Plastic Bags

Plastic Bags

Introduction

I am investigating which supermarkets have the strongest plastic bags; I have tested this out in an experiment. I will also be researching whether plastic bags are good or bad for the environment and how they can be replaced or used differently.

It is estimated that we use over 500 billion plastic bags worldwide every year, which is nearly 1 million bags used every minute. In the UK It is estimated that we use 10 billion which is about 167 bags per person. They are very controversial as they take a very long time to break down and only 1 in 200 plastic bags in the UK are recycled; they pose a choking hazard for wildlife and children, plastic contains a lot of chemicals and some found could cause cancer and people find that there are many other replacements like using paper bags instead.

Plastic is an organic substance consisting of large molecules called polymers. It is distilled from wood, coal, oil and even natural gas by chemicals such as hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and carbon. Other chemicals present in plastic may include chlorine, sulphur, silicone and fluorine.

Plastic bags are made in a number of ways and for a number of purposes; each plastic bag is made of a polymer. Polymers are large molecules that contain lots of a chosen repeating monomer. Plastic bags are made from the monomer ethylene (ethene). These ethylene molecules are made into polyethylene. Polyethylenes are generic in that they include all ethylene that has been polymerized, but they may have other characteristics. Three polyethylenes are identified as being used in the manufacture of plastic bags because of their density, low-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, and high-density polyethylene. Branching, replacing the polymer chain with other forms or variations of the monomer can further change the characteristics of the plastic. Highly branched polymers make thinner plastic. Branching also affects tensile strength and clearness or...