3 super creative ways to fully get rid of harmful plastic bags

Plastic bags are used to carry small and big items while shopping. One can easily throw them after using once because of their low prices.

So a person needs not to take any reusable bag from home to shop and can get free with the items he buys. This is the only convenience of this item of carrying things.

Devastating harms of plastic bags

The harms of plastic bags are more than many.

First of all, it can never be destroyed and remains almost forever. If it is collected with garbage it is thrown into a landfill site with other garbage and keeps harming the feature of soil with its plastic material.

If no one collects it, then it keeps flying here and there and may harm more severely by sticking with open wire of electricity or telephone.

If it goes into any open stream of wastewater it ultimately chokes its flow and causes overflow of sewage.

Having so many chemical colors, it directly harms human beings if it comes into direct contact with human skin. Obviously no one have this much time to hold it with hands wearing gloves. So direct contact of skin with it may cause many diseases and cancer is the most lethal one. Yes in many plastic bags of dark colors there is a carcinogenic material that is cancer-causing chemical.

What are bloody non-biodegradable plastic bags?

The plastic bags having above harmful impacts are called non-biodegradable plastic bags and are still popularly used in most of the backward world.

Because of weaker enforcement mechanism of green laws and lack of environmental awareness their manufacturing, sale, purchase and use is openly going on in most of the poor and least developed countries despite its different levels of ban over there.

What are oxo-biodegradable plastic bags?

The harmless type of plastic bag is called oxo-biodegradable. It is made of a material that can be fully destroyed after end of its service life. Mostly it degrades by itself with the passage of time. Its cost is a little higher and shop keepers charge it separately.  

In poor countries people can’t afford to pay extra cost of carrying a reusable bag as they know they have a very cheap alternative of non-biodegradable plastic bag. Secondly they don’t have awareness on its harm and don’t worry to use it.

How plastic bags aggravate poverty?

The refuse of non-biodegradable plastic bags keep rising and land pollution has become one of the worst pollution problems in such countries.

Its candid impact can be observed at the falling agricultural productivity in countries where this menace is still being used despite of ban. The worst impact of land pollution falls on soil fertility that eventually cut the agriculture produce.

Low agriculture produce means its low supply and high demand. It means rise in its prices. Consequently more people can’t buy the items of their basic necessities including all types of food items that are mostly produced with agriculture produce.

Its ultimate impact appears on overall economy of a poor country because the most essential commodities related to food items. It is very well known to all that more than 70 per cent agriculture produce relates to food items. So such poor countries get poorer because of their excessive use of plastic bags.

How to lessen the effects of plastic bags on economy?

So the governments of poor countries should realise the long-term impact of plastic bags. If they don’t resolve this issue they will keep getting poorer because of this menace.

Legislation

First of all they need to do extensive legislation to ban the sale, use, purchase and manufacture of all types of plastic and strictly enforce the laws to control this menace. 

It is heartening to note that so many countries or their different administrative units have already taken different kinds of steps to control this menace.

Awareness

Secondly an extensive awareness drive is must to tell people its harms and convince them to use biodegradable plastic bags by a little sacrificing their money to pay its price.

In so many countries shopkeepers have to pay the extra price of oxo-biodegradable bags. They are not allowed to charge it to their customers.

If it is controlled with the twin blades of legislation and awareness, it will eat away the soil fertility of most of the land of this world. As a result more starvation, hunger and poverty will rise in already poverty-ridden countries.

Amazing Creative Ways to Reuse Plastic Bags

Plastic bag is one of the most destructive materials for environment. Especially the non-biodegradable bags can never be degraded. It remains in the soil and keep eating its natural features. It is one of the main causes of land pollution.

If plastic bags are burnt to get rid of them even then they create one of the harmful types of pollution that is air pollution. The air pollution created by garbage burning is one of the most lethal one because of its direct access to breathing zone of human beings.

Option one – complete ban

So the best option is to completely ban the sale, purchase, use and manufacture of all types of non-biodegradable plastic bags. But it is not so easy because people don’t have a cheap alternative like this.

Secondly the top priority of people is to save their money first and then save environment. They don’t have that much vision to realise if environment is degraded, poverty is aggravated and they have lesser money. This is the long-term effect of pollution and people don’t have that much deep insight to understand it.

Only environmentalists can understand it. If you expect from common man that much understanding so you need to expect everyone should become more or less an environmentalist.

Option two – reuse plastic bags

The second best option is to keep trying to fully ban all types of non-biodegradable plastic bags and simultaneously promote oxo biodegradable bags in first instance and then cloth and paper bags.

The simple method to reuse plastic bags lies in its manufacturing of high quality to use it again and again. In many countries this option was tried to subsequently ban the sale, purchase, use and manufacture of all types of non-biodegradable plastic bags of lesser than 50 micron thickness.

In this way people can reuse plastic bags of higher thickness. But that option could not have gotten its desired results because no one has a gadget to check if it is thicker than 50 microns. So manufacturers fully exploit this shortcoming and keep producing thin plastic bags which are very cheap in cost and a shopkeeper happily gives it free to its customers.

Final option – creatively reuse plastic bags

So the final option is to reuse plastic bags in a creative way. The most creative way is to reuse plastic bags not as they are but by a little modifying them. Yes, you heard me right, by altering it. In this way so many items of household use can be created with it.

First of all you need:

·         Large number of plastic bags
·         Their cleaning before use
·         Scissor
·         Iron to press and remove the wrinkles of each plastic bag before its cutting

Step one

First of all make all the plastic bags wrinkle free by ironing them and fully clean them from all types of particles, oil spots and any other scars.

Step two

Cut the sides of a plastic bag with scissor to make it a lengthy piece of plastic

Step three

Cut the big piece of plastic into small lengthy pieces

Step four

Roll the each lengthy cut piece with your both palms to make it like thick thread

Step five

Tie all the pieces with each other and role them on a piece of wood.

This is done. Now you have knitting material of plastic bag like wool. You can knit it manually like it is done with wool and create following household items easily.

·       Grocery bag
Door mat
Hanging bottle keeper
Ladies bag
Sports bag
Any other item for use

So these are a few creative ways to reuse plastic bags. In far eastern countries this method is very popular to reuse plastic bags.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Do tell me how is situation of your country with regard to use of plastic bags and if people are being made aware on its harms or not. 

I also request you to reshare this post on social media to convey its message to all around the world as we all are one family of our planet Earth.