(A man collects plastic to recycle at an import plastic waste dump in Mojokerto, East Java, Indonesia on Dec. 4, 2018. Many companies are coming up with alternatives to plastic, as well as biodegradable plastics. ULET IFANSASTI/GETTY IMAGES)
Back in 1907, Leo Baekeland invented a new material, Bakelite, that was the first true synthetic plastic, composed of molecules not found in the natural world. It was an amazing breakthrough. Bakelite was durable and heat resistant and could be molded into almost any shape. People called it "the material of a thousand uses " [source: Science History Institute].
That turned out to be an understatement. Today, plastics are one of the cornerstones of modern technological civilization — tough, flexible durable, impervious to corrosion, and seemingly endlessly versatile. Plastic objects are all around us, from the food containers and bottles of milk and soda that we buy at the supermarket, to the countertops in our kitchens and the linings of our cooking pans. We wear clothes fashioned from plastic fibers, sit on plastic chairs, and travel in automobiles, trains and airplanes that contain plastic parts. Plastics have even become an important building material, used in everything from insulated wall panels to window frames [source: American Chemistry Council]. We continue to find new uses for plastic all the time. Click HERE to read the full article.
A woman loads groceries in plastic bags into her car in San Francisco before the city enacted its plastic bag ban. (David Paul Morris/Getty Images)
“Do you need a bag?”
Since November, when California became the first state to ban single-use plastic bags, it’s a question you have to answer almost every time you go to the store. And you have to ask yourself: Am I willing to pay 10 cents for a bag?
It’s also a question that made 12-year-old Amar Farhat have a question of her own.
“Is banning plastic bags making a difference in the environment?”
Amar doesn’t just want to know if fewer bags are being used now, but also if the law is doing what it was meant to do: help the environment. She’s a little skeptical. Amar and her family used to reuse the old plastic bags for trash or errands. Plus, she said, the new thicker bags you get at the store seem to be made of more plastic, not less.
“I feel like it might help a little bit, but overall, we have so many plastic things, this is a small percentage,” she said.
If plastic bags are banned, what are these thicker plastic bags Amar is getting from the grocery store?
It's important to understand how the new statewide ban works. The law gets rid of single-use plastic bags — those thin, cheap plastic bags you used to get. It also requires grocery stores to charge 10 cents for paper bags or for new, thicker, reusable plastic bags. Those thicker plastic bags have to be made of partially recycled material and have to meet specific requirements. The state hopes that if these bags are heftier and bigger, you can use fewer of them at the checkout line and reuse them for longer.
To read the whole story, click HERE.