Imagine a world without plastic shopping bags. It could be the future.There is a growing international movement to ban or discourage the use of plastic bags because of their environmental effects. Countries from Ireland to Australia are cracking down on the bags and action is beginning to stir in the United States. Biodegradable bags is the answer to eliminate the affects that plastic bags cause on our world and enviroment.

In 2005, Australians used 3.92 billion lightweight single use high density polyethylene (HDPE) bags. 2.14 billion of these came from supermarkets, while the others were used by fast food restaurants, service stations, convenience stores and liquor stores and other shops.

The ubiquitous plastic shopping bag, so handy for everything from toting groceries to disposing of doggie doo, may be a victim of its own success. Although plastic bags didn't come into widespread use until the early 1980s, environmental groups estimate that 500 billion to 1 trillion of the bags are now used worldwide every year. It has been said that at least 267 species are affected by the plastic bags that end up in the ocean, hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food. Turtles think the bags are jellyfish, their primary food source. Once swallowed, plastic bags choke animals or block their intestines, leading to an agonizing death.On land, many cows, goats and other animals suffer a similar fate to marine life when they accidentally ingest plastic bags while foraging for food.

In a landfill, plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to degrade. As litter, they breakdown into tiny bits, contaminating our soil and water. When plastic bags breakdown, small plastic particles can pose threats to marine life and contaminate the food web. A 2001 paper by Japanese researchers reported that plastic debris acts like a sponge for toxic chemicals, soaking up a million fold greater concentration of such deadly compounds as PCBs and DDE (a breakdown product of the notorious insecticide DDT), than the surrounding seawater. These turn into toxic gut bombs for marine animals which frequently mistake these bits for food.

Collection, hauling and disposal of plastic bag waste create an additional environmental impact. An estimated 8 billion pounds of plastic bags, wraps and sacks enter the waste stream every year in the US alone, putting an unnecessary burden on our diminishing landfill space and causing air pollution if incinerated.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett has confirmed he'll phase out all plastic bags by the end of this year, if necessary with a legislative ban. This may result in stores introducing only biodegradable bags and more encouragement for shoppers to bring along their recycle bags.

What if the government passed a law that only allowed retailers to supply biodegradable bags for the country to use in all shopping. Encouraging shoppers to bring their own bags or reuse these bio-degradable bags. Ireland did it years ago, China banned handing out plastic bags from June 1^st this year and it is working. In Australia, Bunnings have reduced their usage of plastic bags by over 99% as they began charging 10 cents per plastic bag, other retailers such as IKEAand ALDI have also began charging for plastic bags. A recent trial has been introduced in 10 Victorian Supermarket chains Safeway and Coles trialing charging 10-25 cents for customers use of plastic bags. Stores such as fast-food chains McDonalds, Nandos and Oporto and the Body Shop have introduced using paper bags, there is no reason other stores cannot lead by their examples.

Premier Anna Bligh of Queensland says she doesn’t approve of charging for plastic bags as it would be another impost on families already struggling to meet rising household costs. Anna Blight is committed to "In this government's ongoing fight to protect our environment, Queensland will push for a total ban on non-biodegradable plastic bags, and call for urgent work to be done to identify an environmentally friendly alternative.

The Australian government reports we use approximately 6.9 million plastic bags next year so next time the cashier asks if you would like a plastic bag (biodegradable or not) for your small purchase think about whether you really do need it? Most of the bags we are taking with our purchases are ending up in the trash or as litter causing other major environmental problems. At this stage if you really do need to grab a plastic bag do, but ensure you take it back to a Coles store and place it in the blue plastic bag bin, that recycles all plastic bags.

The whole world needs to stand together and stop the use of this harmful product. Our worlds animal life already suffer enough. we need to save our precious species and not be the cause of there early exstinction.

Please find more information below:http://femail.com.au/blog/index.php?/archives/42-National-Campaign-to-Ban-Plastic-Bags.html

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