U.N Official Seeks Global Ban on Plastic Bags

Posted on Jun 9, 2009

Flickr / Fantaz

All that glitters is not gold: A sea of plastic bags in a landfill.

The U.N.‘s top environmental official has called for a global ban on plastic bags, declaring: “There is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere.” The ban is currently being tested in China, and already exists in the city of San Francisco. Los Angeles will hop on the environmental bandwagon in 2010.

The Kansas City Star:

Single-use plastic bags, a staple of American life, have got to go, the United Nations’ top environmental official said Monday.

Although recycling bags is on the rise in the United States, an estimated 90 billion thin bags a year, most used to handle produce and groceries, go unrecycled. They were the second most common form of litter after cigarette butts at the 2008 International Coastal Cleanup Day sponsored by the Ocean Conservancy, a marine environmental group.

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