Plastic bags have been flooded throughout the world, and Asia’s disaster situation is particularly serious. For example, Taiwan, which has a population of 22 million, uses 20 billion plastic bags each year, equivalent to more than 900 people each. Chen Yongren, secretary-general of Taiwan's Environmental Protection Agency, said: "We have a nickname in Taiwan: the Kingdom of Plastics. You can ask for 10 plastic bags in the supermarket. They will give you free of charge, because the price of plastic bags is negligible compared with food. ”
An Indian Greenpeace official named Manu Kaplan said: "This is terrible. Plastic bags are everywhere. We sometimes experience sudden floods because the country's sewage system is blocked by plastic bags. The sacred cow's stomach is also full of plastic bags."
Von Hernandez, the Green Coordinator's Asian coordinator on waste, said: "The soil is full of plastic bags because they cannot be biodegraded. They also block the sewers, which may lead to the spread of floods and diseases. I I heard that marine life has caused death from plastic bags. For example, some sea turtles suffocate by swallowing plastic bags. The plastic bags also spread air pollution because many plastic bags are burned together with other garbage..." Environmentalism The authors stated that the incineration of plastic bags may diffuse dioxins (dioxins) into the air, and the deadly orange agents used during the Vietnam War were made of this substance.
However, the momentum of the anti-plastic bag movement is gradually increasing. Surprisingly, the first to ban the use of plastic bags was actually two poor Asian small countries: Bhutan and Bangladesh. Taiwan will also join them in January next year, but there is a huge loophole in Taiwan's ban: allowing plastic bags for takeaway food.
So far, the only western country that has acted in restricting plastic bags is Ireland. In March of this year, Ireland imposed a tax of 15 euro cents on each plastic bag. The Irish Ministry of Environment announced in August that this tax will reduce the use of plastic bags in Ireland by 90%.
Bangladesh has banned the use of plastic bags since March this year. Before the implementation of the ban, the 9.5 million people in the capital Dhaka consumed 10 million plastic bags per day. After the ban was promulgated, 315 factories nationwide producing plastic bags for domestic use were all closed. The main initiator of the ban, Hussein Shahriyahr, executive director of the Dhaka Environment and Social Development Organization, was attacked twice in a year. However, Shahriyar said that they have been in the Governor's use of plastic bags, and found that the ban has reduced the use of plastic bags by 90%.
It is fresh enough that a country like Bangladesh can actually make this radical environmental protection law work. What is even more surprising is that Bhutan, which is dominated by agriculture, has also implemented similar laws. This small country with a population of only 678,000 in the Himalayas is known for its environmental awareness. In order to control the number of tourists, Bhutan collects at least US$200 per day for each visitor who enters.
It is not only the prohibition on the use of plastic bags since 1999. Prior to this, it took the concerned parties three years to discuss this issue. However, the implementation of the law is not satisfactory. According to estimates of Bhutan’s Deputy Minister of the Environment, Nador Rehnin, the use of plastic bags in Bhutan has only decreased by 50% due to lack of education and law enforcement. At present, those who give plastic bags to customers may be revoked business license, but this punishment has almost never been implemented. In Bangladesh, the laws in this area are even more severe: people who import or sell plastic bags can be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment and those who issue plastic bags will be sentenced to 6 months’ imprisonment. No one has been jailed for this purpose. Some businessmen were fined and the maximum was fined $2,000.
Naturally, companies producing plastic bags are not enthusiastic about such bans. The Federation of Film and Bags in Washington, DC, is a body representing the plastics industry. Donna Dempsey, the agency's executive director, said: "I'm not sure which ban really makes sense." She also said: "You have to compare The pros and cons of plastics and what they are supposed to use to replace plastics is that a seven-carton paper bag is equivalent in quantity to a plastic bag for trucks, which means that paper bags are more oil-consuming and more energy-intensive. 80% smaller than paper waste."
In response, Hernandez of Greenpeace responded by saying: "The paper waste left in landfills can be biodegraded while plastics will never disappear."