Poly Bags

Poly bags seem like such harmless, necessary things. Yet, in the scope of history, they really haven’t come into common use until just recently. Sadly, no poly bag is fully bio-degradable. Burning them can cause serious harm to the lungs. Those simply thrown into the streets in India are often inadvertantly eaten by cows in the streets, who are searching for treats within. Unfortunately, after time, the bags, which cannot be digested, fill the animals’ stomachs completely, making it impossible for them to eat and digest anything at all. Without surgery, they die of starvation. Rivers such as Mother Ganga also suffer due to plastic bags, which clog her waterways and can even cause flooding. In many places around the world, poly bags have already been banned. Ganga Action Parivar is working to ensure they are eliminated in even more places, through community organizing and our work with compassionate environmentalists and officials. But while laws can be passed that ban poly bags, the enforcement of such laws can be quite difficult. So we ask you, kind readers, what advice would you give to a politician who is interested in ridding a location of plastic bags?