5 reasons why single - use plastic bags are damaging to the environment
Approximately 900 million single-use plastic shopping bags are used in Queensland every year [1]. The current single-use plastic bag ban in Queensland is a beneficial scheme to help save the environment.
Plastic shopping bags are detrimental for the following reasons:
1. They pollute the environment littering roads, parks and water channels [1].
2. 30% of all sea turtles ingest plastic debris. Turtles and other wildlife mistake plastic bag litter for food and try to swallow it [1].
3. 90% of all seabird species have consumed plastic bags, they threaten marine and other wildlife and can become intertwined in the plastic [1].
4. The multiple clean-up litter projects all over the country cost millions of dollars every year [1].
5. 96% of people supported the single - use plastic ban with an incredible 26,000 submissions in Queensland [1].
The plastic bag ban applies to lightweight, single-use supermarket plastic bags that don’t break down quickly, causing damage to the environment [1].
What can you do to help?
Keep your reusable shopping bag in your car or bag, to stay prepared. Keep track of your plastic use with the plastic calculator on Earth Day Organisation’s website - here [2]. Enter your consumption every day for a year and see how you are impacting the earth, decide to reduce it and be conscious of the plastic you are wasting.We need help to end plastic pollution and it all starts with you.
Sources
1. “Department of Environment and Science” Plastic Bag Ban, https://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/assets/documents/pollution/management/waste/plastic-bag-ban-factsheet.pdf
2. “Global Efforts to End Plastic Pollution: Single-Use Plastics.” Earth Day Network, www.earthday.org/plasticban/
