The question of if plastic bags should be outlawed or not is one of much debate. From a green living perspective, the answer is easy, yes. But companies are reluctant to stop providing this service to their customers for fear of losing business. As always, there are two sides to every case.
Millions of plastic bags are delivered to landfills each day. Once there, they sit for years and years. Since they are not bio-degradable, they will not even begin to break down unless exposed to the sun, at which time they start to photo-degrade. The length of time is takes for a plastic bag to totally break down is not known.
Outlawing plastic bags would be cause for much anger at first, as many people simply care more about convenience than the health of the environment. But as with any change, after some time, people would come to accept re-usable bags, much in the same way they accepted the change from paper to plastic.
The debate over plastic bags will likely continue well into the future. Unless companies see more individuals bringing in their own recyclable bags, they likely will not discontinue using plastic bags. Hopefully, more people will realize the benefits of using cloth bags, and will force this change to happen sooner than later.