Reusable eco shopping bags aren’t only for carrying your goods home from the organic farmer’s market while sipping kombucha via a paper straw. So, why should we use reusable eco shopping bags, and do the advantages of doing so truly stack up?

The Environmental Impact of Plastic Bags

The most apparent and urgent response to the question “Why you need to use reusable ECO bags?” is to decrease the environmental effect of plastic bags. Single-use plastics, such as water bottles and shopping bags, are well-known for clogging landfills and harming animals. Many of us may be tempted to dismiss calls from do-gooders, tree-huggers, and others to minimize our plastic trash because they have become so common.

Nonetheless, the plain reality is that our usage of plastic bags is far too high (particularly in the United States) and is doing havoc on the environment. Rather of preaching to you, our lovely readers who simply want to get to the point and buy some nice goods, we’ll hit you with some harsh facts regarding single-use plastic bags.

Plastic Contaminations

Plastic contamination in the oceans has been linked to the deaths of at least 267 different species, according to the Centers for Biological Diversity.

Every year, up to 100,000 marine creatures are killed by plastic bags alone. The leatherback sea turtle is one of the most vulnerable species, as it frequently mistaken plastic bags for the jellyfish it eats. According to the Centers for Biological Diversity, one out of every three leatherbacks has plastic in its stomach.

The average person in the United States uses almost one single-use plastic bag each day. Let’s put it this way, courtesy of the National Geographic Society: The average Danish consumer uses barely four plastic bags each year.

According to the Earth Day Network, just around 1% of the 4 trillion plastic bags used worldwide each year are recycled, while Americans toss away up to 100 billion plastic bags each year.

Use of the Plastic Bags

In a landfill, a plastic bag can take up to 500 years to decompose. Plastic bags collect pollutants when they break down, according to the Earth Day Network, which can then be discharged into the wind, water, or earth.

We hope you now have a better idea of why we should use reusable ECO bags after learning about the devastating impact single-use plastic bags have on our environment. What’s holding us back? It seems like a simple decision to make and a simple practice to follow, so what’s holding us back?

Why aren’t more people using reusable eco shopping bags?

With so many advantages, it appears that using reusable eco shopping bags is a no-brainer. And it is (at least in theory). Ironically, many individuals identify our brains as the largest obstacle to completely adopting reusable Eco bag, we just forget! We’ve all been there: you get your groceries home, put them away, and then forget about your reusable ECO bags. Or, if you do manage to get the reusable ECO bags back into your car, you put them in the trunk and forget about them when you go to the store.