Tango, haven't you seen pictures of turtles and seals with plastic bags constricting their necks and flippers? Plastic bags are like plastic bottles. They are not truly recycled; they are tied together and tossed into the oceans. The movement of the oceans loosens the ties, and they end up floating around our oceans. Another problem with plastics is that some are broken down into tiny bits and then ingested by sea life, poisoning sea life and poisoning those who eat sea life. Plastics that are melted down - iirc, they have toxic fumes. So plastics are actually awful for the environment - much of which is the fault of "recycling".
I like the idea of cloth or other fibrous bags, but I keep forgetting to take them into the store with me. lol. I get plastic ones so I can use them as garbage bags after, and I save smaller ones for someone I know who uses them for when she scoops out her kitty litters. But I should probably start using paper bags, but our stores don't offer them yet, except Value Village.
Also, for anyone using cloth or other fibrous bags, make sure to mark them with what you use them for. It is unsafe to use one for meat, then for vegetables, etc. because the spores on the meat packages can end up in your vegetables.
I've seen all sorts of things like that, and it boils down to inappropriate disposal more than use in the first place. If you take a used plastic bag and toss it on the ground when you're done with it, chances are it will end up somewhere unsuitable sooner or later. It's much the same with those plastic contraptions that used to be used to hold 4-packs and 6-packs together. They were convenient but if casually chucked on the ground they stood a good chance of causing major problems for an animal sooner or later (heads stuck in them etc). The answer isn't necessarily to ban them, just to dispose of them properly. I used to cut them up so there were no closed loops remaining before putting them in the trash, just in case.
A good start would be to reduce the amount of plastic we use in the first place. It's all well and good to talk of recycling but much of the process of recycling does little more than create an opportunity for private corporations to make a profit while shifting their costs onto the consumer, creating more waste along the way. Just for one example, how much drinking-quality water (paid for by the consumer) is wasted in the process of washing the last bits of mayonnaise out of a glass jar? How much gas is used by the consumer, driving recyclables to a depot to dispose of them in an "environmentally friendly" way? If things truly can't be reused then recycling makes some sense, but why not have recycling plants near sources of gray water? If it's going to be autoclaved before use it doesn't need drinking quality water to wash out the crud - just use rainwater or river water (filtering it before putting it back in the river) to clean it off later.
Plastic bags are an obvious soft target for regulations (and, in some areas, all-but prohibition) but they are useful for all sorts of other things. Before the biodegradable ones were introduced I used to use them for storage - in unfinished space I'd often have bags of stuff hung on screws or nails so I could get at it easily but keep it up off the floor. Now the plastic bags disintegrate - I don't use any fewer bags now than I did before but now I have to pay for them and buy more of them because they don't last like they used to. How does this help the environment? In the UK more and more supermarkets are offering their "bag for life" options that are essentially thicker, sturdier plastic bags. You pay 10p for them (which is about 15c) and what you get is, well, more plastic in a single bag. Yes, they are reusable for a time at least (and if you can be bothered, you can get them replaced free of charge when they wear out), but it only works if you specifically plan a shopping trip. If you find yourself passing by a store and didn't think to carry bags with you just in case, you get to either buy another plastic bag (really helpful for the environment), or only buy what you can carry in your hands.
Maybe stores should be providing paper bags instead of plastic bags. Sturdy paper bags can be reused repeatedly and can be recycled just about anywhere.
A large part of the problem is the tendency of governments, of all flavors and at all levels, to address a problem with a regulation rather than a provision. The simple truth is that one way or another I need to get my shopping home. In many ways I don't really care just what the bag is made of but I need a bag. I don't really want to find that every single trip to the store means another bill for bags I don't want, and simply telling me I can't have a bag doesn't solve the problem. If governments mandated the use of biodegradable plastic bags that would mean they would break up rather than continuing to retain their shape, form, color etc for thousands of years. If stores provided alternative bags it would make life easy. If all that happens is more and more regulations appear with few alternatives available all it means is less shopping and therefore less economic activity. From a personal perspective it makes little difference, it's not like I need an excuse to buy less junk, but from a national economic situation a slowdown in shopping activity is disastrous.
