According to National Geographic’s, there are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic floating on the sea surface. It all adds up to 269,000 tons. That is heavier than 11 Statues of Liberty. Not only are thousands of marine mammals killed each year after ingesting these plastic items or getting entangled in them after they were thrown or dumped into the ocean, plastic has now become a threat to human health. 1BagataTime.com states that the plastic in our oceans affects us all. It enters out food chain. It contributes to extinction. It pollutes the very water that replenishes our planet. The issue of plastic bag pollution is only getting worse as time goes on, it is time to make a change. 

The United States Congress should pass a bill banning the production and use of plastic bags to stop the plastic pollution in the oceans, decrease the amount of government spending on plastic clean up in the future, and increase employment opportunities in the reusable bag industry.