When: 1965
Where: Sweden
Why: The durability and affordability of the bags has seen them become an essential part of the supermarket industry
How: The idea to produce a simple strong plastic bag with a high load-carrying capacity was patented in 1965 for packaging company Celloplast of Norrköping
Who: Sten Gustaf Thulin
Fact: Around one million plastic bags are used every minute worldwide
Since their inception in the late 1960s, plastic bags have revolutionised everyday life around the world. Made from polyethylene, they have become the most common type of shopping bag, helping millions of people to carry items from the shops to their homes, while eradicating the age-old dilemma of splitting paper bags. However, in recent years this ground-breaking convenience tool has sparked much debate surrounding its environmental impact. The question of what to do with plastic bags once they’ve been used hovers like a dark, non-degradable cloud. Each year, millions of discarded bags end up as litter that will take up to 1,000 years to decompose. Campaigns such as ‘Banish the Bags’ and ‘I’m Not a Plastic Bag’ have been launched around the globe in an attempt to solve this growing problem.
While the history of plastics goes back more than 100 years, plastic bags weren’t properly invented until the 1960s. Patent applications actually date back to the 1950s, when the first plastic sandwich bag was produced. However, the lightweight shopping bag we know today was the brain-child of Swedish engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin, who discovered that you could make bags from polyethylene – which is made up of long chains of ethylene monomers – by a process called blown film intrusion. He developed the idea for creating a simple bag out of a flat tube of plastic for Swedish packaging company Celloplast, which it patented in 1965, giving Celloplast a virtual monopoly on plastic bag production. The company expanded and built manufacturing plants across Europe and the USA. However, it wasn’t long before other manufacturers realised the potential for polyethylene bags, and the patent was successfully overturned in 1977 by US petrochemicals group Mobil. This led to a number of firms exploiting the opportunity to introduce convenient bags to all large shopping stores.
While the history of plastics goes back more than 100 years, plastic bags weren’t properly invented until the 1960s.
As of 1969, bread and other produce was sold in plastic bags, and New York City became the first city to collect waste in larger plastic bags. It wasn’t until a few years later that plastic carrier bags became a mainstay of the retail sector. In 1974 US retailing giants such as Sears and J. C. Penney made the switch to plastic merchandising bags, and the supermarket industry was introduced to these revolutionary carriers in 1977, as an alternative to paper bags. However, they weren’t properly incorporated into supermarkets until 1982, when two of America’s largest grocery stores, Kroger and Safeway, replaced traditional paper sacks with the polyethylene bags. News spread across the pond, and British retailers latched onto the idea, introducing these convenient bags to their stores.
Plastic bags have unquestionably had an enormous impact on today’s world. Since the 1980s, households around the globe have come to rely heavily on these convenience items to transport goods effectively. When you consider that each year we consume between 500 billion and one trillion plastic bags worldwide, the production of polyethylene bags has certainly been big business. In the early 1980s, McBride’s Dixie Bag Company, Houston Poly Bag and Capitol Poly were all instrumental in the manufacturing and marketing of plastic bags in the USA, which led to Kroger and Safeway supermarkets introducing them into their stores.
The proliferation of plastic bags has, however, resulted in grave problems for the environment. Polyethylene takes years to degrade – depending on its density, it can take a single plastic bag anywhere from 20 to 1,000 years to decompose, and when they do, they excrete toxic substances into the earth around them which are harmful to wildlife. The question over what to do with used poly bags is mired in controversy as environmentalists strive to reduce the enormous amount of waste they create. One such solution has been the development of a sturdier, re-usable plastic bag – often known as a ‘Bag for Life’ – that consumers can use many times over, rather than using new bags every time they go shopping. Most supermarkets now have these bags on sale in the UK, which has gone a little way to reversing the commercial success of lightweight traditional plastic bags, although they’re still fairly prevalent throughout the world.
The proliferation of plastic bags has resulted in grave problems for the environment … It can take a single plastic bag anywhere from 20 to 1,000 years to decompose, and … they excrete toxic substances into the earth around them.
The controversy surrounding plastic bags has given rise to many national and international campaigns to reduce their global consumption. Devastating statistics, and images of wildlife that has been harmed by litter – predominantly plastic bags – have been plastered across the media in an attempt to persuade people to stop using them in such numbers. In 2006, the United Nations released some alarming figures, including the fact that 10% of the plastic produced every year worldwide winds up in the ocean, 70% of it settling on the ocean floor, where it is unlikely to ever degrade. The impact this is undoubtedly having on nature is overwhelming.
Various strategies have been suggested over the years to alleviate the problem. While some advocate the banning of plastic bags and a return to paper bags, or more heavy-duty bags, others believe that re-use and recycling of old bags is the best solution to the dilemma. In Belgium, Italy and Ireland, legislation has been introduced to discourage the use of, and encourage the recycling of, polyethylene bags. A plastic bag levy was introduced in Ireland in 2001, which led to an approximate reduction of more than 90% in the issuing of plastic shopping bags. China and some US states have also introduced taxation on plastic bag consumption.
In Belgium, Italy and Ireland, legislation has been introduced to discourage the use of … polyethylene bags. A plastic bag levy was introduced in Ireland in 2001, which led to an approximate reduction of more than 90% in the issuing of plastic shopping bags.
In Britain, plastic manufacturers have pledged to make bags lighter and thinner, and to use more recycled plastic, which they claim will reduce the environmental ‘footprint’ of poly bags by 50% over the next few years. However, the industry is trying to head off moves by politicians to support a total ban on free throwaway bags, in favour of re-usable alternatives. Marks & Spencer has led efforts by retailers to crack down on plastic bag waste, by introducing a 5p charge to customers in 2009 for using food carriers. Since then, the company has seen a reduction of 80% in the number of bags it hands out.
Whatever the future holds for plastic carrier bags, they’ve certainly made headlines in their lifetime, for all manner of reasons. An all-out global ban is impossible to imagine. However it’s apparent that a change in the attitude of consumers is required in order to reduce the environmental impact of this once-loved creation.