Local Living, Global Awareness: Plastic Bags

While doing some chores earlier today I happened to notice that my recycle bin explicitly stated not to add plastic bags to the bin.  This was a bit weird to me considering that every other plastic item could be thrown in, especially bottles and heavier packaging material.  So I thought it fitting that plastic bags be the subject of this week's 'Local Living' post!

Source: greenville.com

Plastic bags (like the kind your groceries are often packed into) are generally made of high-density polyethylene, a type of plastic that can take decades to breakdown and that is unfortunately but not suprprisingly still very toxic after its breakdown. Little red flags went off in my head when I saw that they shouldn't be put in the recycling, in part because of how toxic the plastic - broken down or otherwise - is to the environment.

Just to put this in perspective, in every square mile of the ocean, there are over 40,000 plastic bags to be found. Plastic bags also come in at the second-highest volume of litter in the ocean (right behind cigarette butts, which - random fact - some birds have now  begun using in their nests to keep away pests!).

This is especially worrisome considering how quickly we go through plastic bags, and how quickly I go through them in my own life after repurposing them as lunch bags, or for scooping cat litter.  Ecosystems all over the world have suffered from this; plant life, from the toxins seeping into soil and countless animals, due suffocation and poisoning as well.

So if we don't recycle plastic bags, what do we do with them?

According to this source, and many others that I've seen, the answer is to reuse and reuse as much as possible in order to keep the bags out of the trash all together. Because once they are there it is straight to the landfills they go.

And that's especially important to know. Because it seems to me then, that the best way to deal with the problem is to not accept "disposable" grocery bags at all. Next time I go shopping, my old tote bag will be coming with me.

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All the world is made up of local communities.  One small community now has the capability to affect or to be affected by those thousands of miles away.  This immense influence comes with this responsibility: to know those we affect and to do what we can to do right by them.