“Giving away polluting plastic bags must stop. At once.”
The notion that plastic bags pose some special hazard to marine life, however is a myth. As reported in the Times (UK) on March 8, 2008,
Scientists and environmentalists have attacked a global campaign to ban plastic bags which they say is based on flawed science and exaggerated claims.
The widely stated accusation that the bags kill 100,000 animals and a million seabirds every year are false, experts have told The Times. They pose only a minimal threat to most marine species, including seals, whales, dolphins and seabirds…
Campaigners say that plastic bags pollute coastlines and waterways, killing or injuring birds and livestock on land and, in the oceans, destroying vast numbers of seabirds, seals, turtles and whales. However, The Times has established that there is no scientific evidence to show that the bags pose any direct threat to marine mammals…
In my area, the large city has banned normal plastic bags and instituted a bag tax on paper and biodegradable plastic bags. Fortunately, my smaller city does not subscribe to that non-sense yet. If they do, then I will no longer recycle my shredded paper because I am not paying a nickel for a paper bag to recycle. The local garbage company requires shredded documents to be in paper, not plastic bags.
The left’s attention would be far better focused on the proven deaths caused by windmills. (But they are now among the protected “species.”)
Litter is a bad thing. People should dispose of their trash, plastic bags included, appropriately. Mkay?
But — banning them is, of course, stupid. Reusable cloth bags have been implicated in actual human illnesses due to bacteria they harbor. Single-use bags at stores, whether paper or plastic, are far more hygienic. Probably less of a burden on the environment as well.
Mind you, I’m into reuse. I took a pair of damaged jeans and made a kit bag from them for my shooting equipment. Turned the legs into handgun pouches. How much more politically correct could I get.
It is all about potential Steve. It could hurt a fish, or it could hurt a bird, or a turtle. God forbid they actually use cases where kids have put plastic bags over their heads and suffocated. It is the POTENTIAL damage Steve.