| By :
Mark Etinger
I feel good about plastic bags. Plastic anything, really. It allows us to drink milk less wastefully, carry medicine safely and keep our cell phones intact. My weirdo coworker once challenged me to not touch plastic for 24 hours. No way. I laughed at him. I wear plastic on my head on my bike ride home. I put it in my ears when I listen to my headphones, and in my mouth when I brush my teeth. My uncle who is crazy and refuses to eat with silverware—seriously, schizophrenic—only uses plastic utensils. We're becoming more reliant on plastic these days, not that it's a bad thing. You may have conflicting feelings about plastic bags. Are they good, are they bad, do they hurt baby turtles or are they the solution to the 21st century (as long as you don't microwave them). Ultimately it's about whether or not you want to use plastic, which indeed can be just as dangerous to baby turtles as it can be useful for carrying groceries. The key is to dispose of it accordingly, so it doesn't wind up in the Great Plastic Gyre in the North Pacific. There are lots of different uses for plastic in our day and age, and I can understand if you don't like eating from it, but sometimes it's just more convenient. It's lighter than glass and takes less energy to recycle, so in a way it's greener too. The word plastic comes from the Greek plastikos and means capable of being molded. There are so many different forms of plastic, from polyethylene bags to plastic containers. The latter are thermoplastics, meaning plastics that don't change in composition when heated. The former are thermosetting polymers. Petroleum and natural gas are the primary materials needed to make plastic. As long as you take care to separate plastic bags and recycle them at your local supermarket, you will be doing your job. Smaller soiled plastic bags you can dispose of normally. At the end of the day it's impossible not to use plastic. It's on our computers, in our cars, and in other places I don't need to mention, which you can determine for yourself. Like it's a game. Where do I see plastic that I hadn't realized before. That'll keep you busy for a while. But seriously. To get rid of plastic bags and poly mailers just because people don't know how to dispose of it properly is a bit silly. Let's make use of plastic the best way we know how, and recycle it when we're done. That way we get to have our cake and eat it too.
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