There are some environmental issues that are controversial, and others that are pretty much clear-cut. The ecological impact of plastic bags is one of the latter. It has been estimated that Americans alone use a staggering hundred billion plastic bags every year.
In theory, they are recyclable and shouldn’t cause a major problem. The bad news is that the number that are actually recycled is estimated at less than five percent – and probably more like a feeble two or three percent. That leaves a lot of plastic bags out there littering the environment and causing a significant eco hazard.
The eco disasters and damage caused by plastic bags worldwide has led to outright bans in several countries. Plastic bags clogging storm drains and sewers caused serious flooding in Bangladesh ten years ago and have been outlawed. Apart from the threat to cities and humans, the impact on both marine and terrestrial wildlife is appalling, with unnecessary and horrible deaths resulting from entanglement in or ingestion of our litter. In landfill, even the flimsiest plastic shopping bag can take decades or even centuries to biodegrade and disintegrate…