We can find plastic bags wherever we go shopping. It is almost impossible not to see them in the streets. But, what do we know about these plastic bags?
When did we first encounter plastic bags? When they were invented? In 1961, the plastic bag was invented in Germany. First plastic bags were used by German company Horten AG in Neuss. They have been used actively in industry and in our daily lives since 1977 and it became almost impossible to reverse the environmental effects of plastic bags.[6]
The reason we see plastic bags everywhere we go is because they’re cheap, cheaper than water, as Turks would say. 5000 plastic bags would cost you only 200 TL (65$). The printing and the design on it would be extra though.
It takes only 12 to 15 minutes for us to get rid of plastic bags, we only use them for short periods but it takes longer for them to decompose in the environment. Some plastic bags can take 1000 years to decompose, some may take 15 years because they contain more biological ingredients than chemicals. Even if they disappear in the soil or in the ocean, they divide into micro organisms to carry on polluting our environment. Physically they’re no longer there, but the pollutants contaminate our waters and our soil forever.
What are they made of and what machines do they use in production? We are as curious as you! It takes 5 stages to get a decent plastic bag. At first they’re taken as raw material (plastic film, fibers or fabric) and mixed up in the mixers, the mixed material turned into a roll and the roll is sent to the printing machine to be shaped. Scrap, faulty materials are reused for creating new products, the process goes like this forever till there’s no waste left. You can watch the process from the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZABXZvTpmBg
Firstly, we must share some facts about plastic bags.
Plastic bags are light materials, they can fly and float easily. A plastic bag can be in the city center one day, the other day it can go to the mountains and the next week you can find the same plastic bag in the ocean. They can also close drainages which can cause floods.