Every year, Americans throw away some 100 billion plastic bags. It is equivalent to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of oil. Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photdegrade, meaning they break down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways. The toxins then enter the food-web when animals accidently ingest them causing approximately 1 billion seabirds and mammals to die each year. These poor animals suffer a very painful death, the plastic wraps around their intestines causing them to starve or they choke to death. Since our city is a coastal community that depends on a healthy marine eco system, a ban on plastic bags seems extremely important to our local economy as well as the future health to our town.