Plastic Bags

Plastic bags: Understand the controversy, criticism and defense BH stopped pouring into the environment about 160 million little bags, according to researchTabitha Martins - Estado de MinasPosted: 25/06/2012 14:36 ​​Updated: 25/06/2012 17:20The sling has caused much controversy in plenary policies, on the internet and in Rio +20. But ultimately, the reason of so much discussion in relation to plastic bags? After a year and three months ban such material came into force, it is possible to present an overview of the changes.According to information from the Mining Association of Supermarket (Amis), Belo Horizonte stopped pouring into the environment 160 million units of disposable plastic bags in a year. If tied to each other, form a plastic strip of about 36 thousand kilometers long, almost enough to give one back on Earth, which has 40,023 km.A survey conducted in April this year by Amis shows that in Belo Horizonte using the disposable plastic bag became final consumer choice. Also according to the survey, 95% of the population that carries purchases at supermarkets uses returnable bag (made of TNT, for example), and others 2% use cardboard boxes to transport the goods.According to the Paulista Association of Supermarkets (Apas), the measure still had significantly reduced impacts on cities such as clogging of culverts, with consequent benefits for the population, especially the poorest layer impacted by the floods.ReviewsHowever, a recent study on global pollution shows that at least 80% of the detriments launched in the ozone layer are the responsibility of industries. This is one of the arguments used by those who criticize the measure and consider the law expressionless face the biggest polluters of the environment.On the internet, there are several videos of angry netizens who consider the law and an abuse and a form that supermarkets found to increase profits. Another argument discussed in the web is that the measure excludes only the bags, but did not prevent the use of packaging products also made of plastic. Watch it here.DefenseArnaldo Godoy, author of the bill banning the use of plastic bags in trade of mining capital, says that the main criticism came from the plastics industry, which has been trying to create arguments to counter due to declining profits. Godoy says that despite this, many manufacturers have tried to adapt to the bag biopolymer.To get an idea, the bags biopolymer, if disposed of in composting chambers, take 90 days to six months to disintegrate, while those from oil may take 300 years.But it is not only the disintegration process that damages the environment. The fact that the bag be biopolymer made from plant material, reduces the need for consumption of products derived from petroleum, a major pollutant of the Earth.To Godoy, these questions come from people are positive, because the debate can generate significant changes in the industrial and in different spheres. For 2014, it is expected the new law on solid waste and waste disposal that promises to move around industrial body.The Amis also highlights that with the IMPLEMENTATION of the law, there were economic benefits to the population as to reduce to a minimum the use of disposable plastic bags, the consumer has allowed supermarkets were spared the costs that had to acquire and distribute plastic Disposable packaging purchases. The little bags that were used before the law, and they were banned, had a unit cost of $ 0.01 to $ 0.03.Many supermarkets have come to use this economy to expand capacity to compete, especially in promotions. Data IPEAD / UFMG show that the basic food basket in Belo Horizonte cost R $ 263.70 in March 2011 (one month before the law of little bags) and in March 2012 (a year later) came to cost U.S. $ 260.32In some European countries, the proposal has achieved results even more significant for the environment, because the whole economy of the supermarkets must be reversed to a research fund in this regard.

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Gabriel Bertolim Vieira Silva
João Pedro Nasser