Battle of the Bags

http://www.goodspeaks.org/event/hawaii-becomes-first-us-state-to-ban-plastic-bags

Should plastic bags be banned? 

Before watching the video on D2L, I did not often give a second thought to the amount of plastic bags I use on a weekly basis.  At least in my house, besides the obvious of using them to carry purchased items, we also use them in the bathroom garbage, to carry lunches to work or school, to pick up things we don't want to touch, and to clean out the refrigerator.  My entire life, we have never recycled plastic bags.  As far as I was aware, they were not recyclable.  I assumed that they were supposed to go to landfills, and did not know there was another way.  This excess of plastic bags in landfills was an impact which really surprised me in the video, and the effect of these bags in landfills on wild animals was something I was not entirely aware of.  However, plastic bags are useful, and I do not think they should be banned as the video pointed out that many places around the world are doing.  I think the better approach would be to advertise recycling them.  There is no reason there should be a problem if everyone recycled plastic bags.    Although it is unlikely everyone in the world would follow recycling laws and recycle every bag they use, if more people were educated in the fact that they can be recycled, I do think this would significantly reduce the amount of plastic floating around the Earth. 

The 'Bag Police' mentioned in the video were perhaps the most interesting form of an attempt to 'solve' the problem of plastic bag waste.  Although, it seems to be effective where the bag police are present, I can not see that being an ideal everywhere.  Many communities and regions would not have the force they had available to solely seek out users of plastic bags.  It also seems more reasonable and cost effective to simply educate the public on recycling them. 

I do think the amount of waste left by plastic bags locally, as well as globally, is a problem that needs addressing.  It is hurting animals, and causing health issues around the world.  I do not, however, think banning them completely is the most effective solution.  To reiterate what I stated at the beginning, it seems to be more effective, and inexpensive, to educate the public on plastic bag recycling, and possibly enforce consequences to not recycling.  I also think each community should work to solve the problem locally.  If a problem cannot be solved locally, it will be difficult to solve it on a larger, global, scale.  Although banning seems to work locally for some communities, I do not see it as a perfect solution for all communities in the world.  I do agree with the video that people need to be more conscious of how they dispose of their plastic bags, but part of that begins with the education of their proper disposal.  The more biodegradable bags shown on the video seem to be a good compromise for the 'everlasting' and 'indestructible' plastic bags seen most places.  It seems these more biodegradable bags would greatly help reduce plastic bag waste around the world.