Environment and Society

Name:
Outline
1. Ice-breaker
2. Introduce the Topic
3. Define the Parameters
4. Environmental Issue
5. Society’s Response
6. References

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1) Ice-breaker Your favourite
place in Beppu!

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2) Introduce the topic
● Plastic pollution is common in daily life
● Leads to many environmental problems
● Plastic bags are hard to dispose
=> difficult to recycle
=> reuse solution

There are many activities regarding reusing plastic

materials, but we will introduce the activity of crocheting
plastic bags into mats, fashion bags and many other
accessories.
3) Defining parameters
● Key object: Plastic bag
● Key activity: Crochet plastic bags into items
● Place: Worldwide
● Main actors: Women
● Scale: Varied from groups to individuals

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4) Environmental issue
● Wildlife Deaths: Californians Against Waste estimates
that plastic bags kills over 100,000 marine turtles and
mammals every year.
● Waterway Pollution: A bag exposed to water turns into
a plastic dust composed of PCBs, a known bio-toxin,
enters the food chain that eventually includes human
consumption of animals and plants.
● Recycling Problems: Most singles-stream recycling
plants refuse to sort bags with other collected trash due
to problems with machine jams and the difficulty in
sorting the film bags.

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5) Society’s response
● Bag Ladies (Tennessee, USA): crochet plastic bags into
mats for the homeless, recycling about 52 000 bags a year
Similar activities are conducted widely in USA (Video)
● In Nigeria, a “Waste to Wealth” program started in 2012,
teaching women to recycle plastic waste into mats, bags and
other colorful accessories. The program not only helps the
environment but also help the women earn income. (Video)
● Many individuals have participated in the activity. Many
tutorials are available online (Youtube, WikiHow) and
everybody can try.

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6) References
● Lights, Z. (April 30, 2012). What’s So Bad About Plastic Bags?. One Green Planet.
Retrieved from http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/whats-so-bad-about-
plastic-bags/
● Nigerian women crochet bags from plastic waste (April 23, 2017). The Straits Times.
Retrieved from http://www.straitstimes.com/world/africa/nigerian-women-crochet-bags-
from-plastic-waste
● Sanchez, Y. (September 16, 2016). Women Recycle More Than 52,000 Plastic Bags to
Make Beds for the Homeless. Inside Edition. Retrieved from
http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/18720-women-recycle-more-than-52000-plastic-
bags-to-make-beds-for-the-homeless
● Ryan, D. (2011). Environmental Problems With Plastic Bags. Livestrong. Retrieved from
http://www.livestrong.com/article/143109-environmental-problems-with-plastic-bags/