Watch Out Plastic Bags
By: Ozie Klein | Posted: 28th April 2008
If we take close look, plastic (shopping) bags really have a damaging effect on these environmental systems. Plastic is non-biodegradable, toxic and not recyclable in many sense of the word. Nowadays people feel more and more the need for an atempt to seek alternative in eliminating use of plastic and reducing plastic waste. These plastic bags are not bio-degradable and they affect the environmental balance in various ways. This situation foster the individual practice for sustainable earth and a friendly environment.
Some shoppers sometimes bring various items wrapped in plastic bags and throw them away after use without any concern for the environment. This caused damage to earth life. Plastic bags pose a threat to marine life too, because, if ingested, the bags can block the animal stomach and cause starvation. For example, sea turtles were reported mistake plastic bags for jellyfish. How it be undergraded plastic bags present in the bellies of wild animals. In a news it was reported that a whale that washed up on a beach at Normandy was found to have 800 grams of plastic and other packaging in its stomach!
Stray plastic bags can also clog sewer pipes, leading to stagnant water and unimistakably associated health hazards. In 2002, Bangladesh banned plastic bags after drains blocked by bags contributed to widespread monsoon flooding in 1988 and 1998. Even in province of Himachal Pradesh (India) there is a strict plastic bag regulations, where people caught with plastic bags are fined $2000.
Hence, it is a good things to do if we use minimal plastic (shopping) bags, or using them repeatedly for an optimum period. Another suggestion is making alternative bags, made of reeds, cloth, paper, or other media that we can use repeatedly. With some creativity, we can recycle some old things to make new (shopping) bags too. It is good to be creative while at the same time we save our life and others.About the Author
Ozie Klein
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Tags: stagnant water, health hazards, wild animals, normandy, sea turtles, shopping bags, plastic bags, bellies, jellyfish, bio degradable, sewer pipes