Less Plastic Consumption

• According to experts at the University of Florida, between 500 million and a trillion plastic bags are consumed across the globe each year. This massive amount of plastic ends up in landfills with little chance of being reused. An outright ban on these types of bags would have a significant effect on the need for plastic production -- a process that increases the demand for petroleum at a time when the country wishes to break its addiction to foreign oil.
  
  

Ending Inefficient Recycling

• Banning plastic bags will eliminate the need for recycling them. Plastic bags are an example of a bad recycling product. Even though people are encouraged to recycle their bags, only about one percent gets recycled, and even then it is not a sound financial move. It costs $4,000 to process and recycle one ton of plastic bags, according to the University of Florida. Once turned back into plastic to be sold on the commodities market, its estimated value is $32.
  
  

Reduced Litter

• Reducing litter is among the main reasons for the push to ban plastic bags. These bags are packed in landfills, blown around in the wind, dumped in oceans, lodged in drain pipes and sewers and are even found strangling the life out of birds and fish. Many animals also die because they mistake these bags for food. Ten percent of all debris washed up on U.S. coastlines is plastic bags. Banning plastic bags will prevent much of the litter found in all of these areas and more.
  
  

Curbed Contamination

• Over time, plastic bags will go through a process known as photo degradation. During this process, the plastic in the bags breaks down into chemicals that are often toxic. These "petro-polymers" leech into the soil and leak into the water supply and can cause significant contamination. A ban on plastic bags will keep these chemicals out of the water and soil so that future generations will not be faced with associated cleanup problems.