Another Win for the Oceans! Chile Bans Plastic Bags in Coastal Regions

Great news! Another country has joined efforts to stop the plastic Pollution crisis by banning single-use plastic bags. Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet signed a bill introducing a ban on plastic bags in more than 100 coastal areas, taking a vital step towards reducing the amount of non-biodegradable plastic that is currently flooding our planet.

Bachelet stated that the move to ban plastic bags was aimed at “taking care of our marine ecosystems,” The Straits Times reports. “Our fish are dying from plastics ingestion or strangulation, it’s a task in which everyone must collaborate,” Bachelet

The decision to ditch plastic bags is not the only thing Bachelet is planning to do when it comes to environmental issues – her government also plans to create 1.6 million square kilometers of marine Conservation areas by 2018.

Plastic bag bans are being implemented in a growing number of countries, states, and cities and are also showing up in more and more businesses. Forgoing the bags means generating a significantly smaller amount of plastic waste, which is great news considering around 8.8 million tons plastic ends up in the oceans every year. Sadly, over 700 marine species are threatened with extinction due to plastic Pollution. Every year, we throw away an astounding 100 billion plastic bags – and it is now clearly time to rethink why we do it and what is really at stake.

To learn how to get single-use plastics out of your life, check out One Green Planet’s #CrushPlastic campaign!

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