The dreaded plastic bag
 
Reality
 

Let's get real folks. We have many more important things in life to consider than what plastic bags might do to our environment.

Thinking and facts can be fun. The thickness of a typical plastic bag is about 0.001 of an inch or less. Each bag basically has 2 sides equaling a total of 0.002 of an inch total thickness. The average bag is about 1 square foot laying flat. Let's say the average person uses a total of 5 bags per week from their local grocery store, this would amount to a total of 260 bags in one year.  At the end of 1 year, this would be a 0.520 inch thick stack 12"x12". This would be 4.33% of 1 cubic foot stack.  Put another way, if you used 260 plastic bags per year, and put them all in a land fill rather than recycle them, it would take you about 24 years to reach 1 full cubic foot of plastic bags. The majority of plastic bags are likely and should be recycled. Let's say you recycle 90% of your plastic bags. Only 10% of your plastic bags used for garbage would end up in a land fill.   

Facts can often change the whole perspective. This example reminds me of how easily it is to propagandize people with never ending scary bullshit. I've written earlier in an essay on tobacco use and fat consumption (Smoke and Fat down, drug sales up) where I point out that we constantly hear that 30 thousand deaths occur each year from lung cancer from the use of tobacco. Everything we hear is always very scary because that's where the money is for those that need a cause and like to scare and control the masses and make a lot of money. When we look at actual facts, often everything changes. I pointed out that in 2014, there were just over 55 million Americans still smoking. Thirty thousand deaths would be 0.054 of the entire smoking population if in fact they all actually died from tobacco use, or 0.009% of the entire population  which is totally ridiculous. This of course was nothing but one big lie from those on the money side of the issue. Put another way, that would be 99.946% of smokers that did not die, or,  as pointed out, a person might stand a much greater chance of choking to death on an ice cube. Facts and a little math change the whole perspective.

As a side note, ending in 2014, 71,483 people died from diabetes, and these are confirmed and proven causes of death, not money making scary lies and propaganda such as used in the big money anti-tobacco industry.

But back to the dreaded plastic bag. It's so important to save the planet from these terrible bags. First of all, we are told that plastic bags will not biodegrade for thousands if not millions of years.
Question - how does anyone know this? Where did the materials come from that plastic bags are made of? Are these materials from another planet? Didn't we take them out of the earth? What about the literally billions of food and drink containers made of plastic and cans with plastic linings that contain Bisphenol A (BPA) that is at least a known cancer causing chemical. We don't seem to have a problem eating and drinking from these containers, do we? Why are they legal? Could it be that the big money environmentalist crowd knows they wouldn't have a chance challenging the major food suppliers or the FDA, CDC or the EPA that are bought and paid for by these powerful groups ? What about the tons of dangerous legal and illegal drugs being flushed down the toilets daily into the ground water systems throughout the country? Can't go against Big Pharma and Big Medical?
But let's talk about plastic bags? Have we as a nation lost our minds, or do we simply listen to the never ending cry to save the people and the planet from extremists money making groups, politicians and useful idiots that need a cause, with dangerous and most often worthless and very costly bullshit.

1 - The facts are, even our EPA shows that plastic shopping bags make up only 0.5% of the US municipal waste stream.
2 - Plastic bags made in the USA are made from natural gas. Doesn't natural gas come out of the earth?
3 - Plastic bags are 100% reusable and recyclable. More than 9 out of 10 Americans reuse their plastic bags at least once.
4 - In 2011, an estimated 1 billion pounds of consumer plastic bags were collected for recycling.
5 - 91 to 93 percent of the US population has access to nearby plastic bag recycling or have their own recycle bins at home.
6 - Recycled plastic bags are used to make new plastic products, such as backyard decks, playground equipment, plumbing pipes, fencing and more.
7 - Plastic bags require 70% less energy to manufacture than paper bags.
8 - The production of plastic bags consumes less than 4% of the water needed to make paper bags.
9 - It takes 7 trucks to deliver the same number of paper bags that it takes to transport plastic bags in only one truck.
10 - Reusable and paper bags take up more space than a plastic bag in a landfill. Paper bags take up 9.3 times as much space as a plastic bag.
11 - Plastic bags produce fewer greenhouse gasses per use than paper bags or cotton bags.
12 - A reusable cotton bag must be used no less than 131 times before having a greener environmental impact than a common plastic grocery bag.
13 - Many reusable bags are made from heavier and thicker plastic or cotton which takes  more energy to produce. Reusable bags aren't recyclable.