More than EnviroStats!

5 billion was quoted but if the monthly figure was multiplied by 12, 5.16 billion was the answer and might well be closer to the truth, but maybe not as media friendly. Just remember, 0.16 billion is no small sum to be neglecting!

The per day and year statistics were calculated by Envirostats author based on reference population information which had various stipulations about who was counted and who wasn’t in what area. The figures given were about 7.02 million, but 7.0 million was a fair choice in light of all the complications, and the significant digits sufficed equally well for other calculations. Just remember with this per day and per year for each person statistic, that it is not each person using a plastic bag twice a day, but rather two new plastic bags every day. The Israeli culture with plastic bags seems to be that everybody carries everything in plastic bags everywhere, generally speaking, to the point someone called it a “national sport”.

The figures are all probably accurate for 2006 and 2007 since little seems to have changed according to the superb source story by Amir Zohar on not only plastic bags, but also usage in Israel and environmental politics and movements in Israel. It is not everyday we hear about the environment in Israel, and definitely harder above all the other more tragic events going there. Courtesy of excellent find from Treehugger. A few excerpts are below.

Otherwise, a stunning set of statistics is all this author can say, even if some expressed doubts about the weight (see article link at end), because the number of bags and such are still there and it is still an incredible figure at any sizeable proportion of the total. [Envirostats author]

“It is hard not to be impressed by the Israeli national sport,” writes Avi Novik, from Sheldag, a company that deals in environmental management solutions. “It begins with the collection of bags while shopping for food and ends as the most common item in the landfills. The most common carrier found in the [national] survey was plastic bags, most of them of the rustling supermarket variety.”

Plastic encourages the consumption of throwaway products, 90 percent of which become waste within six months, but take hundreds of years to degrade, if ever. Tons of plastic bags are thrown into the regional landfills and constitute a great proportion of the hills of refuse. They also adversely affect the separation and recycling of the waste in the landfills and are harmful to the quality of the compost (organic waste recycled for use as fertilizer) that is produced from it.

Millions of other bags that never make it to the landfills fly through the air and pollute the streets of cities, beaches and open spaces. They create safety hazards for motorboats and cars and, as we saw, cause animals to die a cruel death.

The official data confirm the feeling that consumers use plastic bags on an unlimited scale and are populating the universe with them - so much so that the subject has reached the public agenda (see box). In Israel, awareness of the problem is quite low, even compared to other environmental issues.

In January, 2007, the Council for a Beautiful Israel sponsored the first public conference to reduce the use of plastic bags. The council is conducting a modest publicity campaign to promote the idea in two ways: by supporting legislation to impose a monetary levy on the use of the bags, and by encouraging the transition to the use of biodegradable plastic. “Our model is Ireland, where consumers were charged 15 pence for each bag, and their use plunged by 90 percent. We are suggesting a charge of 25 agorot [a quarter of a shekel] per bag.” - Wow! More will be blogged on this later once some research is done for a more direct source. [Envirostats author]

This month [September], with its cluster of Jewish holidays, will see the use of at least another 500 million bags of the rustling type. So ingrained is indifference to the subject that the spokesperson of the Blue Square [grocery] chain did not even bother to respond, despite repeated calls.

“We are negotiating with a manufacturer in China for the experimental purchase of 50,000 cloth bags at 30 cents a bag, which can carry five kilograms and will be distributed free. Everyone who comes back with the bag from home will get a discount. I only hope the customers will be fair and not grab bags. I will be very happy to see customers carrying bags of the type that my mother used to take to the market in Jerusalem.”

- Headline statistics by Elad Amihai, official in charge of recycling in the [Israeli] Environmental Protection Ministry, via Haaretz, Sep 08 2007