Plastic Bags

This is my story for the local Democratic Womens newsletter....enjoy!

It's thin and flimsy, great for holding things, available at every store and will live for more than 100 years in a landfill; the plastic bag.

It is the epitome of Western Capitalization, according to The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. These bags do not biodegrade. They sit in landfills and break down, spilling their toxins into the land and water around them. Often these plastic bags end up in the ocean and can be ingested by sea animals where hundreds of whales, turtles and other marine life die from eating these bags.

There are a number of solutions to this exploding problem. As the website reusablebags.org says, "each high quality reusable shopping bag you use has the potential to eliminate hundreds, if not thousands, of plastic bags over its lifetime."

Also you can recycle plastic bags by bringing them to local grocery stores or other plastic bag recycling locations. Remember the bags should be clean, dry and empty.

Finally, the next time you are shopping, think before getting the item bagged. Does the one box of cereal need its own bag? Getting just two books from the bookstore, can't they be held in your hand? Going to multiple stores, try to double up on bags, don't get a bag from each store, put items in just one bag.

At the end of the day, it is time to break this non-environmental practice!