There is more than a the odd one. But having said that and I agree with most of rstuart's reasoning. However quantifying (counting animal carcases) only gives part of the story.
Firstly as I pointed out what numbers are at stake if as in breeding turtles the rates from the rescue orgs. are concerning also consider what was the purpose of the surveys . Then there are the hidden deaths. True in Qld coastal waters boat strike account for way more turtles, dugongs etc.
We should address all issue AS WELL. But as I also pointed out this topic was about bags. The other issues are going to be tougher.

I am also concerned about polluting (excessive) packaging including bottles (belly's contribution).
I made the point earlier there appears to be Four basic impediments to doing the sensible thing.

Commercial interests fiercely oppose bottle returns in exist in SA
Likewise with the excessive packaging industries including manufacturers, ad agencies etc.
Laziness, lack of motivation by the public to adopt the required number of solutions.
the inertia in generating support from the spoilt convenience crazy public.
NB I didn't/don't want to hijack this topic nor do I want to over emphasise turtles my intention was to point out that there simply isn't a one (painless) magic bullet solution. Clearly it will take a mass of hard fought separate actions.

BTW I am a humanist not a greenie. We need the animals/plants to support humanity.You do the figuring.

Why for instance when I buy aspirin are they only available as individually wrapped packages?

Well, sadly, a lot of this has to do with consumer theft. You see, many shoppers think it is their given right to take anything that is easy to steal, why, because they can.

It's also one of the reasons why you can't go to the hardware and buy one or two screws in many cases.

Hygiene plays another part but I think this is often a 'smoke screen' as the real problem again, is 'theft'.

Sure theft is a problem but in many cases it is not the primary reason for what I regard as excessive packaging. My aspirin example is a case in point. And even where theft or health is an issue the packaging is often far more than is necessary to combat those problems. Sometimes I suspect that it would be more cost effective to accept the losses through theft than packaging to avoid it (eg screws). I suspect that the distributors in many cases no longer make it possible for retailers to buy certain products in bulk.

Kulu, I agree with much of what you say.

Another issue is that most consumers would expect to buy one item for around 10% of the cost of say ten, give or take. Now while that may seem fine, it takes just as much time and effort to sell one, as it does ten. Just imagine the amount of plastic required if your asprin were packed in singles, remember, we have to many sicko's out there so selling them 'loose' is no longer possible. There is also the liabillity whereby there are a number of people out there just looking for an oportunity to sue for anything.

Now back to your asprin.

Would you be happy with someone placing their hands into a large vessel and grabbing out an asprin or two?

Would you also be satisfied that the large, easily accessable vessel was correctly labeled?

Unfortunately, like it or not, we live in a different world today and, in many cases this new world, or more so the effects it has on us all, has been driven by lawyers seeking out every oportunity to fleece some multi national of a few bucks.

Another quick point. I am not supossed to place meat in anything other than a 'new' plastic 'food approved' carry bag. Why? Because I can't guarantee that the bag you provide has not been contaiminated and it will always be the retailers that is seen to be at fault.

I don't know how we will every overcome this one.
I don't like it any more than you do.

Since we’re on the subject of unnecessary things, I’d like to nominate
--one of the most unnecessary inventions, ever-- the leaf blower.

Okay , there may be exceptional cases, where i) the user has a bad back and cannot pull a rake, or ii) if you were deleafing historic stonework, where it might be needed . But, otherwise, why on earth would you need a noisy, smoke-emitting leaf blower, to do a task which anyone, but a wimp, could do with a broom or rake?

And,we might be a lot better off too, if more people took up push-mowers & ditched their motor-mower

Horus

I used to ridicule the leaf blower much - until last summer.

My suburb was under threat; while I was hosing down the house, my neighbour was making quick work of removing leaves from his roof and around the perimeter of his home in very little time at all with his leaf blower. Even though we all regularly clear our gutters and roofs, living in a forested area means leaf litter all year round and during a hot summer there was more leaf litter than usual - eucalypts shed more leaves during drought.

While, under normal circumstances, a rake and broom are more effective and very environmentally positive, I have to confess I envied my neighbour when we were under threat of fire.