We don’t need plastic bags.

The U.S. alone uses 12 million barrels of oil every year to meet plastic bag demands. It is estimated that 90 percent of plastic bags in the U.S. are not recycled. Every year in the U.S one hundred billion plastic bags are discarded. Because plastic bags take nearly 1,000 years to break down, the bags we throw away today will far outlive us in dumps, landfills or in our oceans. The plastic bag tossed aside today will break down in 3016.

A past letter to the editor stated we need plastic bags because dirty cloth bags were a health hazard. The same is true about your pants and shirts. If they get dirty, wash them. Sanitation is restored. Another writer insists we need plastic bags for pet waste. There are biodegradable alternatives to plastic bags for kitty litter available in most grocery stores. “Bio bags” are available at Target.com and Walmart.com. Some environmental bags, which are very similar to plastic, are made out of cornstarch.

We must find ways to carry things around that do not use non-renewable resources, such as crude oil used in making plastic bags. Some communities have small fees on plastic bags, which generate funds for environmental protection, sustainability and charity. I would love to see the funds generated from these funds used to replant wild flowers on Auburn’s on-ramps, and more for trees that are proven filters of toxic air pollution. If we can carry several items around the store, we can carry them to the car without a bag. If you forget your bags in the car, simply put the items back in the cart, take them out to your car and put them in the bags there.

The city of Auburn and the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation are nestled between the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges and have the Green and White rivers filled with salmon winding through the fertile valley into our precious Puget Sound. It makes me sick seeing countless plastic bags along our roads, parks, rivers and public areas throughout in the valley, and on the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation. Our abundant wildlife and resources of the Northwest must be protected, and our habitat kept clean from plastic litter.

Please ban plastic bags. We don’t need them.

– Bess Owens