Plastic Bag: Environmental Impacts

1199 Words5 Pages
It is estimated that 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed each year (Banks, 2008). Plastic bags have become a part of everyday life and have become so convenient that people have over looked the impacts that they have on the earth’s spheres. Plastic bags demonstrate how the four spheres are connected and are impacted by the production and disposal of plastic bags. Most plastic bags that are used in grocery stores are made from a byproduct of oil refineries, polyethylene, which are small pellets that are melted down to form the bags themselves (The Washington Post, 2012, February). The process of extracting oil releases hydrogen sulfide, methane, and nitrogen oxide (ERI, 2003) into the atmosphere affecting people’s health around the oil facilities (Skrtic, 2006) and are also contributing to climate change (Melville, 2005). In the United States an estimated 12 million barrels of oil are used to make plastic bags that they use as a country (Lohan, 2012, February). Plastic bags are often made in locations where the environmental standards are low, which then creates the issue of transportation of the bags and release of hydrocarbons, a contributing factor to the greenhouse effect, into the atmosphere from the transportation trucks (EPA, 2000). The extraction of oil can also cause problems to the geosphere, changing the composition of the soils around it because of oil leaks or spills (American University, 2012). After a plastic bag is made, it is used by the consumer and then thrown out, a process that has begun to create many problems within the biosphere. Because the bags are so light, they are easily blown from landfills and become litter. The bags have been known to block storm drain creating situations where during a major rainfall the water is unable to drain. This creates a flood situation that kills many people as was the situation in

More about Plastic Bag: Environmental Impacts

Open Document