Every year in the U.S. billions of dollars are spent to produce and purchase plastic bags. Although recycling is an option it is rarely done and the cost of doing so is very high, making it inefficient. Most of the bags that consumers use end up in landfills, and for those that don’t make it into landfills, they are often accidentally ingested by land and marine animals that have mistaken them for food. Plastic bags do not biodegrade, meaning that they break down into toxic bits that never dissolve. Those particles then pollute the soil and water supply and eventually end up in our food. The production of plastic bags uses resources that increase our dependency on foreign suppliers; it takes 430,000 gallons of oil to manufacture 100 million bags. In states such as Oregon, California, and North Carolina, select cities have banned the use of plastic bags. Paper bags are offered, and a tax has been placed on their use, and the use of reusable shopping bags is promoted. Carbondale is one of the largest cities in Southern Illinois; by eliminating the use of plastic bags in this area the beneficial impact on the environment and the reduction of litter in the city would be substantial.

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