Walk into any supermarket today and you will see displays of reusable shopping bags. In an effort to cut costs and become environmentally conscious, most stores now sell bags that you can reuse in order to eliminate grocery bag waste. Many people have started carrying around the totes in an effort to “go green” but few really understand the importance of why we need to do away with plastic bags. Americans use over 300 billion plastic bags per year. Most of these bags don’t get recycled and instead end up in our landfills and oceans. It takes 1,000 years for one plastic bag to fully break down and as it does, it breaks down into toxic pieces, which contaminate the soil, water, and many animals’ food. Plastic bags are one of the most common items of debris on coastlines and pose a serious problem for wildlife. Millions of animals, specifically marine animals, die every year from ingesting or getting tangled in the bags. Due to the dangers to the environment, San Francisco has banned plastic bags, and many countries have done the same. It may seem inconvenient to opt for a reusable bag, but think of all the wildlife that will be spared. It’s time that we step up to the plate and start limiting our plastic bag usage. We owe that to our planet!

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