Michael Simons- Can I reuse this plastic bag?

Solid Waste Management: Ireland

http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/litter.htm

This case study focuses on Ireland’s solid waste management, primarily about the use of plastic bags. This case study talks about the success Ireland has had by creating a levy that limited the use of plastic bags in supermarkets across all of Ireland. The goals Ireland wanted to achieve with this initiative were to decrease around 50% of the use of plastic bags. Within one year they skyrocketed past that 50% and decreased the use of plastic bags up to 95%! This initiative was very successful and other countries like Britain and Australia are interested in creating an initiative just like this one. This levy can relate to this module because now Ireland can save money and use that money for more environmental initiatives or other ways that can help the country further its development. Now that they have decreased the number of bags and the amount of litter in the country Ireland still sustains its tourism factor which in turn will help the country make more money.

 

Using high quality alternative fuel: Egypt

http://www.lafarge.com/en/egypt-refuse-derived-fuel-feed-our-cement-kilns

This case study if from Egypt where they use municipal waste as an alternative fuel. The goals of this case study are to use the 150,000 tons of waste as an alternative fuel for the cement manufacturing process. This can help Egypt as a whole develop more by using other sources of fuel to progress and do more within the country. While creating this initiative Egypt created over 140 new jobs within the Zabblaleen community and reduce its consumption of fossil fuels. These advances and will help Egypt even more because fossil fuels aren’t going to last forever so the less they use, the longer they can use fossil fuels when needed.

 

In Long Island, New York (where I live) we have many initiatives just like the rest of the country. One that is similar to one of these case studies is the one with reducing the use of plastic bags. In every supermarket you walk in on Long Island, you have the option to use woven bags over plastic bags. These bags are placed at the entrances of the store so there are visible to the customers to buy and use instead of plastic bags. What New York can learn from this study is that if we promote it even more and make it not worth it money wise to use plastic bags, then maybe the initiative will be more of a success. The initiative in Egypt is different from where I live because I’ve never heard of New York trying to find alternative fuel. Maybe if New York or America as a whole can learn from Egypt and use this study to save fossil fuels and create more jobs.

3 thoughts on “Michael Simons- Can I reuse this plastic bag?

  1. Hey Michael I wrote about flood control in Sri Lanka and rebuilding roads in the DR Congo. I think the study of plastic bags and Ireland is cool and it’s amazing that they got it down by 95%! The case from Egypt is very interesting because they’re doing something that every country should do to cut down on fossil fuels. I agree with you that America should promote bags that aren’t plastic and also try and learn from Egypt to prevent using fossil fuels.
    Here is my post: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/26/development-case-studies-michael-celoni/

  2. Hey Michael! My name is Molly and I really liked your first case study you chose about the plastic bags in Ireland. It is different than my post because I addressed climate issues such as droughts in Somalia and the Asian Pacific so I was really drawn to yours.
    I visited the San Francisco Bay area last summer and every store that I purchased something from always charged me 10 cents if I wanted a bag whether it was plastic or not. I think that it could be beneficial for more places to charge people for bags because a lot of people don’t properly recycle them so they could be used again and this results in causing more harm to the environment. Maybe if we see more countries doing this then we may feel obligated to do our part as well and help out. Overall, I really liked your post because it was very informative and you addressed developmental issues that should be addressed soon.
    Here is a link to my post if you’re interested! http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/26/44610/

  3. Hey Mike, its Alyssa Gammel. Its nice to see a friendly face on here. I love your post! its so interesting to see these concepts relate to something we all experience, plastic bags. I personally have not ever bought those reusable bags, but I do notice the role they play on eliminating waste. In my post I talk a lot about the concept of sustainability and how cities are making plans to invest in sustainability concepts. If you are interested heres a link https://wp.me/p3RCAy-bBF

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