Plastic Bags, to Ban or not?

For most people, plastic bags are a part of everyday life, but their effect in marine life, landfills and the environment has attracted the public’s attention. As we know, recently, Toronto has approved amotion to prohibit retailers from giving out, or even selling, any plasticshopping bags.

According to a new public opinion poll which sampled 1,019 Canadian adults, fifty-nine percent of Canadians think it is a good idea to forbid retail stores from handing out single-use plastic bags to customers, while thirty-nine percent think it is a bad idea.

SOS
Provided by Xinhe Miao

However, in my opinion, even though I know that it must be a good idea to ban the usage of plastic bags, it would be hard to put into effect. Nowadays, more people carry “green bags” or “reusable bags” when going shopping. But the truth is, in California alone, about 19 billion bags are distributed each year. From this astonishing number we can imagine how people rely on plastic bags, which means it would be very difficult to prohibit totally. Starting from recycling plastic bags won’t be a bad idea.

Sea Turtles Eating Plastiv Bags
Provided by Guangzhou Daily

There are many benefits of recycling plastic bags. First of all, recycled plastics could be used to produce new bags, as well as building and construction products. This helps reduce the need for wood materials, which preserves a large amount of trees. Also, the preserved energy from making new plastics could be converted to heating energy. Secondly, recycling plastic bags reduces the amount of plastic garbage, which protects environment and cleanse the lands and oceans. In some countries, plastics could be commonly seen along roadsides and the bags have become a kind of their “national flower”. Those bags blown into the ocean sometimes are mistaken by fish or sea turtles, clog their intestines and kill them.