Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The danger of plastic bags

Every time you go to the supermarket or buy anything, you get at least one plastic bag. In the end, when you realize, you have more than 100 plastic bags at home that are completely unnecessary. Plastic bags are very dangerous to our environment. Here are five very good reasons you should stop using them!  

1 - It takes plastic more than 400 years to decompose. That’s a lot! Because it takes a long time, you can imagine how much plastic is accumulated for years, creating mountains of garbage and polluting many places in the cities. 

    2 - Plastic is a very light material. For that reason, it can fly with the wind, or go in the flow of water polluting not only the cities but other places such as forests, rivers, lakes and oceans.
    Blowing in the wind!
    3 - Do you know that nearly 200 different types of animals, including fish, whales, dolphins, sea turtles, birds and others, die because of plastic bags? They eat plastic by mistake, since they confuse it with food. 

    Poor turtle!
    4 - Plastic bags are responsible for clogging the drains in the streets causing catastrophic floods that damage houses, buildings and puts the lives of many people in danger. 
      5 - Plastic bags are almost impossible to recycle. It costs more to recycle a bag than to produce a new one!


      Are you ready to reduce? If you’re not convinced yet, think of easy things you can do every day to help our world. 

      - Sometimes, you buy a pen, a CD or even a candy bar for example and the shop assistant gives you a small plastic bag that you are most probably going to throw away in the trash. Is that really necessary? Whenever you can, put these objects in your bag and refuse the plastic bag! 
       
      - Ecobags are the new sensation! They are beautiful, fashionable; they can be big or small, and they are usually inexpensive. Normally, they are very light, so the best thing is to carry one in your bag all the time. After all, we never know when an opportunity for shopping will come up! 

      - Some supermarkets are giving discounts for people who use an ecobag. You help the world and also save some money! 

      - Many people say that they need the plastic bags to put the garbage in at home. The ideal is to buy biodegradable bags for your garbage in the market. But if you don’t want to spend your money on that, you can take two or three plastic bags from the market and put the rest of your shopping in an ecobag. After all, you don’t need 20 plastic bags for garbage! If you think you do, why not trying to reduce the quantity of garbage you produce as well? 

      In the end, the best message is to reduce, reuse and recycle. It may seem difficult, but if you try to change some of your habits, you can make a big difference! Next time you go shopping and the shop assistant offers you a plastic bag, think twice. You don’t really need it, and the world will thank you!