There have been many campaigns launched to promote the use of reusable bags. One of the best is the cheeky slogan launched by the British who are encouraging their shoppers to "take the old bag shopping".
Why should we stop using petroleum based plastic bags? Where to start? How about: they don't recycle well; they take 1000 years to break down; they can be a choking hazard; and they often end up as a unsightly mess in our streets and waters.
A group of scientists and conservationists are heading into an area in the Pacific Ocean to explore a vast swirl of waste known as the Plastic Vortex. Their mission is to determine if the plastic can be fished out of the ocean and what can be done with it.
Included in this giant mess are plastic bags that have slowly broken down by the sun into small particles and much of it has settled into a spiralling vortex between Hawaii and the United States mainland.
The United Nations Environment Program which is one of the sponsors of this mission estimates there are 13,000 pieces of plastic litter in every square kilometre of sea but the problem is the most severe in the five spiralling ocean currents. The worst is in the North Pacific thanks to the United States and Asia dumping their unwanted goods into the ocean.
This poisonous soup is being consumed by marine life and as a result a lot of the toxins could be getting into the human food chain.
This isn't a new problem as this vortex has been building up over the last sixty years. Yet even a small effort by consumers to change their ways can make a difference.
It seems every major store has their own version of a more environmentally friendly way of packing up our purchases with reusable bags or bins that are sold to us at a reasonable price.
To encourage us to change our habits, some stores offer incentives such as reward points which can be redeemed for discounts against purchases.
Other stores have stopped providing free plastic bags or charge a fee for each one given out.
Until it hits us in the pocketbook, the incentive won't be there for many people to stop using plastic. It's time we all started practicing the BYOB or "bring your own bag" habit.
[Photographs copyright by Linda Dunbar. Reproduction prohibited]
