You’ve probably been to a supermarket that has stopped using plastic bags, and a restaurant that no longer uses plastic cups or provides straws with your drink order (or has replaced plastic straws with paper ones). Chances are, the local government of the city or municipality where those establishments are located have banned the use of plastic bags and plastic cups and drinking straws, and for good reason. Think of this: The average plastic bag will take 10-20 years to decompose, while a plastic drinking straw will stay around for up to 200 years. Plastic water bottles will take 450 years, plastic caps and lids 450-1,000 years, and plastic fishing lines 600 years to break down into their basic elements. In short, these items will persist in our environment, and unless properly disposed of and confined, would eventually find their way into our oceans and spread all over the earth—and they already have.

Habito, C. F. (2018, July 20). Drowning in plastic. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A14.