Say no to plastic bags this International Plastic Bag Free Day

The first thoughts that come to mind when one hears the word “Hawaii” are of a sunny island with idyllic white beaches and pina coladas – not the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Volunteers clean up the discarded plastic bottles and other garbage blocking the Vacha Dam in Bulgaria. Photo courtesy of Nels Israelson

Unfortunately that is what a large piece of the northern Pacific Ocean is: a giant rubbish tip filled with ever-shrinking (but never disappearing) bits of plastic, plankton and dead fish, pulled together by the swirling North Pacific gyre. And it’s not the only one; all the world’s oceans have their own plastic-filled garbage patch.

On 3 July 2014 people all over the world will be saying no to plastic bags on International Plastic Bag Free Day.

This sea lion trapped in plastic garbage floating in the ocean is one of the millions of animals that suffer because of plastic pollution. Photo courtesy of Nels Israelson

Plastic bags cause many problems, littering our streets, parks, waterways and beautiful oceans. In 2006 the United Nations Environmental Program estimated that nearly 50 000 pieces of floating plastic are present in every square mile of the ocean.

Plastic bags take hundreds of years to degrade and end up polluting the environment, as well as causing direct harm to living organisms.

Even though plastic does break down, it is not biodegradable. As a result, any toxic additives it contains are released into the environment. Many of those toxins directly affect the endocrine systems of organisms, which control almost every cell in the body.

In Africa drains and sewers are clogged by plastic waste, which results in severe cases of malaria due to the increased population of mosquitoes living in flooded sewers.

Take up the no-plastic-bag challenge and encourage your family, colleagues, friends and acquaintances to go plastic bag-free.

Say no to plastic bags. Photo courtesy of Seth Rader

Some facts about plastic pollution:
● One million plastic bags are used per minute around the world
● Around 500-billion plastic bags are used per year around the world
● Cities such as Aspen, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Bangladesh, as well as Togo and several other countries have all banned plastic bags
● Millions of animals are killed every year as a result of ingesting or being caught in plastic waste
● Every year we discard enough plastic to circle the world four times
● An average car could drive an estimated 11m on the amount of petroleum used to make a single plastic bag

Maropeng and Sterkfontein Caves