5 Reasons To Stop Using Plastic Bags - Catch Foundation

1. Plastic bags are made from non-renewable resources and contribute to climate change.   

The majority of plastic bags are made of polypropylene, which causes pollution all its life – from manufacturing to disposal. Its production uses up to 8% of our oil resource and is harmful to the environment and still remains toxic to the environment after you throw it away. The average lifespan of each plastic bag is about 12 minutes. 

2.  Plastic bags pollute our land and water. 

Because they are lightweight, they can travel long distances by wind and water. Eventually, end up in the world’s oceans. They are not biodegradable. Instead, the plastic breaks up into tiny little pieces that end up in the ocean and are often mistaken for food by animals such as birds, fish and marine mammals. Thousands of marine animals choke and die from ingesting this plastic, and many more are being slowly poisoned by the dioxin and other pollutants introduced by this mass of plastic. Animals can also easily become entangled in this plastic. There are approximately 46,000-1,000,000 plastic fragments floating within every square mile of the globe's oceans.                                                                         

3. Plastic bags are harmful to human health.

There are different types of ways that plastic is dangerous for humans.  Most plastic fragments in the oceans like plastic bags have some pollutants such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl) together with PAHs (Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).  Once marine animals eat plastic the materials bio-accumulates in their system as they are exposed to them in the ocean waters. When people eat these animals they consume all these chemicals affecting their health that could develop into cancers or other serious conditions.

4. Plastic bags are costly to pay for and to clean up. 

While we may not pay for plastic bags directly when we go shopping, they are anything but “free.” Plastic bags cost about 3-5 cents each, and that cost is then incorporated into the prices of the items sold at stores. It’s estimated that Americans use over 380 billion plastic bags and wraps a year. Nationwide, litter clean-up efforts amount to as much as $11 billion per year.  Even though not all of that is from disposable bags. The cost of plastic bag cleanup is about 17 cents per bag, and on average, taxpayers end up paying about $88 per year just on plastic bag waste. 

                          

5. Plastic bags are not easy to recycle.

Most recycling facilities do not have the capacity to recycle plastic bags and therefore do not accept them. As a result, the actual recycling rate for plastic bags is about 5%. Even if we did recycle more plastic bags, these materials still end up in oceans and landfills, where they are still toxic. One trillion plastic bags are used annually and approximately eight million metric tons of plastic waste end up in the world’s oceans each year.