The environmental impact cost (EIC) of producing polypropylene is $370 per ton. Polypropylene is commonly used to make packaging materials. If a plastic gusseted bag is made from polyethylene terephthalate, the EIC rises to $850 per ton. The environmental cost shoots to a jaw dropping $5,100 per ton if polyvinyl chloride is used to make plastic gusseted bags.
An average large shopping mall consumes more than 2.2 million plastic pouch bags. Assuming half of these pouches are stand up bags, and also assuming that each stand up bag weights 10 grams, a large shopping mall consumes 11,000 kilograms of gusseted stand up pouches each year. That works out to be 11 tons. Depending on the materials used to make these stand up bags, the annual environmental impact cost of plastic gusseted bags sold at retail in each mall is between $4,070 and $56,100. A reader can multiply these figures with the number of malls in the United States to come to a rough estimate.
The figures used in the above calculations are themselves approximate estimates. Here are some research and findings to come at a more accurate figure.
Money is not the only way to measure the environmental cost of plastic gusseted bags. In the home of the largest city in the United States, the County of Los Angeles has done a survey in which it has found that plastic pouch litter makes up more than 10% of the total litter in the county. The county is concerned because this huge amount of plastic bag litter greatly impacts the environment and the communities. (Keep in mind that the remaining 90% litter is generated from other sources).
Animals can unwittingly get choked after eating plastic bags. Toxins from plastic can affect all living species, including human beings. Plastic is already the second most common marine debris, second only to cigarettes.
Is banning gusseted plastic bags a solution?
Not at all. Stand up pouch bags are the greenest packaging option of other popular packaging mediums that include cartons, cans, jars, and bottles. It takes much lesser plastic to make gusseted bags than to make bottles or jars. Stand up pouches are recyclable and reusable. A ban on stand up pouches will only cause manufacturers to use economically inefficient and more environment degrading packaging mediums. If manufacturers shift their attention towards plastic bottles or jars, that will exacerbate problems instead of solving them.
Besides, there have been news of researchers coming up with a biodegradable plastic. That’s great news indeed! If this kind of plastic could be launched in the market, it would solve most of our environmental problems.