plastic bags WILL be the death of me (and you)
- julia
- Dec 13, 2018
- 2 min read
A not so fun fact: In America alone, around 390 million plastic bags were used last year, and each of those bags were used for only an average of 12 minutes.
An even less fun fact: If all the plastic bags were joined together, it could circle the world FOUR THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED TIMES.
Plastic bags are in the top 12 when it comes to debris found on the shoreline, and it probably would be higher on the list if it weren't for all the sea turtles that are consuming them because they get mistaken for jellyfish.
As of right now, most plastic bags are not being recycled (about 1%), and there's two pretty obvious reasons why:
1) Too much hassle: You can't recycle plastic bags in your regular recycling, they have to be put in a separate bin, accessible at most grocery stores.
2) Too expensive: Even if you do make the long trek to the nearest grocery store and put your bags in the bin provided, most recycling facilities will not even accept them because the cost to recycle a plastic bag outweighs their value.
If a plastic bag is so lucky as to get recycled, all it does is get reprocessed into a new plastic bag. So, then what? Most just end up in landfills to sit...and sit...and sit...for 500+ years. Even after all that time, bags do not break down fully, they photo-degrade. Long story short, the sun does its best to break it down, but to no avail. The bag just becomes micro-plastic that produces more toxins and continues on polluting.
Want to learn more about the photo-degradation process? Click here.
Now, do not even get me started on paper bags. All I will say about these is that it takes 13% more energy to make a paper bag than a plastic bag and despite being SO #%*$^!@ EASY TO RECYCLE, only about 20% of paper bags actually are.
The thing is, bags are arguably the easiest item to replace with a more sustainable option. Many stores, especially grocery stores, not only carry their own reusable bags, but often give small incentives/discounts for every one you use.
e.g. Target Bag: $.99 ($.05 discount per bag), some Whole Foods locations give $.10 back per bag.
Reasons to have reusable bags:
-You want to avoid the "bag tax" that many corporations and cities have started implementing
-You don't want anymore bag rips and embarrassing moments in the store when all your groceries spill
-You want a bag that is less of an eyesore (besides, what's cuter than taking care of the environment?)
-You want to continue living on a relatively clean planet
Reasons not to have reusable bags:
-You hate living on earth
-You don't hate the earth, but have easy access to Mars and would much prefer to live there where you can use your plastic bags in peace
-You hate breathing oxygen
-You love the idea of killing all marine life
-You think living on piles of garbage sounds super fun
For the love, just get a reusable bag.
xoxo
SOURCES:
Comments