Bagging Plastic Bags: Small Impact on a Big Problem – USA
Posted on September 19, 2016 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsThe Obama administration has proposed a ban on single use plastic bags that can be deadly to sea life.
Source: Bagging Plastic Bags: Small Impact on a Big Problem
It’s impossible to say just how much of that plastic debris is in the form of bags, but we do know that sea turtles often mistake bags for jellyfish — one of their favorite foods. And all too often the plastic they eat ends up lodging in their digestive systems, which can kill them. But the bigger problem is that plastic of all kinds is incredibly durable and long lasting. The lifespan of plastic is measured in hundreds of years, and if it ends up in landfills, covered by dirt or other garbage, it can be almost immortal.
And even if it does degrade, it does so in a way that causes even more problems to the environment. Eventually, larger plastics degrade into what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) calls microplastics, smaller than 5mm in size.
Now that would be a great step forwards, for the whole of the USA to ban disposable plastic bags. Imagine that!
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