AFC - 12/19/08 With Plastic Bag Monsters Against Plastic Bags

12/19/08 With Plastic Bag Monsters Against Plastic Bags

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Campaign to ban plastic bags and its petition signing continues

- Plastic bag monsters walk the centre of Zagreb on the Day Against Plastic Bags

During the following days in several Croatian cities, the December 19 will be marked by various activities and information stalls with the aim to draw attention to the danger plastic bags pose to animals and the environment, and the necessity of banning the distribution of plastic bag.

On December 19 at 12 noon on Ban Jelacic Square in Zagreb, the plastic bag monsters will be handing out leaflets and inviting citizens to sign the petition against plastic bags in Croatia. It will be possible to sign the petition at the stalls set up in Varsavska ulica near Petar Preradovic Square in Zagreb, on December 19, 20, 22, 23 and 24, as well as in some other Croatian cities. On Saturday at the same time, the bag monsters will go for a walk in the very centre of Zagreb, during rush hour.

An action in Split will take place on the Day Against Plastic Bags as well. In Marmont Street at 11 A.M. a tree will be symbolically decorated with plastic bags.

It is exactly at this time of holiday shopping that Animal Friends wishes to urge the citizens to use their own reusable tote bags, fishnet bags, cloth bags, baskets and the like, and to refuse to take free disposable plastic bags in stores. It is very easy to create a good habit that will result in sparing many animals dying painful deaths and our environment being "decorated" with unwanted plastic.

More than 500 billion plastic bags are consumed worldwide every year, of which the vast majority ends up in the environment. Each year, millions of animals die having eaten discarded plastic bags mistaking them for food or having become entangled in them. Discarded plastic bags decompose into smaller pieces and eventually into plastic particles of dust that are undesirable in the environment.

The amount of recycled plastic bags is extremely small. Only about 1% of bags are recycled, because recycling is uneconomical and difficult to carry out. Even if the amount of recycled bags did increase significantly, the problem of their relentless production in which huge resources and toxic chemicals are used, won’t be solved.

The petition to ban plastic bags was launched by Animal Friends, supported by organizations such as the Centre for Composting, Eko Kvarner, Eco Initiative, PCAP International, Blue World, Consumer, Green Action, The Greens of Dalmatia, Green Istria, Green Osijek, and others. So far, more than 17,000 Croatian citizens have voted against plastic bags.

The Chinese government has already banned the free distribution of plastic bags. San Francisco and Los Angeles have made the same decision, together with some other countries such as South Africa, Ireland and Israel.

It is about time Croatia made this small, but concrete step in future developments in protecting its environment and the animals in it.

Lush has also joined the campaign against plastic bags. In Lush stores you can sign the petition against plastic bags and get the informative leaflet.

12/19/08 With Plastic Bag Monsters Against Plastic Bags

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