Where do Unwanted, Unrecycled Plastic Bags Go?
June 5, 2008 by Peggy
Plastic bags don’t biodegrade. But something must happen to them. They don’t disappear just because you throw them away.
In landfills, plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to break down.
As litter exposed to sunlight, plastic bags photodegrade, breaking down into small, toxic pieces. Those pieces pollute our land, lakes, rivers and oceans. Plastic bits look like food to marine life. Look at the jellyfish photo to the right. Can’t you see a turtle mistaking a plastic bag for a jellyfish?
When fish eat plastic pieces, that not only hurts them, but it can hurt you if it enters the food chain. Pretty gross.
The wind loves plastic bags. I see them daily in the lake outside my apartment. They’re the perfect, noxious, lightweight tumbleweed.
The solution: A sturdy, reusable shopping bag. One investment can eliminate thousands of plastic bags. Don’t wait until plastic bags are illegal everywhere. Help wipe them out now.
Image via flickr.
i think this site is verry interesting!!!!!!!!! and i think we should all stop using plastic bags and start using cloth bags. they are only 1.00. at walmart.. so what are you waiting for. go get your self a cloth bag. and you can take it to any grocery store you want and pupt in your groceries. if we all do this,we can save a lot of money,save animals,and save mother earth!! plastic bags are made by oil!! gross!!!! and cloth even looks better:) plastic bags are really cheap too. thank you:)
my bad i meant to say put.
this is good