Plastic bags are everywhere--about 100 billion of them--are sold each year around the world, according to the Plastics Industry Trade Association. They can come in the form of sandwich bags, bread wrappers, dry-cleaning bags and most commonly, grocery bags. They're frequently reused in households as trash-can liners and "doggie-scoop" bags. They're so common that in South Africa they've been dubbed the "national flower." And that type of ubiquitousness, unfortunately, has some hazards.
Children
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CSPC, receives about 25 reports each year that a child, usually under the age of 1, suffocated from a plastic bag. Most commonly, these are dry-cleaning bags, but some are garbage bags a child crawled into, or even a plastic bag covering a mattress that the child was sleeping on. It can happen any time a plastic bag blocks a child's nose or mouth, preventing the child from breathing. The CSPC stresses the importance of keeping plastic bags away from children, and most plastic bags carry voluntary warnings stating that the bag is not a toy and can pose a suffocating hazard.
Pets
Plastic bags present many of the same dangers to pets as they do to children, understandable when taking into account that a dog has about the same judgment as a 2-year-old child, according to the Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue. Curious cats and dogs can get their heads stuck into plastic bags and suffocate if not found in time.
Marine Life
Picture a plastic bag that has drifted into the ocean, filled with water and air and bobbing on the waves. These often look like food to marine animals. Sea turtles, for instance, mistake them for jellyfish, which is a primary food source for the turtles. Some whales and dolphins mistake them for squid. The plastic bags in their systems, says the Ocean Conservancy, give the animals a false sense of fullness, so they stop eating and starve to death---if they don't choke on the plastic bag first.
Environment
While plastic bags are better for the environment in some ways than paper---they are more energy-efficient to produce and take up less space in landfills---the sad truth is many never make it to landfills, says the Worldwatch Institute. Some "fly" away, floating up to get caught in trees and fences, where they sometimes entangle birds. They're also capable of clogging sewers and gutters, and simply create eyesores where they end up scattered along the road.
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