debate on ban plastic
Answers
Helping your mom unload groceries from the car, you look down at the plastic bags in your hands. Chances are, it's not the bags that interest you—it's what's inside them.
But you might want to give those bags some thought after all.
Plastic bags are harmful to the environment, and cities and states across the United States are considering placing fees on them or banning them.
One U.S. city, San Francisco, already bans plastic bags in grocery stores. Los Angeles's ban on plastic bags will go into effect in 2010.
New York City, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, are also considering bans or fees on plastic bags. So are the states of Colorado, Hawaii, and Maine.
Problems with Plastic
"The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year," says Eric A. Goldstein of the National Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. The total number of plastic bags used in the United States per year is between 70 billion and 100 billion.
Plastic bags are made from petroleum products. It takes about 12 million barrels of oil to make the plastic bags used in the U.S. each year.
Shipping the bags to stores across the country contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
Most plastic bags eventually end up in a landfill, where they can remain for as long as 1,000 years. But first, or instead, many plastic bags become litter.
As Goldstein puts it, "They're hanging from trees, and littering our beaches." Plastic bags are a major source of ocean pollution as well.
Plastic bags are recyclable, but only about 5 percent of them are recycled. To encourage more recycling, some cities and states are passing laws requiring stores to provide recycling bins for plastic bags.