dioxins, and dioxin like compounds. That is the same stuff used in agent orange during the Vietnam war.
So another action I took was to search out Compostable Bags. There are many types available on the market today, and a lot easier to find compared to years ago. Try to buy compostable bags with plant-based content, and this will help keep plastic out of our landfills and microplastic particles out of our environment, and us!
Some compostable bags with good reviews are ProGreen, and UNNI ASTM. Both are available at Walmart.
Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!
Now I must ask, what was done in yesteryear? There was no such thing as a plastic bag.
In the "Old Days" garbage was tossed in a small pail with a handle, then carried outside to a large garbage can that was put out to the curb on collection days. Every now and then, those pails were washed out. However, plastic bags changed all that, so to avoid using plastic bags today, we need to look into Compostable Bags and taking some additional action.
Households were not zero waste back in yesteryear, nor is zero waste an easy task to accomplish today. First action is to reduce, recycle, and reuse. I put out one garbage can a week, while most of my neighbors with the same situation as me, put out two garbage cans twice a week. All with their garbage tied up nice and tight in a plastic bag. I am also guilty for using plastic bags, but that is mostly because the municipality and unions, do not want their collection agents picking up garbage cans filled with loose debris, and turning the cans upside down to dump out all that garbage. Spillage, when that occurs is a mess, germs can spread, and town / city employees risk back injuries. So most townships and cities want garbage to be bagged.
Nevertheless, still using plastic bags, will cause long term issues in landfills. One such issue I learned about on my first job out of college. I was working as a Specialist Level 2 environmental scientist at a newly designed garbage recycling plant. There I learned the plastic bags when burned, give off dioxins, and dioxin like compounds. That is the same stuff used in agent orange during the Vietnam war.
So another action I took was to search out Compostable Bags. There are many types available on the market today, and a lot easier to find compared to years ago. Try to buy compostable bags with plant-based content, and this will help keep plastic out of our landfills and microplastic particles out of our environment, and us!
Some compostable bags with good reviews are ProGreen, and UNNI ASTM. Both are available at Walmart.
Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!
