Plastic shopping bags are lightweight and convenient, but convenience does not outweigh the negative impact they have on our environment.  Every day as I ride the bus to work, I am troubled to see plastic grocery bags hanging in the trees and blowing down the streets and sidewalks.  A plastic grocery bag has an average useful life of 12 minutes, which is the time it takes to get from the grocery store to the kitchen.  Yet it can remain in our landfills, streets, and rivers for up to 1,000 years.  According to reusablebags.com, U.S. shoppers use an estimated 100 billion plastic bags a year and recycle only a small percentage of them.  Although plastic bags are made of recyclable material, very few recycling centers accept them because they clog recycling machinery and are difficult to separate from other materials. 

A growing number of towns, cities, states, and countries around the world are seeking ways to reduce plastic bag litter and its environmental impact.  One good solution to the plastic bag problem is to carry reusable bags to use when shopping.  Another would be to require stores to provide recycling bins and offer incentives for bringing the plastic bags back to reuse.  I feel that it is time for South Bend to follow the lead of other cities worldwide and implement ways to reduce the use of plastic bags.  If we can achieve this goal here in South Bend and it spreads throughout the rest of the country, it will be a huge step toward getting these bags off our streets and out of our landfills.