Plastic Bags

Plastic bags have a longer lifetime than most buildings. Lasting somewhere between 400-1,000 years, plastic bags fill the garbage dump with nearly non-degradable material. Although these plastic bags are reusable, only 1-3% of the bags are actually reused.  Considering that an average person may use approximately 1,000 plastic bags per year, the number of plastic bags that end up floating aimlessly about or in the dump is staggering.

One particularly sad effect of the plastic bags occurs when the bags end up in water. Animals like dolphins and sea turtles are particularly vulnerable. These animals swim, play, and eat near the surface of the water, which is where countless amounts of plastic bags are found. Dolphins will play with plastic bags like they would with seaweed; they do not know the difference. But when these plastic bags wrap around the dolphin's head or block its' air passage, things will turn deadly very quickly. Sea turtles often mistake the plastic bags as food floating on the surface. They will take bites of the plastic bags, and eventually the plastic blocks their digestive tracts, causing a slow starvation.

We have become so accustomed to seeing plastic bags everywhere that we do not often stop to consider the implications of our carelessness.

However, people around the world are beginning to fight against the plastic. In Britain, one person (a BBC documentary director), fought and won the battle for her town to use canvas bags. Although her cause was dismissed by the legislature, she went to the shopkeepers and gained their support to stop using plastic bags. In India, a police force set up specifically for the prohibition of plastic bags has been set up.

In my opinion, we need a combination solution to this problem. In some places, such as the little town in Britain, simply making the problem known and taking action to bring people together has solved the problem of plastic bags. But in our other example, India, the government has had to take action to solve the problem; in this case, the battle is still ongoing, and it may be for a long time to come. Contrary to the manufacturer, plastic bags are not misunderstood. Although most people do know that plastic bags are reusable, the majority of these consumers do not recycle the bags.

I did a little research and found an article about the Massachusetts becoming the first state to ban plastic bags. In the entire United States, only San Francisco, Nantucket, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland have either banned or placed a tax on plastic bags. Although pressure from the plastics industry made the state of California unable to pass a statewide ban, in San Francisco alone, the annual addition to landfills has dropped by 10% with its ban on plastic bags. Just think of the great reduction in waste if the whole US were to ban plastic bags!

Plastic bags are an environmental hazard that can be cured by our own actions. Each person can make a difference, as we can see all over the world.