Plastic bags in the environment
(Student Activity #7, Appendix D)
Another problem with plastic bags is when they end up in the environment, particularly the oceans or waterways. One problem with plastic bags is that they are light and aerodynamic. Even when one is trying to dispose of them correctly, perhaps even recycle them, they blow away. You can be using one on the beach, and it blows away. San Francisco, California was spending over $ 8.5 million annually to clean up plastic bag litter. 1 1 Washington, D.C. finally enacted a $ 0.05 per bag levy to reduce the littering problem and help clean up the Anacostia River from bag and other litter. 1 2 In fact many states and cities have recently banned the bags, including: Bethal, Alaska; Edmonds, Washington; Brownsville, Texas; Kauai, and Maui Counties in Hawaii; American Samoa; San Francisco, Fairfax, and Palo Alto, California; and Westport, Connecticut. 1 3 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has noted problems with plastic bags clogging old water systems, and Virginia has experienced problems with plastic bags clogging cotton harvesting and cotton gin machines. 1 2 The problems these bags create in the oceans are tragic to animals. Turtles that feed on jellyfish mistake the bags for food and eat them. This of course causes problems for the animals, usually resulting in death. Ships at sea used to regularly dump their wastes into the ocean. Since 1978, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships banned dumping of most wastes, including plastic bags. 4 Residents of the Outer Banks, a coastal beach area in North Carolina, experienced enough of a problem in the ocean from bag litter to ban the use of them. 1 0 Another problem discovered in the Pacific Ocean, perhaps from the previous ship dumping along with bag littering, is a huge section of plastic trash in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii, called the Pacific Garbage Patch. It is estimated to be at least 100 feet deep and five million square miles in area. Basically, plastic bags, and other plastic material have been riding the ocean currents to this spot. Scientists have found birds, turtles, whales, as well as small sea creatures that have ingested the plastic. In addition to the obvious problem for wildlife, scientists also believe that the plastic absorbs toxic chemicals, such as PCB's and pesticides in the ocean. The implications for this huge disaster are unknown. 1 3
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