somewhere along the line (and im not pointing any fingers at anyone) we all decided that single use items were A GREAT IDEA.

So everything became single use.  Use it, throw it away. Use it, throw it away. No big deal.  The trash gets taken away.  No problem. Water bottles, plates, forks, bags, stuff we use every day.

But, seeing a landfill is like seeing behind the magic trick.  The worst disappearing act ever is suddenly realizing that that stuff wasn’t being evaporated.

The lifespan of a plastic bag is minutes.  What it takes to transport from the store, to your car, then car to house.  But a plastic bag can take anywhere between 15-1000 years to break down, and it’s debatable if it ever breaks down completely. And you know where most of those single use plastic bags end up?

The Ocean.

So on Wednesday, Los Angeles County is voting to BAN THE BAG.

“Each year approximately six billion single use plastic carryout bags are consumed in the County of Los Angeles, the equivalent of 600 bags per person per year Plastic bag litter makes up as much as 25 percent of the litter stream and significantly impacts our communities and the environment.

Due to their expansive and lightweight characteristics, littered single use plastic bags are easily carried airborne by wind, where they end up entangled in brush, tossed around along freeways, and caught on fences.

In addition, within the County’s extensive and diverse watersheds, many littered single use plastic carryout bags find their way onto local beaches and eventually into the ocean, where they have been known to impact marine life that ingest them in the following unintended ways:

• Clogging the throat, thus choking the animal.
• Artificially filling the stomach so that the animal cannot consume food, depriving them of nutrients.
• Infecting them with harmful toxins that can poison the animal.
• Entangling the animal, leading to choking, cuts, and even restricting growth.

Whales and large birds often swallow plastic carryout bags inadvertently during feeding, which become permanently lodged in the stomach.  Turtles swallow plastic carryout bags since they resemble their main food source, jellyfish.“

This information was quoted from AboutTheBag.com

But you already knew that right?  And if you knew that carrying a reusable bag with you always (I carry one in my purse) would prevent the use of 600 plastic bags in one year, you would do it right?

The right thing is not always the easy thing, but it’s not too hard to make a small change.  And every person can make a difference.

xxMerbabe

for more information check here

or here (yeah, i’m totally citing the Daily Bruin!)….

isn’t it weird that one day it become harder to NOT use single serve items than to use them?

So here are  some more tips on NOT using plastic.  This lady is awesome.

Has your county banned the use of plastic bags? It’s a catching trend, maybe your local government would like to hear from you?  Spread the word good Seapeople!