Pernicious Plastic Bags

According to Cool Australia, 3.76 billion bags get disposed of every year in Australia and around 50 million enter the litter stream. As you can see, this is a blatant issue. Plastic bags are extremely detrimental for the environment as they do not decompose. This means that they do not naturally break up and hazardously occupying natural space such as the oceans. 100,000 marine animals die every year from plastic and that number will only increase overtime if plastic bags continue to be mass produced. Therefore, it is without a doubt that plastic bags must be banned.

Firstly, plastic bags harm the precious environment and wonderful ecosystems. Upon poor disposal, plastic bags often get blown and stuck into trees or into bushes which stay there for a long time. This toxic waste can be eaten by animals or trap animals thus intoxicating or even killing them. In particular, plastic bags in oceans harm several marine life populations. For example, turtles may mistake plastic for edible jellyfish and choke on them leading to death. As clear, floating, bubbling objects, plastic bags bear high resemblance to jellyfish.

Secondly, plastic bags clog drains upon improper disposal and cause flooding of plumbing systems. When plastic bags get thrown on the street, they can be blown into the sewage system. They can roam freely in the pipes and clog them causing overflowing water. This will lead to becoming the prime breeding ground for germs and diseases. Plastic bags are now among the top 12 most common items found in Spitzberg in the north to Falklands in the south.

Lastly, the mass production of plastic bags requires extremely high volumes of nonrenewable resources. Plastic bags are mass produced around the world. This can cause an excessive amount to end up in landfill and significant energy expenditure is required for their recycling. When they get bought in bulk, many of them don't get used and just trashed on the floor.

The significant number of dead marine animals and clogged drains will rise if the number of plastic bags increases. For the welfare of Mother Earth, we need to take immediate action in stopping the use of plastic bags.