Calling for a plastic bag ban
We’ve been taking reusable cloth bags to the grocery store for more than a year now. I keep them in my trunk so I won’t forget them on my shopping trips. As my interest in arts and crafts has grown, I’ve even started sewing my own grocery bags, and giving them to friends and family as gifts. I support the reusable bag movement because I know plastic bags clog landfills, end up as litter on the streets, and take millions of years to degrade in the environment.
According to this article on TreeHugger, the Chinese government has significantly decreased plastic bag use in the country. China passed a law that made it illegal for retailers to give away plastic bags for free. Instead, they had to charge a small fee. This led consumers to decrease their use of plastic bags by 50 percent! News organizations estimate the law has stopped 100 billion plastic bags from entering landfills.
There’s been talk of banning plastic bags in the U.S. for a long time, but it’s never gone anywhere. Too many manufacturers fight a ban because it would decrease profits. I don’t know what to say about that: Too bad I guess. This is a good idea, and we should do it.
