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====Interviews====
====Interviews====
*
* "Usually forget to bring my bag. I maybe use it about 60% of the time."


===Meta research===
===Meta research===

Revision as of 04:33, 29 October 2012

This is a research project in partnership between Engr308 Technology and the Environment and Humboldt Scrap, during Fall 2012, to compare the impacts of single use plastic bags, paper bags, store bought reusable bags, and DIY reusable bags in Arcata, Humboldt County, California.

Logo for Humboldt Scrap.

SCRAP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Their mission is "to inspire creative reuse and environmentally sustainable behavior by providing educational programs and affordable materials to the community." Humboldt SCRAP is the fourth SCRAP in the US.

In Fall 2010, Engineering 308 partnered with the City of Arcata to research the impacts of single use plastic bags. The results at Arcata plastic bags helped to educate arguments over the merits of a single use plastic bag ban. This article gives more background.

Teams

Single use plastic bag team

Team: Sam Thall, Alex Aylward, Luke Wagner

Objective: The objective is to determine the energy, carbon, money and trash impacts of single use plastic bags.

Paper bag team

Team: Daniel Delgado, Dja10 ,Jonathan Baer

Objective: Find the embedded energy, CO2 emitted through all processes, the cost, and the energy cycle from cradle to grave of paper bags.

Store bought reusable bag team

Team: Brian Woods, Monica Carrasco, Holly Johnston, Daniel Jones, Lonny Grafman

Objective: Our group is focusing on the life cycle assessment of reusable shopping bags provided at grocery stores in Arcata. We will be measuring money, carbon, energy, and trash.

DIY reusable bag team

Team: Leo Astorga, Cheryl Hartman, Caelidh, James hoover

Objective: The objective of our group is to determine the energy and trash impacts in the diversion of plastic bags from single use throw-outs into re-crafted multi-use bags.

Meta team

Team: Connie Low, Chet Jamgochian, David "Miles" Bloch

Objective: State the objective of your part of the project, e.g. The objective is to determine the energy, carbon, money and trash impacts of single use plastic bags.

Research

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  • Information. <ref>URL or Title of reference. </ref>

See http://www.appropedia.org/Help:Footnotes for more.

Single use plastic bag research

Energy

  • Some Dangers as well how many bags and how much oil it takes to produce this many plastic bags. [1]
  • Petroleum, coal, and natural gas for a single plastic bag.[2]

Carbon

  • Amount of carbon per relevant fuel type.[3]

Cost

  • "California taxpayers spend approximately $25 million every year to collect and landfill plastic bags." [4]
  • Berkely proposed a plastic bag ban due to cost and impacts on the environment.[5]
  • Ireland's bag tax cut plastic bag usage by 90%.[6]
  • LA County bans plastic bags due to impacts on environment and to push for reusable cloth bags.[7]

Trash

  • Impact of plastic bags. Only 1% of plastic bags are recycled worldwide.[8]
  • "Americans only recycle 0.6 percent of the 100 billion plastic bags they take home from stores every year; the rest end up in landfills or as litter." Plastic bags may take between 10 and 100 years to decompose under UV radiation from the sun.[9]
  • Improper disposal of plastic bags cause dangerous health risks to wildlife around the world. Australian and British accounts of incidents. [10]

Toxicity

  • Legislation on PPM of cadmium, hexavalent chromium, lead, mercury.[11]
  • Dioxin; one of the most dangerous chemicals known to scientists... AND IT IS IN PLASTIC BAGS![12]

Other

  • This is a extremely controversial issue. There is even a petition wanting your signature to band single use plastic bags altogether in Humboldt County. [13]
  • This is just a fun way to express and help spread the word on banning single use plastics. [14]
  • A lengthy article showing the controversy plastic bags are causing. [15]
  • There is a type of fungus that eats plastic.[16]
  • The Ban for plastic bags is getting huge media attention and action is starting to take place. "The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to ban the free distribution of single-use carry-out bags at retail outlets." [17]
  • A chart/worksheet showing the types of plastic bags, materials they are made of, and the ability to be recycled. [18]

Paper bag research

  • Brief description of energy cost of paper bags [19]
  • Carbon footprint of grocery store bags in China, India, and Hong Kong [20]
  • Nitrogen fixation in the treatment of pulp and paper wastewaters [21]
  • Reusable projects for paper bags [22]
  • "Humboldt recyclables travel to Willits instead of normal trash stream that travels to Oregon. That considered the embedded energy and CO2 emissions of disposal will be lower than the normal trash stream" - Ryan Keenan, OSHA certified waste disposer
  • "Each week I order 5 bundles of 300 units each (size 1/7 paper bag)to keep the store stocked"- Vincent Graves-Blandford, Manager of North Coast CO-OP

Store bought reusable bag research

  • A reusable bag study [23]
  • A reusable bag study in China, Hong Kong, and India [24]
  • Uncertainty and sensitivity in the Carbon footprint of shopping bags [25]
  • Cradle to grave life cycle assessment of reusable bags [26]
  • Process of reusable shopping bag manufacturing [27]
  • Sourcing of reusable bags provided at Murphy's Markets is Bunzel Distribution [28]
  • Process of cotton production in US [29]
  • Making acrylic, polyethylene and polypropylene textiles [30]
  • UK Environment Agency bag comparison analysis [31]

DIY reusable bag research

Websites

  • Sandra's projects are attempting to make something attractive with old grocery bags [32]
  • Julie Edmond demonstrates how to fuse old grocery bags with an iron to make a reusable grocery bag [33]
  • Recycled Plastic Bag Shell Purse [34]
  • Plastic Tote Bag from Recycled Plastic Bags [35]
  • Fusing Plastic Bags [36]
  • Make a Basket out of Plastic Bags [37]
  • How to Make Plarn (Plastic Yarn) [38]
  • Plarn Market Bag -- Crochet [39]
  • How to Make Plarn & Crochet an Eco-Friendly Tote Bag [40]
  • Granny Squares Bag (Spanish) [41]
  • Plarn Tote Bag -- Knitted [42]
  • Plarn Knit Bag Pattern [43]
  • Plastic Bag Weaving [44]
  • Plarn Dresses, Hats, Bags, and more [45]

Peer Reviewed Articles

  • Designing the Most Appropriate Thread to Be Produced in Developing Countries by Recycling HDPE Bags [46]
  • The ecological footprint of plastic grocery bags [47]

Books

  • Yeager, Jeff. Don't Throw That Away!: 1,001 Ways to Reuse Your Stuff. Random House Digital, Inc. [48]

Interviews

  • "Usually forget to bring my bag. I maybe use it about 60% of the time."

Meta research

  • This table lists existing plastic bag programs and its location, year, summary of program type, brief results, and city size. [49]

References

  1. http://www.envirosax.com/plastic_bag_facts
  2. http://stuff.mit.edu/afs/athena/course/3/3.a30/www/refs/Institute%20for%20Lifecycle%20Environmental%20Assessment.pdf
  3. <https://bioenergy.ornl.gov/papers/misc/energy_conv.html
  4. www.savesfbay.org/sites/default/files/MythvFact_bags_final.pdf
  5. http://www.ecologycenter.org/alerts/bagban/
  6. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2205419.stm
  7. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/17/local/la-me-plastic-bags-20101117
  8. http://www.salon.com/2007/08/10/plastic_bags/
  9. http://business-ethics.com/2010/09/17/4918-plastic-grocery-bags-how-long-until-they-decompose/
  10. http://plasticbags.planetark.org/about/wildlife.cfm
  11. http://www.toxicsinpackaging.org/comparative_analysis.html
  12. http://www.ejnet.org/dioxin/
  13. http://www.humboldtbaykeeper.org/plastic-bag-ban/67-plastic-bag-ban-news/541-ban-single-use-plastic-bags-in-humboldt-county.html
  14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koETnR0NgLY
  15. http://www.northcoastjournal.com/news/2012/10/11/bag-bag/5/
  16. http://www.techhive.com/article/249216/yale_discovers_a_fungus_that_eats_plastic.html
  17. http://www.hmbreview.com/news/bye-bye-plastic-bags/article_84d09fc2-1fae-11e2-a233-0019bb2963f4.html
  18. http://www.plasticbagrecycling.org/02.0/Worksheet1.pdf
  19. Zimring, Carl A., and William L. Rathje. Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste: The Social Science of Garbage. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Reference, 2012. Print.
  20. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135223101000840X
  21. http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.humboldt.edu/espm/docview/17484646/13A0A409F6C1F65AC9F/5?accountid=11532
  22. http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.humboldt.edu/docview/14258062?accountid=11532
  23. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e100be10-703c-421c-a908-ed98277151be%40sessionmgr113&vid=2&hid=105
  24. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135223101000840X
  25. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1530-9290.2010.00326.x/abstract?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+on+27+October+from+10%3A00-12%3A00+BST+%2805%3A00-07%3A00+EDT%29+for+essential+maintenance
  26. http://keepcabeautiful.org/pdfs/lca_plastic_bags.pdf
  27. http://www.vinapackingfilms.com/articles/main-processes-reusable-shopping-bags-production
  28. Phone interview with Murphy's Market employee. October 22, 2012 Conducted by Holly Johnston
  29. Cook, Jordan K. Handbook of Textile Fibres: Natural Fibres. vol 1. 1984. Book
  30. Editors of American Fabrics and Fashions Magazine. Encyclopedia of Textiles. 3rd ed. 1980. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Book.
  31. http://a0768b4a8a31e106d8b0-50dc802554eb38a24458b98ff72d550b.r19.cf3.rackcdn.com/scho0711buan-e-e.pdf
  32. The Lisbon Connection, Sandra Guerreiro & her wonderful designs by reusing plastic bags
  33. Video:How to Make a Reusable Grocery Bag, Making a reusable bag from fused grocery bags
  34. http://www.myrecycledbags.com/2009/08/14/recycled-plastic-bag-shell-purse/
  35. http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-plastic-tote-bag-from-recycled-plast/
  36. http://www.instructables.com/id/Fusing-Plastic-Bags-the-eclipse-way/
  37. http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-basket-out-of-plastic-bags/step4/Braiding-methods/
  38. http://www.plasticbagcrafts.com/make-plarn/
  39. [http://www.crochetspot.com/crochet-pattern-plarn-market-bag/
  40. http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2010/how-tuesday-how-to-make-plarn-crochet-an-eco-friendly-tote-b/
  41. http://entreganchoslanasyagujas.blogspot.com/2009/07/bolsas-de-reciclaje.html
  42. http://www.allfreeknitting.com/Knit-Tote/plarn-tote-bag#
  43. http://vogie13.blogspot.com/2010/08/plarn-knit-bag-pattern.html
  44. http://www.weavezine.com/summer2008/wz_su08_JanaTrent.php
  45. http://bagsbegone.com/made-by-others/
  46. http://www.scientiareview.org/pdfs/80.pdf
  47. http://www.vipirg.ca/archive/publications/pubs/student_papers/05_ecofootprint_plastic_bags.pdf
  48. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XWbienfLoa8C&oi=fnd&pg=PT2&dq=reusing+plastic+bags+plarn&ots=mCf1546M3w&sig=8hsJEBmMPqs1P5L2S1Vrj79Txc8#v=onepage&q=reusing%20plastic%20bags%20plarn&f=false
  49. Plastic bag programs
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