By David Eldridge

“I am a plastic bag” proclaims recycled bag for UK science exhibition.

18 July 2008 – Londoners are able to play their part in fighting anti-plastics propaganda after the free distribution yesterday of reuseable shopping bags emblazoned with the words “I am a plastic bag”.

The woven plastic bags, made from 80% recycled PET bottles, were created by the organisers of The Science of Survival exhibition now on at the Science Museum. In a promotion with the Evening Standard newspaper, 10,000 bags were given out to Londoners traveling home from work yesterday.

The Science of Survival exhibition shows visitors how people may be living in the year 2050, using products that address issues of climate change, sustainability and finite resources. A key exhibition sponsor is BASF, whose products include polymeric insulating materials.
The exhibition website said: “We believe there is no one solution for a greener planet so we have created a bag made from 80% recycled plastic. This can help reduce our ecological footprint because it requires much less oil to make, so using up less of a finite resource.

“Using recycled plastic also prevents material from filling up our land fill sites. And because the bag is sturdy it will last you a very long time, meaning you need to use fewer bags in future, further saving on energy and resources.”

Earlier this year, media coverage focused on UK initiatives to ban or charge for plastic carrier bags. Melissa Prince, a spokesperson for the exhibition, said inspiration for its bag came from the well publicised cotton bag by designer Anya Hindmarch with the slogan “I’m not a plastic bag”.

Prince said the organisers hit upon the idea of a reusable bag that demonstrated waste plastics can be turned into a new product and that people can make choices with regard to sustainability. The bag will also be sold for £2.99 in the exhibition shop at the Science Museum, where other products include pencils made from used CD cases.