
Morocco moves to ban plastic bags - pm24601
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/morocco-ban-plastic-bags_563934cde4b0307f2cab21a8
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Fezzik
Based on the primary photo of refuse in the article the problem is not plastic
bags but garbage in general. My city (Portland, Oregon) outlawed plastic bags
years ago and messy parts of the city are still messy while clean parts of the
city are still clean. The bag-ban made no difference. Visiting neighboring
Beaverton, where plastic bags are still allowed, one is not overwhelmed by a
mass of plastic bags in the streets...

It has always been my understanding that if a store is going to provide
disposable bags plastic bags are far superior - functionally and
environmentally - to the alternative (generally paper):

[http://www.appropedia.org/Paper_versus_plastic_bags](http://www.appropedia.org/Paper_versus_plastic_bags)

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pm24601
Problems with plastic bags:

1\. clog up storm drains.

2\. clog up the screens that water treatment plants use to filter out large
debris.

3\. degrade into micro particles that treatment plants can't easily remove.

4\. mistaken for floating jellyfish by seabirds and fish and they get eaten
and block the digestive tract.

5\. degrade into microparticles which reenter the food chain.

6\. plastics bond with other nasty chemicals to form even more toxic compounds

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andybak
I love Morocco but I've taken a bunch of sad photos there of huge masses of
carrier bags in otherwise idyllic spots. I'm really happy to hear this news.

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smel
Way to go, Morocco!!!

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wishiknew
Bravo!

