The results are in from a Siena College poll on the Plastic Bag Ban which goes into affect March 1, 2020 in New York State.  Two-thirds of New York residents polled say that they are in favor of the ban.  In my opinion, this is great news and here's why:

According to The Center For Biological Diversity, single-use plastic bags are bad because:

- 100 billion bags are produced each year and it takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce them all.
- They are dangerous to wildlife which sometimes mistake them for food. 100,000 marine animals are killed by plastic bags annually.
- The average American family takes home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year, meanwhile people are only returning 1% of those bags to recycle. Those bags are filling up landfills!
- Most plastic bags are only used for a total of 12 minutes.
- The worst part is that It takes 500 (or more) years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill and they don't actually break down completely.  Instead, bags photo-degrade, which means they become microplastics that absorb toxins and continue to pollute the environment.

You can probably tell that I am a big supporter of the Plastic Bag Ban. I have been using re-usable bags at the grocery store for years now and have no trouble giving up using them altogether.  For those who will have a hard time giving up their plastic bags for whatever reason, you have the ability to adapt and it's not as hard as you may imagine.  Plus, if you focus on the greater good that will come of this, it will be a lot easier to accept.

 

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