By: Doug McGhee, MD [2]
I am relieved to see that I am not the only one despairing demonstrations of excess (“Another unwanted plastic bag” BCMJ 2009;51[6]:245 [9]). The plastic wrap you now enclose the BCMJ in is touted as biodegradable but is not recyclable. The bags contain starches that will contaminate recycled plastic and thus need to be boldly labeled, “Do not recycle—compost only.” Unfortunately the bags will not compost in home compost bins.
Worse, the biodegradation, if it occurs, produces methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, so it is an illusion that we are doing something good by paying the premium for using these fancy bags. Please do something radical and right and rethink the need for the bag at all.
—Doug McGhee, MD
Victoria
Links
[1] https://bcmj.org/cover/november-2009
[2] https://bcmj.org/author/doug-mcghee-md
[3] https://bcmj.org/node/3309
[4] https://bcmj.org/print/letters/thinking-outside-bag
[5] https://bcmj.org/printmail/letters/thinking-outside-bag
[6] http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://bcmj.org/print/letters/thinking-outside-bag
[7] https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Thinking outside the bag&url=https://bcmj.org/print/letters/thinking-outside-bag&via=BCMedicalJrnl&tw_p=tweetbutton
[8] https://bcmj.org/javascript%3A%3B
[9] https://bcmj.org/issues/another-unwanted-plastic-bag
[10] https://bcmj.org/modal_forms/nojs/webform/176
[11] https://bcmj.org/%3Finline%3Dtrue%23citationpop