Finally. It's January 2011 and Italy seem ready to redeem himself from plastic shopping bags. It is a small revolution to ban the production and marketing of so-called "final carrier bags (store-house): the symbol of all disposable, universally present, from the Alps to the Pyramids, from the Himalayas to the Pacific Ocean, where helped to form an "island of trash"-the Pacific Trash Vortex, which stretches for nearly 10 million square kilometers.
petroleum and therefore "fossil", for forty years shoppers around the world are moving in increasing numbers stellar lately, about 20 billion pieces per year only in Italy (among the most voracious consumers in Europe), 100 billion in Europe, and (according to estimates from data of the Agency Environmental Protection U.S. EPA) from 500 billion to 1 trillion worldwide. The Italian
farewell comes from a part of the Finance Act 2007, which in turn comply with an EU directive of December 1994 (94/62/EC). The ban on the production and marketing of non-biodegradable shopping bags from January 1, 2011 is accompanied by the granting of a few months in supermarkets and shops to clear their stock. The abolition of
bags plastica era stata richiesta anche dal direttore del Programma per l’ambiente delle Nazioni Unite (Unep), e non a caso: per l’uso di qualche minuto, i sacchetti rimangono nell’ambiente da un minimo di 15 a un massimo di mille anni. Con notevoli effetti collaterali quando si disperdono: dall’uccisione di centinaia di migliaia di uccelli e altri animali marini a disastrosi allagamenti -in Bangladesh- dovuti all’intasamento degli scarichi.
Quanto al clima, l’Agenzia per l’ambiente del governo australiano ha calcolato le emissioni climalteranti provocate dalla produzione e distribuzione dei sacchetti di polietilene ad alta densità: più di 2 chili di CO2 per ogni chilo di sacchetti di plastica, per produrre which serves nearly one kilogram of oil (900 grams). Only in Italy, the production of 300 thousand tons of petroleum-derived shopper leads, according to Legambiente, the issuance of 200 thousand tons of CO2.
That said, the real problem today is that these "unpresentable appendages" of each purchase may not really disappear from the peninsula. And the alternatives do not prove, upon careful analysis, really "green." The Unionplast
Confindustria (the national association between the industries of rubber, electrical wiring and related industries in plastics and the like), for example, asks the country to retrace his steps, and warns employment for the sector (average turnover of 800 million euro and 4 thousand employees, but does not specify how many are dedicated to the production of shoppers). On 5 November Unionplast has even appealed to the TAR against the resolution of the City of Turin, in advance, had banned non-biodegradable carrier bags throughout the city (which notice is not complied with ...). It will not stop. Unionplast argues that the European directive 94/62 "packaging waste, which governs the management of packaging and packaging waste, do not prevent non-biodegradable bags. Just on the other hand they have one of these three requirements are high: riutizzabilità, recoverability and recyclability. And, says triumphant Unionplast, unlike the bag of "bioplastics" from plant material, which is only biodegradable, non-biodegradable polythene carrier bags have all the other features: You can use multiple times, can be "recovered" in incinerators, they can be recycled. This defense is pulled by the hair, but it says Unionplast sure to win the appeal against Torino, and national level suggests that the government instead of proposing a campaign to encourage people to reuse several times the same shopper.
In any case, the ban applies only to Italian bags "to vest", ie with the handles, and among these, only those for all’alimentare. Dovrebbero rimanere in circolazione non solo i sacchetti senza manici per ortofrutta (vedi box a p. 22) ma anche gli inutili e diffusi sacchetti da farmacia, cartoleria, tabaccheria. Nelle catene non alimentari, cioè, non cambierà nulla, se non a livello volontario. La finanziaria del 2007, a cui si riferisce l’attuale “bando”, prevede la sostituzione dei sacchetti di plastica con i cosiddetti eco-shopper in carta o “bioplastica” ricavata da mais e da altre materie vegetali, insomma polimeri biodegradabili e compostabili, certificato secondo lo standard europeo En 13432. Non è la soluzione ottimale: sono altri usa e getta, ma coltivati. Con scarsi vantaggi nel bilancio culturale e ambientale.
bags biodegradable corn starch (Mater-Bi), potato or sunflower stem from resources of agricultural origin. According to the statements of Novamont, one of the producers of bioplastics, "just" 70 thousand acres of corn and 600 thousand hectares of oilseed crops to cover the entire Italian needs for flexible plastic packaging, equal to about 1.5-2 million tonnes. To speak only of shoppers to take away the final seconds of Legambiente calculations to produce 10 billion should be 30 thousand hectares of maize. Occupy these extensions to make disposable shopping bags (the more reusable once for organic waste) will mean a large amount of water, pesticides, fertilizers di sintesi, che inquinano le falde e comportano l’emissione di gas serra.
Inoltre, l’Italia già importa il 35% del mais consumato (anche se è la coltivazione agricola più diffusa in Italia). E sta aumentando la richiesta di mais per farne agrocarburanti.
Non è ancora stato calcolato, invece, quanta pasta di legno sarebbe necessaria per ricavare industrialmente miliardi di sacchetti di carta? Quanto alla bioplastica, uno studio condotto all’University of Pittsburgh, combinando analisi del ciclo di vita del prodotto e valutazioni legate ad aspetti di progettazione sostenibile, mette in dubbio la superiorità ambientale dei biopolimeri sulle plastiche tradizionali nelle fasi di produzione. Spiega Silvia Ricci, coordinator of the campaign "Bring the bag" (see box at right) promoted by the virtuosi of Commons: "We work for the reduction of single use of any material, which should be discouraged so that it becomes an emergency solution and not ordinary. The experience that has brought the best results is to Ireland, where a charge shoppers 22 cents on the euro, introduced in 2007, led to a 90% reduction in consumption. "
A response from citizens to help and involve the "country system", you may also have the rule in the transport of purchases of 4R: reject (the disposable), reduce, reuse, recycle. We can count on canvas bags for all occasions, to keep on hand anywhere. For medium or large expenses are several possibilities: bags hooked to the trolley, shopping trolleys, for bottles only. As for the small envelopes "Mercer", it is simply to reject them. Avoiding the food and disposable save every Italian family, among other things, the issuance of 8 pounds of greenhouse gas a year, and Italian families are 22 million ...
Elastic cotton for fruit
No prohibition on the horizon for bags without handles, the ones in supermarkets and markets are available to those who buy the fruit and vegetables. Carrier bags are intermediate al mercato è facile farne a meno, chiedendo di pesare i diversi acquisti per poi metterli in una stessa borsa. Ma è difficile evitare l’usa e getta al reparto ortofrutta dei supermercati senza un “coinvolgimento” delle direzioni dei gruppi. Che potrebbero far propria la soluzione, italiana, studiata da Frà Production. L’azienda della provincia di Asti, specializzata nelle reti elastiche e non elastiche per il settore alimentare e medicale, centodieci dipendenti fissi, ha progettato e realizzato una resistente borsa per la spesa in cotone e a rete, denominata Ecottonbag. “È il futuro degli imballaggi, prenderà il posto dei sacchetti trasparenti da pesare -spiega l’amministratore delegato Mauro Mazza-: just tie the two ends and apply the label ". Large retailers could, in effect, adopt the budget with the use of preset tare screen, well marked by signage effective, dedicated to customers who want to make use of reusable screens. Purchased the first time at a modest price and reported the next time. The Cooperative High
Valsugana, under the coordination of the Network thirty environmental education for sustainable development, was the first to promote the retina in November, with excellent results liking. Info: www.ecottonbag.it, 0141-97.99.11
4 ideas on sport
"Bring the bag" (www.portalasporta.it) offers free advice citizens, administrators, businesses, merchants and their associations, environmentalists, and spontaneous movements. For 2011, launched new initiatives: 1) "Challenge to the latest sport", aimed at municipalities, provinces and regions is a race for the reduction of disposable shopping bags with the participation of the population, schools, the exercises: the prize money is for the winning school of the town, and 2) "Put them on the net!" is open to citizens, local authorities, traders and retailers as a concrete proposal for reduction of packaging, intermediate-or plastic-card when buying fruits and vegetables. Is also underway to collect signatures "Put it over the network in all the supermarkets."
3) "The single-use any materials? Only on request and only pay "points to leverage the portfolio to reduce the incentive for disposable shopping bags (paper or even mater-Bi). Mission and challenge: to accept the stores and the public, the adoption of reusable shopping bag, the best choice ever for the environment.
4) "Getting a bag with recycled fabric!" Laboratories-on-site recycling bags for packing tissue paper patterns.
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