Eight reasons to refuse disposable plastic bags
Six - What about all the plastic litter? 5 billion bags end up in the environment as litter every year in parks, in trees, on our streets, on beaches and in the sea. These mostly blow out of landfill sites, though some are dropped and blow out of litter bins.
Seven - What happens to them next? Plastic bags do not biodegrade, they photo degrade - which means that they break down into smaller and smaller toxic bits, contaminating soil and waterways, entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest and so becoming part of our own food-stream.
Eight - Do they cause damage? Plastic bags kill at least 100,000 birds, whales, seals and turtles every year. On land they trap birds and have been known to kill calves. A recent scientific report has found that microscopic particles of plastic are slowly poisoning the oceans. These have the potential to end up in the food chain through fish, and are nearly impossible to clean up.
