The Pros And Cons Of Plastic Bags

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Plastic Bags: a common item that your family brings home from the store after every shopping trip. But do you know how bad plastic bags are for the environment? Here’s a quick background on the matter. A regular plastic bag can take over 1,000 years to decompose properly, according to most sources found on the internet. Normal plastic bags are made from petroleum. The supermarket bags are made from high density polyethylene (HDPE), while the thicker bags are made from low density polyethylene (LDPE). Unlike HDPE, LDPE can not be recycled. Plastic is so durable that EPA scientist say that every bit of plastic ever made still remains on this earth to this day. Plastic bags can come with a whole bunch of problems for the environment. Plastic …show more content…

Biodegradable plastics are pretty neat. Microorganisms can convert the biodegradable material to the following: water,carbon dioxide,and even biomass, all without nasty chemical leftovers. The pros to a biodegradable bag is that they take a maximum of a month to break down, this is most likely because the bags are made of plant or animal matter to degrade faster. Just how long does it take for a normal plastic bag to break down? 500 years? 1,000 years? “No one has really measured how long it takes” says Ramani Narayan (Ramani Narayan is a chemical, and biochemical professor at Michigan State University). But there is some cons to biodegradable bags. Even though these bioplastics are great for decomposing, small parts can still be ingested by animals (like normal plastics).These small pieces of plastic and damage the heart and lungs of many animals. They can transfer bacteria into the bloodstream and nervous system of the animals. The microplastic can also affect how much the animal eats and/or drinks daily. These particles fill the animals guts and they are not able to consume as much food and water as the animal need to survive, or to get by in a just a day. The animals may die from dehydration, starvation, or even flat out being infected because the animal's immune system has been reduced. In plants, The plants access to light, won't be great enough. The microplastic will block the sunlight and the plants will not be able to photosynthesize. Biodegradable bags have also been known to be weaker than normal plastic bags. Another con is the pricing of biodegradable bags. Some biodegradable materials are two to 10 times more expensive to produce than comparable non-biodegradable materials. However, non-biodegradable materials have their own hidden costs. For example, conventional plastic bags may be cheaper than biodegradable ones, but when you factor in the eventual cost of remediating the toxic chemicals they release in

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