doing that will let toxic plastic gas into the air we breathe

Should you seek further information please visit our website on http://www.bioplast.org.uk

So producing plastic bags simply adds to the environmental mess. To quote from the International Plastics Task Force site:

While plastics are yet to be considered a significant disposal problem in much of the first world (largely because these materials are landfilled–out of sight, out of mind), organizations in the global south have demonstrated considerable concern in regards to the detrimental effects of plastic products, notably the terminal waste generated by their disposal. Direct disposal (littering or dumping)and incineration (burning) of these wastes is a common practice in the global south. Each is harmful to the health of people and the environment. For example, dumping in rivers, streams and even urban drainage systems pollutes water courses and causes flooding. When these waters are unsanitary, they carry disease into the household. The burning of plastics encourages airborne pollution, the majority of which is extremely toxic and can cause a host of health problems (cancer, asthma, etc.). Although landfilling and recycling programs “vanish” the waste problem, each has considerably negative consequences: landfills leak and often contaminate the ground water with toxic liquids and residues. The recycling of plastic is often accomplished by exporting waste materials to Asian countries where recycling facilities are often likened to “sweatshops” where by laborers prepaid little for dangerous work. The increased push for unfettered trade and neo-liberal policy has scudded in intensifying these problems.

It seems to me that the best solution is to simply not create so many plastic bags in the first place.

Instead of taking the oil out of the ground and making plastic bags out of it, you’d prefer it be left in the ground? What do you expect to happen to the surface and streams where the oil leaks to the surface? Is an asphalt covering better than plastic?

Or we could toss it in a thermal depolymerization unit and recycle it along with the rest of the trash. Or the brush fires can burn it off and break it down to carbon powder.