Whether you use an "environmentally friendly" shopping bag or a standard one you are damaging the environment. They both take time to break down. Furthermore, the so called "safe" bags cause pollution during manufacture.
Australia's oceanic waters carry countless pieces of plastic bags, Marine creatures eat this debris and die. When plastic breaks down in sea water it becomes very tiny and is virtually invisible. These pieces gather up pollutants and become mobile destructors. The tinier the particles the more absorbent it becomes.
Researchers scooped up surface water from the ocean in coastal water all the way from Perth to Fiji and New Zealand. By observing the area of the net covered in plastic fragments they were able to codify amounts across a vast area. The average number of microplastic fragments was 4,000 per square kilometers. It went as high as 23,000 in some places. This was near highly populated cities.
Most of the items people use are made of plastic. Supermarket bags are the most prominent, followed by drink bottles. Plastic cups and discarded packaging.
Ocean currents also move the plastic into low populated sectors of the ocean. They build up "floating dustbin" regions that become permanent. Marine life is seriously affected. This will ultimately become a major problem for Mankind just as serious as climate change
Conservation by Ty Buchanan
