Plastic bags are difficult and expensive to recycle and most end up in landfills where they take about 300 years to photodegrade. They break down into small toxic particles that contaminate soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them. Plastic bags that end up being recycled on the sidewalks of houses end up entangled in sorting equipment. This slows down the recycling process, damages or breaks recycling equipment, and puts workers at risk of being harmed.
The photo shows workers unraveling dozens of plastic bags from sorting equipment. A worrying number of people are unaware of the effects that plastic can have on their health. Plastic bags contain chemicals that, when heated, can harm human health. Bisphenol A, a chemical used to create plastic bags, can contribute to the development of asthma, ulcers and certain types of cancer.
Fortunately, initiatives are being developed to counter the problems posed by plastic bags by using completely environmentally friendly alternatives. Environmentalists have warned us about the toxic relationship between plastic bags and the environment. It is estimated that approximately 100,000 marine mammals die each year just from the ingestion of plastic bags. If animals don't consume plastic bags in their entirety, they are likely to continue to ingest some of them.
The lightweight physical nature of plastic bags means they can pose a deadly risk to animals, especially marine life. You may already know that some governments are taking steps to reduce the use of plastic bags. Therefore, to turn them into the true ecological alternatives to the plastic bags they deserve to be, make sure they are your eternal shopping companions. For hungry sea turtles, it's almost impossible to distinguish between jellyfish and floating plastic shopping bags.
It is estimated that around the world, people consume the equivalent of a plastic credit card every week,1 and it is expected that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea. When exposed to the elements, plastic bags don't completely biodegrade, but rather they photodegrade, meaning they become microplastics that absorb toxins and continue to pollute the environment. Once the animal's corpse has rotted, the plastic bag escapes from its corpse and the process can be repeated with another animal. In fact, most of the plastic bags collected by recycling companies cannot be recycled and remain in landfills for hundreds of years.
