Today’s post is dedicated to another plastic product we encounter and use everyday. Unlike plastic bottles, it’s something we are not even reminded to recycle- Plastic grocery bags. 500 BILLION plastic bags are used every year worldwide. When you stop to think about it, the usage time of a plastic grocery bag is ridiculously short. You drive them from the grocery store to your house, unpack your purchases….and then what do you do with them? They can be reused for bathroom or desk trash liners, but I’ve always seen them build up much faster than they can be reused. Only a select number of curbside recycling centers take plastic bags. Grocery stores do not do a good job of informing people that they can return their plastic bags to the stores.
Most plastic bags, like plastic bottles, end up being thrown away or littered. Being even lighter than plastic bottles, grocery bags can travel hundreds of miles being carried by the wind or through storm drains. Because they are made from a higher density plastic, called high density polythelene, plastic bags actually NEVER biodegrade, even after a thousand years. Instead they just continue break down into smaller and smaller pieces. Animals, especially in the ocean, often eat these plastic pieces, mistaking them for food. This results in sickness or death. Animals also get injured or die from getting entangled in floating plastic bags.
Besides littering our environment and hurting our wildlife, plastic bags also consume one of our most valuable natural resources. The amount of petroleum used to make 13 bags is the same amount need to drive a car one mile.
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