Wouldn't it be lovely if these people who want to pontificate in print had some idea of which way is up.

Valerie has obviously never lived in the country, & tried to store anything in those shopping bags, where they are subject to even mild indirect sunlight. Ultraviolet stable they definitely are not. Within a couple of months they are disintegrating, & will be disappeared into dust in the soil, long before gum tree leaves have even started to rot down. A problem they are not, except perhaps in the inner city high-rise inhabited by plastic people.

I have a fabric tube hung in the broom closet. Shopping bags not torn go in the top, & are drawn from the bottom for a hundred uses as required. I occasionally have to buy bin liners to supplement my bag supply.

Now Valerie what is the difference between finely broken up plastic, & the finely broken silica sand that forms our beaches, none really. If you doubt this, get out of the city, climb onto a yacht, & go visit some of the Pacific islands. No not the resorts, go walk along some windward beaches. You'll be amazed what you find washed up. Most is in small pieces, although I did once find a ball gown/wedding dress, with a thong attached. I wonder what story they could tell.

A lot of it is decomposing plastic. Only the very expensive specially developed plastic is resistant to sunlight. Withy a mixture of Ultraviolet degradation, & the abrasion of washing about on a beach, nothing lasts long.

You would find that everything that got into the sea, soon sank, or was washed up on a windward shore somewhere.

The problem having environmental problems taken seriously, is the Greens.
No one could possibly take the Greens seriously, since legitimate environmental
concerns have morphed into second place behind the welfare of poofters.
This is the public face of the environmental movement...much to the glee of the LNP.

Hey hasbeen ...I'll give you two smilies for your contribution above...:-) :-)

And also hasbeen...it is very possible their was a bride in the wedding dress, (with thong): definitely prior to its watery end, but also possibly after its watery entry.

A gleaming white skull, stripped of flesh with no eyes and all soft tissue eaten, after three days. And if in the vicinity of hungry sharks, then the main body will be broken into small enough pieces for all sea creatures to gather around for the feast.
You've raised an intreaguing thought here today.
Leaves Vals plastic bags on a palm tree in the shade for interest, (sorry Val, you've been touchéd by Hasbeen ).

and now a few facts folks

"Because plastic pellets are magnets for toxic chemicals like DDT and PCBs, they effectively become poison pills. Japanese researchers found that concentrations of these chemicals were as much as a million times higher than in the water. Plastics themselves can leach endocrine-disrupting chemicals like biphenyl.

Many of the birds that come to International Bird Rescue's rehabilitation centers are impacted monofilament line that has wrapped around their limbs and wings.

What we know:
Plastic water bottles take 450 years to decompose;
Fishing lines and nets can take up to 600 years to decompose; and
Plastic bags or balloons in the ocean are dangerous (they can look like a jellyfish meal to a sea turtle)."

OK, nicknamenick, we're all waiting to know how YOU know that turtles "think" plastic bags "look like" jellyfish food.

Did a survey of turtles, did you?