Environmental Effects Of Plastic Bags

Plastic is a commodity that people use everyday which makes daily life easier and safer. People take pills, use cell phones, and wear bike helmets in addition to a plethora of other activities, but tend to forget that one common element in all of them is the use of plastic. One of the main sources of plastic that has been polluting the environment over the last few decades are plastic bags. Plastic bags can be found in nearly every store to hold groceries, accessories, or toys. While these plastic bags may provide convenience for customers, there is an overwhelming concern about the effect of them on the health and safety of people, marine life, and the surrounding environment. Since stores are the culprit of a vast majority of the plastic

A majority of plastic is made of monomers such as ethylene and propylene which are not biodegradable (Geyer et al.). Plastic bags are not biodegradable which means that upon their disposal they are either left in landfills or end up along shorelines of the ocean. A process known as photodegradation can be used to break down plastic bags, but this process is extremely lengthy. Photodegradation works as the sun’s ultraviolet light and infrared radiation have the capability to oxidate the plastic which eventually causes it to become brittle and easier to break into tiny pieces. Photodegradation does work to get rid of the plastic, but it takes an extremely long time to work which usually leads to the incineration of plastic bags or the collection of them in landfills (“What Is Plastic Photodegradation?”). Americans alone use nearly 100 billion plastic bags a year and contribute greatly to the amount of plastic pollution in the environment (“Single-Use Plastic Bag Facts”). If stores were to impose a 5-cent charge on the plastic bags, then there would be a decrease in the amount of them brought into the environment. This decrease in plastic bags over time could help towards decreasing the amount of pollution affecting the environment. It has been reported that up to 80% of the pollution from landfills ends up in the ocean affecting nearly 267 different

If people considered how plastic bags were affecting marine life and the quality of the water, it would lead to thinking twice before picking up another plastic bag at the store. The plastic bags that end up in the ocean under the process of photodegradation turn into small particles called microplastics. The ocean serves as a base for these small particles and they end up being ingested by many marine animals (Hammer et al.) Ordering fish at a restaurant is very common among people in society today, but many forget that fish contain some of the tiny plastic particles which are now being digested. About 44% of all seabirds eat plastic by mistake and a majority end up with fatal effects as a result. In a study conducted by Charles Moore, jellyfish are likely to swallow plastic bags which indicates that they also face the consequences of the toxic chemicals from the waste that people contribute to the ocean (Barry). If the amount of plastic bags in society was decreased, by the way of a 5-cent charge per bag, the amount of plastic which ends up in the ocean could decline significantly and an increase could arise in the health of both marine and human