The plastics industry rejects the idea that you shouldn’t buy a bag in a store: “I don’t think this is the most important thing in the order of saving the world”

The speeches that Finns should reduce the purchase of plastic bags and not use grocery bags as garbage bags, are pointless and not based on real environmental impacts. This is the opinion of the CEO of Muoviteollisuus ry Vesa Kärhä.

HS said on Tuesday that too many Finns still grab a new plastic bag for their shopping at the store checkout. The use of bags has not decreased enough for Finland to reach the set reduction target.

According to Kärhä, plastic bags made from recycled plastic are a much more environmentally friendly choice than many other alternatives, such as paper or fabric bags.

“I don’t consider this to be the most important thing in the order of saving the world. It would be much more important to teach people to collect garbage from nature, so that plastic bags would not be thrown into nature,” says Kärhä.

On Tuesday, we asked HS readers about the use of plastic bags. The excerpts in the story are answers to the reader survey, the language of which has been edited.

“The price of a plastic bag is two euros. Buying will decrease drastically.”

“All too often I buy a bag at the checkout simply because I don’t have a shopping bag with me. When I’m rushing to work in the morning, I never think that I should take a shopping bag with me.”

“I have never bought plastic bags. I always have at least one fabric bag with me. It fits in a small space and is light. I must have taken a plastic bag from the store last time when they were still free.”

in Finland and the reduction goal set in the EU, that consumers should buy no more than 40 plastic bags per year, is not based on any real impact assessment, according to Kärhä. Reading about him is practically pulled from the sleeve.

Finns now buy an average of 63 plastic bags a year.

“You can still happily buy a new plastic bag for your grocery shopping at the store checkout. Not everyone can always carry their own bag with them,” says Kärhä.

He does not believe that, for example, price increases for bags could have an effect on their use.

Plastic bags are highly profitable sales products for stores. The manufacturers get a cent or two from the bag, and the store sells them for 25 cents. If the prices were to be increased, according to Kärhä, the revenue should be directed to promote recycling.

Darling however, highlights one way to reduce the use of bags or improve their recycling. It’s about the deposit system.

“Plastic bags could have a deposit marked with a barcode just like when returning a bottle. When returning the bag to the collection point, you could get a small deposit back,” Kärhä paints.

He also highlights the domesticity of plastic bags for grocery shopping.

The majority of these bags made of recycled plastic are still manufactured in Finland. However, some trade groups have started to manufacture them abroad as well.

“I collect a lot of plastic bags, which I take to the car in a plastic bag at once. My motive is not to save plastic, when it is used as energy to burn anyway, but the fact that the price of the bags is relatively high.”

“It would be nice if, in particular, durable bags and why not also plastic bags could be recycled directly to the store. There could be a cage box near the cash register, where you could take accumulated bags home, and from which you could use one free of charge if you forget your own bag at home.”

Darling disagrees about which plastic bag is the most suitable for a garbage bag.

An expert from the trade association said in a previous article on HS that a particularly bad reason to buy a plastic bag is that you can get a garbage bag at the same time. According to the Finnish Trade Federation, it would be cheaper and more ecological to buy a roll of waste bags. These bags contain less plastic.

According to Kärhä, a plastic bag sold as a grocery bag can be used as a garbage bag. According to him, the bags usually contain 40-50 percent and sometimes even 90 percent recycled plastic.

Most of the waste bags sold in rolls are cheap Asian imports, unlike shopping bags, which are mostly made in Finland. In Kärhä’s opinion, it is irresponsible to recommend the purchase of such waste bags.

According to Kärhä, the waste bags imported from Asia are made from the cheapest possible waste plastic raw materials and often have a strong smell. The production of garbage bags is based on large quantities, and in Kärhä’s opinion, it is therefore not profitable in Finland.

For food bags only two companies manufacture the plastic bags in Finland, market leader Amerplast and Seapack. A-kassi, which manufactured plastic bags in Hollola, went bankrupt last year.

Previously, there were half a dozen plastic bag manufacturers. If manufacturing in Finland decreases even further, we will have to think about what the collected plastic waste can be used for, according to Kärhä.

“Plastic bags sold in rolls break down too easily as garbage bags, for example, in plastic garbage, the bag is usually broken when it is taken to the big garbage. It then causes a mess or, in the worst case, falls apart on the way.”

Correction 17.10. 5:19 p.m.: Contrary to what was said earlier in the story, some of the waste bags sold on a roll in Finland are domestically produced.