Plastic bags are convenient and cheap, but they negatively impact the environment - humans included. This is unnecessary. Simple alternatives such as reusable bags and biodegradable single-use bags are available and currently used in many stores throughout Massachusetts. 

Over 80 municipalities in the Commonwealth have implemented bans on lightweight non-biodegradable check-out plastic bags. Listed below are the reasons that Wilbraham should join them:

• Single-use plastic bags are a major litter problem.
• Plastic bags cause the suffocation of human infants. 
• Only 5.2% of plastic bags are recycled. This means that one of the most important ways to stop the plastic bag problem is to reduce the production of them in the first place.
• Plastic bags do not biodegrade. When plastic bags do finally break down, they break into smaller microplastics. Microplastics can be ingested by animals, and then by the humans that eat them. 
• Polyethelyne plastic bags are made from non-renewable fossil fuels. 
  • Fossil fuel combustion emit carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. These high emissions lead to global warming and climate change.

Single-use plastic bags are contributing to serious issues facing Massachusetts, the United States, and the world. Banning single-use, non-biodegradable plastic bags is an important and easily implemented step towards meaningful change - and we must act now. 

Source: Sierra Club of Massachusetts