The Environmental Organisation "Worldwatch" estimate that each year more than 500 Billion plastic bags are produced! One of it even reached the space. An Astronaut on the Spaceship "Atlantis" one day had quite an absurd view when he looked out of the window - a plastic bag was floating by.
At first this sounds funny, but than it is alarming! The triumphal procession of the plastic bag is on its peak. In the developing countries the bags are becoming a common thing. In South Africa they call it the national flower, because coloured plastic frazzles are all over the place. Even in the famous National Park "Massai Mara" acacia trees are decorated with them.
Their impact to the fauna is worse, on land and in the water. One Million seabirds and over 100.000 seals die every year. The plastic contaminates the water so masses of albatrosses get poisend. And even in the Artic plasticbags are everywhere, endanger mammals like the polar bear. And there is another danger, the bags plugging the drainage pits in the cities causing serious floddings, giving malaria a perfect ground to breed.
The impact on both, humans and nature is obviuos, so what can we do? Uganda and Kenia will implement this year a high tax on thin plastic bags, the thick bin liner will be banned totally. In Spring 2008 they will be banned in big Supermarkets and Drugstores in the area of San Francisco. In Singapore they have a different approach by starting a campaign called "bring your own bag". Plastic bags needs 1000 years to vanish, they break down into tiny toxic little bits, polluting our soils, river, lakes and oceans, while countless animals needlessy die each year!
STOP IT! Check out reusablebags.com, you can find useful tips how to change your daily routine for e.g. while you go shopping.
