Plastic Bags Should Be Outlawed

In case you can't read the small print: 

"Americans use 100 billion plastic bags every year, and 97 billion of those bags are thrown away, and will take 1,000 years to degrade. Because of the world's 1,000,000-bags-per-minute use and disposal of plastic bags, every square mile of ocean on Earth has about 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it.

Think you can remember your reusable shopping bags next time your'e at the grocery store? If not, your family accumulates an average of 15 bags every single trip you take to the grocery store, leaving a legacy of trash. When you throw it "away", it doesn't actually go away."

     One of the many things that I love about the book store 2nd and Charles is that they don't give you plastic bags. They don't give you any bags. You have to bring your own or lug your stack out to the car bagless. Which is absolutely wonderful. My family forget bags every time we go there, and so we have to carry the stacks out without a bag, and that's great. Eventually we'll remember to bring a bag. Why? Because there's an consequence- however small- for forgetting to bring a bag. I think that that's what stores everywhere need to start doing. There's no reason why everything needs to go into a plastic bag. And if you straight up tell people "Sorry, we don't have any bags", they'll remember to bring their own next time. Also, reusable bags are super duper cheap. You can get them for 99 cents. And guess what? You'll have them for a long time. As long as it takes to wear it out. How long will you have a plastic bag? A few hours? Maybe a few days if you recycle them? Yeah, not really worth it.

     Don't get me wrong, my family uses plastic bags. But we also use the reusable ones. And I think it'd be spectacular if plastic bags were outlawed. It'd force us all to quit being lazy and save the environment while we're at it.

     I don't know about you, but I don't want my great-great-great-great-great grandchildren to have to wade through seas of the trash I created.

Day Sixty-Two Song Recommendation: "Animal Instinct" by the Cranberries.

-SE Wagner