This global campaign is organised by Zero Waste Europe and GAIA upon an idea from the Fundació Prevenció de Residus i Consum.
Dianna Cohen
Creative Advocacy Director & Co-Founder Plastic Pollution Coalition
“Plastic Pollution is an urgent global problem. We can begin to solve this by using reusable canvas and cloth bags. Our goal is to stop plastic pollution and its toxic impacts on humans, animals and the environment. We support the phase-out of single-use plastic bags and look forward to the extinction of disposable plastic.”
Some facts:
- On average, plastic bags are used for 25 minutes!
- It takes between 100-500 years for a plastic bag to disintegrate (depending on the type of plastic).
- One million plastic bags are in use around the world every minute.
- The average European uses about 500 plastic bags/year.
Europeans overwhelmingly support a ban on single-use plastic bags. - 80% of marine litter is plastic.
- 3.4 million tones of plastic carrier bags are produced in the EU each year. This corresponds to the weight of more than two million cars!
Single-use plastic bags are:
- BAD FOR THE PLANET
They take 100s of years to degrade and they not only pollute the environment but actually directly harm many living organisms
- BADLY DESIGNED
It doesn’t make sense to produce something that lasts 100s of years when it is going to be used for a few minutes. It is a contradiction that in a throw-away society nothing good lasts whilst bad products are forever.
- UGLY!
Reusable bags are a lot cooler !
- EXPENSIVE
Producers don’t take responsibility for the impact of their
product. Plastic bags are cheap to produce but very expensive
to clean from the environment.
- BAD FOR YOUR MIND
They embody the message of the throw-away society that is trashing the planet.
- UNFAIR
Future generations will suffer from the pollution caused by plastic bags, without getting any of the benefit. Future generations don’t vote, but they count.
- 92% OF THE 95,5 BILLION
Carrier bags in the EU in 2010.
- MADE OF CRUDE OIL
I.e. a finite resource.
- GET INTO THE FOOD CHAIN
Pulverised plastic waste in the sea gets into the food chain.
Even our company Infrastruktura Bled d.o.o. want to encourage consumers to use reusable bags, so we will divided bags of goods in return for plastic bags at various locations in both municipalities on that date.
Anyone who would bring 10 or more plastic bags in return will receive a cotton bag package.
Locations of substitutions on day without plastic bags
• market trade in Zgornje Gorje: 9.00-10.00
• before Mercator Trade in Zasip: 10:15–11:15
• before Cooperative home Ribno: 11:30–12:30
• before Mercator Trade Bohinjska Bela: 12:45–13:45
• the collection center in Bled, Rečiška cesta 2: 7:00–19:00
