Ban plastic bags in the EU - sign the petition
Categories: Articles:Environment |
Published: 11/04/2014 |
Views: 1912
On April 17, the European Parliament will be voting on a proposal to “reduce the consumption of lightweight plastic carrier bags”. EU citizens use more than 100 billion plastic bags a year. Perhaps they forgot their shopping bags at home – or they haven’t given any thought to the effects of the flood of plastic waste. Most people put plastic bags in the trash immediately, but even so, around eight billion are carelessly discarded in the EU every year, leaving them to litter the countryside and waters for centuries to come.
Floating plastic waste in the oceans is a particularly grave problem. Every year, at least one million seabirds and thousands of marine animals such as sea turtles, seals and sperm whales mistake plastic for food and die slowly and painfully from ingesting it.
Wave action causes the litter to break down into increasingly small particles that continue to drift in the oceans. Fish are ingesting increasing amounts of these particles and their toxic by products instead of plankton – thus putting plastic waste on our dinner tables.
We must drastically reduce our consumption of plastic immediately, and this is especially urgent with regard to plastic bags, which can easily be replaced by durable alternatives. We are therefore calling on the European Union for a complete ban of plastic bags.
Please sign our petition to the EU here:
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