Plastic bags are, in fact, the original “reusable bags” for these purposes only, and their economic production means that both retailers and consumers can transport materials for a very low price. Plastic bags start as fossil fuels and end up as deadly waste in landfills and the ocean. Birds often mistake shredded plastic bags for food, filling their stomachs with toxic waste. For hungry sea turtles, it's almost impossible to distinguish between jellyfish and floating plastic bags for the purchase.
Fish eat thousands of tons of plastic a year and transfer it along the food chain to larger fish and marine mammals. People also consume microplastics through food and air. It is estimated that, around the world, people consume the equivalent of a credit card full of plastic every week,1 and it is expected that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea. Plastic bags use fossil fuels, a non-renewable resource, and are permanent and end up in the waste stream forever.
They may cause more pollution on land and in waterways, but they have less effect on climate change and land use than other types of bags. The research links charges for plastic bags to changes in attitudes among consumers, including support for additional environmental policies. However, the environmental problem is present, but it is not as serious as described and it is not only due to plastic bags. As the New York Times reports, cotton bags, another popular alternative, cause even more harm to the environment, resulting in a carbon footprint of 327 plastic bags per bag, and their operation requires more energy, soil, fertilizers and pesticides than any other.
Ultimately, the biggest benefit of the ban and the price of plastic bags is likely to be the change in environmental perspectives. For example, products with heavy plastic containers and containers can weigh many times more than the bag. However, the latest research shows that plastic bags represent only a fraction of the marine debris in the waters of the Jakarta metropolitan area. The latest supporters are Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, the second country that pollutes the most plastic waste in the oceans, and Japan, which ranks second in terms of the volume of single-use plastic containers per person.
Evidence from previous restrictions on plastic bags shows that this reduces their use, but sometimes causes greater environmental damage if customers opt for other materials they consume more resources. Due to the many recent environmental health movements against plastics, many people believe that plastic bags are harmful to the health of the planet. Like plastic bags, the increasing availability of reusable bags makes consumers consider reusable bags to be consumable, which harms the environment more than before, according to The Atlantic. Since plastic bags represent less than 1% of public waste, attention must be paid to more impactful solutions.
In several countries, people are even protesting in the streets and demanding a total ban on plastic shopping bags.
