Cities ban plastic bags
Bangladesh, Ireland and South Africa have banned plastic bags and now U.S. Cit-ies, San Francisco and Oakland, are banning plastic shopping bags in large stores and pharmacies.
It’s hard to imagine a world without plastic bags. We use them to carry gro-ceries home from the store, to store foods in the refrigerator, and as garbage bags, and they are beginning to threaten wildlife and fill up landfills. Washington State reports that 270,000 tons of plastic bags and wrappings are thrown away every year.
The production of plastic bags, made from petroleum, contributes to the pol-lution that causes global warming and toxins that threaten human health. Plastic bags litter highways, hang from trees, clog stormwater systems and threaten marine life.
It is estimated that 50 percent of all marine litter is some form of plastic. The United Nations Environment program reports that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating in every square mile of ocean. About a thousand miles off the coast of California, there is a swirling mass of plastic trash which spans an area that's twice the size of Texas. More than a million birds and 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles die every year from eating or getting entangled in plastic.
Do your part to reduce the use of plastic bags by taking your own reusable cloth bags with you next time your go to the store. When you need to use a plastic bag, make sure it gets recycled.