Why have we teamed up with Turtle Bags?
In these modern days of enlightenment we all know that we ought to use alternatives to the free plastic bags so readily available in our supermarkets. Plastic bags are becoming a major marine problem for the same reason that they have been a commercial success - they don’t break down. Every year, an estimated 17.5 billion plastic bags are given away by supermarkets. This is equivalent to over 290 bags for every person in the UK. We produce and use 20 times more plastic today than we did 50 years ago.
How many of us remember to take our own bags to the shops with us? Well, now it is easy. Turtle Bags durable, practical and elegant string shopping bags, are small and compact when not in use so easily fit in a pocket or handbag, but open into a great sized bag for our shopping. Not only that but they are easy to slip over the handles of your pushchair to carry all of those little essentials we suddenly realise that our children need.
Turtle Bags seeks to promote alternatives to plastic bags and reducing plastic pollution. Scientists in Texas examined 473 turtles stranded along the Texas coast. They found ingested plastics in more than half of the turtles sampled. We have five different species of turtle visiting our UK waters; the one you are most likely to come across is the Leatherback turtle. These great animals have been around for 100 million years. Turtles are mistaking upturned plastic bags for their favourite food, jellyfish, with deadly results.
The plastic bag is highly over specified for the job for which it was designed. Required to serve us for the hour or two it takes us to get our shopping home instead it is expected that the bags will last for hundreds of years. The hazards of the plastic bag do not stop with the turtles. Plastics never fully degrade; plastic bags eventually turn into plastic “dust” which can still be ingested by filter feeding marine animals. Plastic is highly toxic, and toxins in filter feeders are passed up the food chain to the fish and ultimately human consumers. Offshore surveys found plastic bags to be the most common litter item out at sea.
The turtle outlived the dinosaurs, but at the moment it is having trouble outliving us!
So, to find out how you can win one of FIVE Packs of 5 Turtle Bags see our Competition page.
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