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

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

Paper bag team

Team: Daniel Delgado

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: Enter team names with links to user pages, e.g. Lonny Grafman

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.

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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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]

Trash

  • Impact of plastic bags[6]

Toxicity

  • Legislation on PPM of cadmium, hexavalent chromium, lead, mercury.[7]
  • Dioxin; one of the most dangerous chemicals known to scientists... AND IT IS IN PLASTIC BAGS![8]

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. [9]
  • This is just a fun way to express and help spread the word on banning single use plastics. [10]
  • A lengthy article showing the controversy plastic bags are causing. [11]

Paper bag research

  • Description (e.g., Humboldt has information on the numbers of plastic bags used by students, or 36,000 plastic bags/year by students, or "Quote.")
  • Brief description of energy cost of paper bags [12]
  • Carbon footprint of grocery store bags in China, India, and Hong Kong [13]

Store bought reusable bag research

A reusable bag study [14]

A reusable bag study in China, Hong Kong, and India [15]

Uncertainty and sensitivity in the Carbon footprint of shopping bags [16]

Cradle to grave life cycle assessment of reusable bags [17]

Process of reusable shopping bag manufacturing [18]

Sourcing of reusable bags provided at Murphy's Markets is Bunzel Distribution [19]

DIY reusable bag research

  • Sandra's projects are attempting to make something attractive with old grocery bags [20]
  • Julie Edmond demonstrates how to fuse old grocery bags with an iron to make a reusable grocery bag [21]

Meta research

  • This table lists existing plastic bag programs and its location, year, summary of program type, brief results, and city size. [22]

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://www.salon.com/2007/08/10/plastic_bags/
  7. http://www.toxicsinpackaging.org/comparative_analysis.html
  8. http://www.ejnet.org/dioxin/
  9. http://www.humboldtbaykeeper.org/plastic-bag-ban/67-plastic-bag-ban-news/541-ban-single-use-plastic-bags-in-humboldt-county.html
  10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koETnR0NgLY
  11. http://www.northcoastjournal.com/news/2012/10/11/bag-bag/5/
  12. Zimring, Carl A., and William L. Rathje. Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste: The Social Science of Garbage. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Reference, 2012. Print.
  13. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135223101000840X
  14. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e100be10-703c-421c-a908-ed98277151be%40sessionmgr113&vid=2&hid=105
  15. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135223101000840X
  16. 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
  17. http://keepcabeautiful.org/pdfs/lca_plastic_bags.pdf
  18. http://www.vinapackingfilms.com/articles/main-processes-reusable-shopping-bags-production
  19. Phone interview with Murphy's Market employee. October 22, 2012 Conducted by Holly Johnston
  20. The Lisbon Connection, Sandra Guerreiro & her wonderful designs by reusing plastic bags
  21. Video:How to Make a Reusable Grocery Bag, Making a reusable bag from fused grocery bags
  22. Plastic bag programs
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