Polyethelene Bags and their impact on the Environment.

It is commonly unbeknown to the consumer, the sheer scale of negative influence that Polyethylene Bags have on our environment and society. Their destructive impact begins before production and continues on to harmful issues such as wastage and improper disposal. With these issues in mind we can begin to understand just how devastating Polyethylene bags are to our environment.

Plastic bags become harmful to the environment even before they hit the market.  Manufacturing plastic bags emits tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere annually.  Every year 60 to 100 million barrels of oil are used in the making of the global supply of plastic bags.  In America alone, an extra 12 million barrels of oil is consumed to keep up with their demand for plastic bags.

Scientists estimate that most plastic bags take between 500 to over 1,000 years to completely biodegrade.  They have been around for around fifty years now, which means that not a single plastic bag ever made has naturally biodegraded.  When they do biodegrade, they break down into toxic particles that then pollute our land and water.

Millions of plastic bags end up as litter in our environment every year.  They create visual pollution because they end up in our streets, trees, gutters, parks, waterways, and many other places.  Not only are they visually unappealing, but they also pollute the environment.  The toxic plastic seeps into soils and waterways which contaminates them.

Not only do plastic bags harm the environment, but they also harm its inhabitants.  It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of marine animals are killed every year because of plastic bags.  Some of the animals affected include birds, whales, seals, turtles, and many others.  Plastic bags make their way into the ocean or other water ways and animals either eat or become entangled in them.  A single plastic bag can kill multiple creatures because even after an animal eats the bag, the body decomposes and the bag is let back into the environment again.

With these shocking facts in mind we can determine just how threatening to the environment the impact of plastic bags is becoming. The fact that no single plastic bag is yet to naturally degrade is a truly heartbreaking statistic and should be motivation for many to attempt to drastically reduce plastic bag consumption.