So there are two glass jars filled with similar looking objects. One jar is filled with a clear plastic bag, the other a jellyfish. After looking at it for a while you can probably tell which is which. But even for us it may take a minute to figure out.
But a turtle? They wont be able to tell the difference at all.
Plastic bags are used in nearly every store, from grocery stores to clothing stores you can pretty much guarantee they will give you a plastic bag. But plastic bags don’t stop there; you can find them on the side of the road, along beaches and pretty much everywhere in between.
Plastic bags continue to take up space in landfills as recycling opportunities are not very successful. And continued use of plastics in general drives the demand for petroleum use which plastics are made from, continuing the cycle of non renewable fossil fuels. The EPA even states that plastic is so durable that every piece of plastic ever made still exists. Think about that for second.
According to the Center of Biological Diversity on April 4th, in the Los Angeles area alone, 10 metric tons of plastic fragments like grocery bags and straws are carried in to the Pacific every day.
Specifically, sea turtles are at the greatest harm for ingesting plastic bags because their primary source of food is jellyfish. And a floating plastic bag and a jellyfish look pretty similar. Once the sea turtle eats that bag, obviously the plastic does not digest and gives the turtle a false sense of satiation so that they think they're full and stop eating.
Plastics in the ocean not only harm marine life but humans as well. PCBs, DDT and PAH, BPA are all chemicals that can be found in the ocean now due to the high levels of plastic being deposited.
All these things sound pretty bad, right? So why hasn’t this issue been totally stopped?
Plastic bags require a lot less energy to produce and manufactures claim that paper and reusable bags take up more space in landfills, according to an article titled Bag the Ban published by Novolex, a plastic bag manufacturer.
But I do agree with a lot of other naysayers that thousands of businesses use these products, so banning them altogether and not finding a suitable replacement isn’t entirely feasible.
But, cities and states have already banned the use of plastic bags up to 3 years ago, and they seem to still be doing fine. California was the first to enact legislation imposing a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at large retail stores. The bill also required a 10 cent minimum charge for recycled paper bags, reusable plastic bags, and compostable bags at certain locations. Hawaii has also banned non biodegradable bags.
DC and several other cities placed a tax on non reusable bags. And even closer to home, isle of palms and folly beach have banned plastic bags altogether.
Regulations that better enforce plastic bag recycling and offer incentives for doing so is the best first step in tackling the plastic bag issue. Next since plastic bags are used so frequently, there needs to be a biodegradable replacement for plastic bags. Using paper bags and reusable cotton bags are not necessarily the best option either because they will still find their way into landfills.
Finally, ban the usage of plastic bags entirely. Seeing that several states have already done this, focusing on state legislatures to take action is it definitely feasible. But on a national scale maybe a little harder to accomplish. For South Carolina, a bill was passed by the House earlier this year about the ban of plastic bags and is making its way toward the state Senate.
This is not totally impossible, as evident by the several states and cities that have already acted, but we all need to ask ourselves next time we use a plastic bag and don't recycle it, what about the sea turtles?
