The production and disposal of plastic bags causes serious environmental impacts,including contamination of the environment, the deaths of thousands of marine animals each year, widespread litter and ruin of the environment, and increased waste disposal costs.

Most plastic carryout bags do not biodegrade, but stay in the environment for hundreds of years; they don’t break down, but fall apart up through abrasion, tearing, and photo degradation into toxic plastic bits that contaminate soil and water. This enters the food web when animals inadvertently ingest these materials. Toxic substances present in plastics are known to cause death or reproductive failure in fish, shellfish, wildlife, and in the humans ingesting the fish.