Plastic bags are convenient – there is a reason you use them for shopping, wrapping up your lunchbox or water bottle and for garbage collection so frequently. Unfortunately, they are as harmful as they are useful.

Most people carry plastic bags in their laptop bag or hand bag, to avoid their water bottle or lunchbox leaking into other things in the bag.  Although, it is always a better idea to carry a leak-resistant tiffin box and a separate on-the-gobag for your water bottle than use unsafe polythene bags! Not only are these polythene bags unsafe for you, they are unsafe for the environment as well! If you are environmentally conscious, you could consider reducing or even better, flat out quitting your use of plastic bags.

Here are 5 best reasons to put down plastic bags for good.

1. Plastic bags are made using non-renewable resources.
   Plastic bags are made out of the material known as polypropylene, a major contributor to environmental waste. Polypropylene is made utilizing oil and is basically indestructible. Once it’s produced it lasts forever and won’t disappear. Most times it turns into micro plastic and fills up the oceans and landfills. This is extremely wasteful considering that plastic bags have an average lifespan of twelve minutes.
2. Plastic bags pollute
   Due to the sheer amount of production as well as being so lightweight, they are spreading outside of the landfills and into the oceans and land. Since plastic isn’t biodegradable, it will never go away, and eventually becomes a hazard to animal life. Literally, thousands of marine animals choke on plastics ever year.
3. Plastic bags are bad for human health
   The majority of plastic bags contain pollutants that are introduced during the manufacturing process. When animals eat plastics, these pollutants accumulate inside of their bodies and are then passed on to humans who consume them.
4. Plastic bags are costly to produce
   Plastic bags may be cheap to purchase but their accumulative cost adds up. Also, they are not washable or re-usable.

5. Plastic bags are difficult to recycle
   The majority of recycling plants don’t have the capacity to properly recycle plastic bags, so they do not accept them. This leaves the actual plastic bag recycling rates to be about 5%.

Single-use plastic bags, when not disposed off properly, might ruin the planet as they are non biodegradable. For groceries, shopping or as lunch bags, if you have been using plastic bags, then this is probably the best time to choose a cloth bag that is safe for you and the planet as well!