On Halloween it’s in the Bag!
Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel
With the sounds of Halloween here and little ones eager to take their trick-or-treat bags door-to-door, SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel are thinking how nice it would be to keep those bags out all year.
Not just for Halloween candy, apples and treats, but for everyday items, dairy and meats.
When you bring your own reusable bag on shopping trips, instead of using plastic bags from the store, you can reduce the amount of plastic pollution in our environment.
Did you know that each reusable bag equals 400 single-use plastic bags?
Or that 600 plastic bags are thrown away every second in California?
Every year 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. Of those, 100 billion bags are used in the United States alone.
That’s a lot of plastic bags…most of which end up littering our streets and polluting our waterways and oceans, endangering sea life, who get tangled in the bags or ingest them , and ultimately entering the food chain.
That’s even scarier than the ghosts and goblins roaming around on All Hallows Eve.
Fortunately California got an early treat this Halloween – the passage and signing of Senate Bill 270 – authorizing the nation’s first statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery and convenience stores.
The Surfrider Foundation Huntington/Seal Beach Chapter has long supported legislation to ban plastic bags. Its Rise Above Plastics Chairperson Jessica Bechtold explained to SurfWriter Girls that building awareness is the key – informing the public of the environmental problems caused by plastic bags and getting people out of the habit of using them.
The bill phases out plastic bags at grocery stores and supermarkets in the summer of 2015. Convenience stores and pharmacies will follow in 2016.
When the plastic bags disappear, so will Bag Monsters – ghostlike, spooky spirits made from discarded plastic bags.
For now, though, they’re still out there. So, heed this Halloween warning:
Beware the Bag Monsters…and Don’t Litter!
Stash Your Trash on Halloween
When you’re dancing around the fire
watch out for goblins, ghosts and gyres.
It’s nice to have a yummy treat…
Good and Plenty’s, Reese’s Cups, and candy corn to eat.
But, don’t toss your trash on the beach
when recycling cans are in reach.
Remember that Bag Monsters are always near.
You never know when they’ll appear.
With bulging eyes and shark-like teeth to chew,
If you litter, they’ll get you!
Happy Halloween!!!
SurfWriter Girls Patti and Sunny
Please post your comment below. Comments will appear the next day.
Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.
