Plastic bags are an environmental disaster; they are unsightly, they decimate wildlife, are filling the oceans and are made out of oil so help cause global warming. We use billions of plastic bags every year. Below are some great ideas to strengthen this point:

ü Environmental Damage

Plastic bags for use by consumers in supermarkets and other stores should be made illegal. In the UK alone, over 13 billion plastic bags are handed to consumers each year, representing a substantial proportion of all floating marine litter. More than this, plastic bags are responsible for the deaths of huge numbers of marine species, who mistake the bags for food. Consumers must accept that it is hugely wasteful, massively unethical, and potentially deadly to continue using plastic bags. Supermarkets must be told by the government that continued supply of plastic bags will result in large fines, whilst those supermarkets who remove all their bags can be rewarded.

ü The Great Waste

Plastic bag production uses almost 10 percent of the world's annual oil supply. Only 3.5 percent of this number are recycled. This means that much of the planet's precious natural resources are being used to produce plastic bags that many of us maintain are unnecessary. The chemicals and compounds that go into making plastic bags could also be utilized in a far more effective manner. These two factors show that plastic bag production is a waste of resources, which could be being used in a far more effective way.

ü Repairing the Damage

Charging consumers for using plastic bags should not result in profit for the supermarkets. Instead, any supermarkets who refuse to totally ban plastic bags, and charge their customers for using the bags (eg. 10p for bag), should be made to pay a fine to local governments. This revenue should then be used to repeal some of the damage supermarkets reap on the local economy, environment, and society.

ü Non-biodegradable

An estimated 17 billion plastic bags are given to British consumers. We do not need this many plastic bags in the world. The pollution caused by their creation alone is enough to warrant a ban on their manufacture and their use. In addition, they do not degrade well in our rubbish dumps, so they will remain on this planet forever more. We cannot have this accumulation of plastic bags and the only way forward is to ban their distribution and use.

ü They litter our streets

Not only do plastic bags fill up our landfill sites where they will remain forever more, but people throw them into the streets. They accept plastic bags when they do not need to and once out of the shops take their items and litter the streets with the unwanted plastic bags. Animals can caught in them, motor accidents are caused, and many end up in trees. As a society, this shows that we do not need plastic bags if we are willing to just throw them away. Plastic bags should be banned and replaced with bags that we would not so readily disregard.

ü Plastic bags suffocate and kill

Plastic bags can and have killed/(have been used to kill) many an animal (including human beings) and they only have one singular use(carry things) for which, they can easily be substituted (with other bags) for. A baby was deliberately suffocated with plastic bags in this particular case:

ü Wildlife concerns

Plastic bags often end up floating in the seas- the home to many mammals, fish and invertebrates. One species that is at great risk from plastic bags is the already endangered Leatherback turtle (amongst others including the Green turtle, see the article below). Turtles often mistake floating plastic bags for jellyfish- their only food source. The tragedy is that once they eat the plastic bags, they can get caught up and wrapped round the gut or in the throat, causing suffocation and starvation.

Disclaimer: Text copied & edited from http://debatewise.org for creating social awareness about global warming and it’s causes.