Why Recycle Plastic Shopping Bags?

It’s important not to forget the reason why we recycle in the first place.    It takes so long to biodegrade.   Plastic has the unique ability to negatively impact wild environments around the world.

Marine Life

Over ten metric tons of plastic debris finds its way into our oceans every day. This can spell very bad news for marine life living in these waters for many reasons. Two of the most common include entanglement and ingestion.

Entanglement

Floating plastic appears virtually invisible to the marine life living in these waters. This leads to animals getting tied up in everything from plastic six-pack rings to fishing nets.
Ingestion

The often bright and shiny appearance of plastic causes many fish to mistake it for food. When fish consume plastic, their brains get tricked into thinking that they’re full and, in turn, they stop eating, become severely malnourished, and often starve.

Life on Land

Waste doesn’t have to travel across the world to impact wildlife. In fact, it doesn’t have to leave our backyard. Something as simple as a peanut butter container or plastic shopping bag can get wrapped around an animal’s body, impeding it from moving and eating.

Conserves Resources

Don’t lose hope! The fact that you are reading this right now means that people are interested in helping the environment.

Thankfully, there are plenty of steps you can take to ensure that you are doing your part to help the environment. A great first step is to do a little research and spread the word about recycling practices. It starts from the ground up with actions as simple as sharing helpful articles such as this to help spread the word.

Above you see all the places that plastic bags are found doing harm to the  animals on land and sea. But you can take that same plastic bag and make something that will benifit you when you go shoping, traveling, going to the beach, or boating. These bags are great because they are strong and last many times. They can be put in the washer to clean  them but hang up to air dry.  You can also make a mat that measures 32" x 72" or any size you desire,  to lay on the ground to keep warm and dry.  

These are some of the Totes that I make in different colors for Missions to help the Homeless put their belongings in.  I make some totes and sell them them to get money to get yarn so I make Prayer Shawls for a Church Minestry. 
            

 
These are the Mats that I also make for homeless people in the Quad Cities in Illinois and Iowa.
 
Now these are just some of the useful products that I make out of the shopping bags that people save for me and are dropped off at my home. 
Everyone can recycle as there are many places these bags can be taken to collect and reduce the clutter and keep our country and waterways cleaner.  We all have to work together for a cleaner world.  START TODAY!!

James Eckburg

Healthy Body and Mind