Plastic Bags Should be Banned

1291 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effect of plastic on ocean

Five hundred billion used globally and one hundred billion of them end up in U.S. landfills, taking about one thousand years to decompose, but only 5.2 percent were recycled (Borrud, 2007, p.75).-These are the figures plastic bags have produced every year. Human beings invented plastic bags for the convenience of carriers and packers. However, just as other great inventions, say, nuclear energy and biotechnology, plastic bags are causing serious issues like global warming, environment pollution and energy consumption. They are gradually becoming sword towards ourselves. In responding to this problem, the city of San Francisco has become the trail blazer to prohibit non-biodegradable plastic bags in its large supermarkets and pharmacies. Actually, petroleum-based plastic bags should be banned because they consume colossal amount of natural resources and energy, cause inefficient in economics and can badly pollute the environment.

According to Patricia Riedman, plastic bags were celebrating their 30th anniversary of appearance in U.S. supermarkets (2007, p.76). Indeed, they have brought great merits since their debut. People would not have to worry about what if they forget to take their canvas bags to shopping. However, the San Francisco City Council believed that the petroleum-based bags had always ended up littering around and would leave the wildlife in great dangers. In this way, the petroleum-based bags have to respond to their curtain fall finally, and biodegradable plastic bags will take their positions in the future ("100 Billion Reasons," 2007, p.77). As things come in pairs, other cities in U.S. are considering following the steps of San Francisco for miscellaneous reasons.

First of all, petroleum-based bags should be b...

... middle of paper ...

.../MCS

Masley, E. (2007, July 25) Coming to the defense of the plastic shopping bag. The

Arizona Republic. Retrieved August 10, 2007 from

http://azcentral.com/news /articles/0725sr-plasticbags0721-ON.html

McKinley, J. (2007, March 28). San Francisco Board votes to ban some plastic bags. New

York Times (Late Edition (East Coast)). p. A.16. Retrieved August 6, 2007 from

EbscoHost database.

Mirkarimi, R. (2007, April 2). 100 billion reasons for the ban. USA Today p.14a.

Retrieved August 5, 2007, from Academic Search Elite database.

Riedman, P. (2007) Bag it! Omnipresent plastic bags under attack. Advertising Age, 78

(24). Retrieved August 8, 2007, from Academic Search Elite database.

Spivey, A. (2003). Plastic bags—prolific problems. (Recycling).Environmental Health

Perspectives, 111 (4), A208(1). Retrieved August 6, 2007, from Thomson Gale

database.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

    773 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Laura Parker, a Senior Staff Writer for National Geographic, 40% of plastic is manufactured for single use, and 91% of all plastic manufactured never gets recycled.3 One of the most detrimental types of single-use plastics are microbeads, tiny plastic bits used in various cosmetic products that get washed into sewer systems and ultimately end up in our oceans. Other plastic products also become as small as some microbeads over time through the process of degradation, which turns otherwise-large plastic products into dangerous microplastics. The problem of microplastics was first realized in 2004, and the first assessment of its prominence was carried out as recently as 2015.3 As for the dilemma of the Garbage Patch itself, it was brought to the world’s attention by Charles Moore who discovered the patch in

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Bag Ban Bad For Freedom And Environment By Adam B. Summers

    686 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Paper or plastic?” This is often a question customers are asked at the weekly trip to the supermarket to purchase groceries to keep families fed. Adam B. Summers has created a highly plausible argument that may change customer’s answer next time. In Summers’ “Bag ban bad for freedom and environment” editorial for the San Diego Union-Tribune, he argues against the possible laws hindering Californians from using plastic bags at grocery stores. He believes they would do more harm than good, and that “a little reason and perspective is in order.” By the end of this piece the reader will likely find themselves nodding in agreement with what Summers has to say, and this isn’t just because he’s right. Summers, like any good writer, employs tactical

    Read More

  • Plastic Bags Are Good For You By Katherine Mangu-Ward

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    The article Plastic bags are Good for you, by Katherine Mangu-Ward was written to explore the pro’s and con’s of three different types of bags. Which is better between plastic, paper, or reusable bags has always been a debatable question with an opinionated answer. In the article Mangu-Ward characterizes the cause and effect relationships which have lead to the unpopularity of plastic bags in terms of guilt.

    Read More

  • Plastic Pollution: A Threat to Oceans and Humanity

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    Every year, an estimated 8 million tons of plastic waste enters our environment, severely polluting oceans, beaches, forests, and even the towns and cities we live in. In the ocean alone, it is believed that 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic pollutes the waters (“Plastic Statistics”, Ocean Crusaders).The majority of plastic pollution can be traced back to single-use items, such as grocery bags, bottles, and plastic packaging. According to United Nations Environment, “At the rate we are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use, by 2050 oceans will carry more plastic than fish…” (“UN Declares War on Ocean Plastic”, UN Environment). This pollution is a major problem and endangers not only the environment, but human

    Read More

  • U.S. Municipal Solid Waste

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    Millman, Joel. “Portland Puts New Twist on Trash Pickup.” Wall Street Journal 27 June 2012: n. pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.

    Read More

  • Why Do Female Shoppers Use More Plastic Bags

    754 Words  | 2 Pages

    Discussion This study was conducted to determine if in a natural setting, female grocery shoppers would use more bags than men. Additionally, this study was conducted to determine if shoppers with more plastic bags used a higher quantity of bags than shoppers with reusable bags. The first hypothesis approached significance and was consistent with the prediction.

    Read More

  • Reusable Grocery Bags

    478 Words  | 1 Pages

    A new proposal has surfaced: A small tax on plastic grocery bags. This proposed fee would add a 25¢ fee per grocery bag to your grocery bill. Some supporters of this tax say that it will help reduce the usage of non-reusable grocery bags and help keep our water cleaner. However, opponents of the tax argue that it will make groceries not affordable for some, and that reusable grocery bags are health hazard as well.

    Read More

  • Plastic Pollution and its Consequences

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... converting plastic waste into useful products are being affected by pollution; this contamination is found within containers where plastics are collected. But the same risk of pollution carries downside consequences in which workers and people responsible for cleaning and disinfecting the plastic materials are not doing the best to eliminate plastic waste, and to disinfect the infected bacteria and microorganisms from the atmosphere and environment. Organizations from China and India are the largest in the world, they collect and purchase used plastic from United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America (Minguez 2013). These companies do not bother to sanitize the products before the recycling process; for this reason the planet earth is getting a worse environmental condition, and it is destroying lives of living beings, and natural resources as well (Uddin 2014).

    Read More

  • Negative Externality of Consumption of Plastic Bags

    645 Words  | 2 Pages

    The article is about “Plastic Bag charged introduced in England”. “Plastic bags used for just a few minutes but take 1000 years to degrade”. Therefore when resources are not used efficiently, market failure arises, which is a situation in which the market does not allocate resources efficiently. Therefore plastic bags are negative externality of consumption, which is when a third party is affected by the consumption of goods and services for which no appropriate compensation is paid.

    Read More

  • Consumerism In The Story Of Bottled Water

    960 Words  | 2 Pages

    Leonard shows us how passionate she is about the topic and how she ventured across the world to see how consumerism is affecting not only us, but countries all over the world. She worked hard in her research to show us that the plastic bottle is a concept that can destroy our ecosystems and in return hurt us as individuals.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Plastic Bags

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    Using plastic bags are second nature to people in this day and age. Warner acknowledges, “Much to the dismay of the environmentally conscious citizens worldwide, the ubiquity of the free plastic carryout bag has bred nonchalant consumers who take this modern convenience for granted” (646). Although some people are conscious about the environment, people strive more for convenience and do not think about the impacts using bags have not only on the environment, but on themselves as well. If something is bad for the environment, it will alternatively be bad for humans as well. When plastic bags are exposed to the sun from being littered all around, the ultraviolet rays cause the substances of plastic bags to weaken. After the substances weaken, the substances become invisible to the naked eye. The substances that are no longer able to be seen are toxic to humans (Warner 649). As a result of plastic bags being littered around, animals consume plastic bags. This is negatively affects humans because animals are often consumed. When humans consume animals like, fish, there can be plastic in the fish’s belly, which then transfers to the humans and this poses a concern for human’s health. Humans are negatively affected by plastic bags because of the toxic chemicals in plastic bags, as well as, consuming animals with plastic in their

    Read More

  • Plastic Bags

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    Millions of plastic bags are given out to consumers by supermarkets and stores to carry their goods in. They are also cheap, light, durable, easy to carry and in many cases, free. The most commonly used shopping bag is made of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE). This type is used in the majority of supermarkets and stores. After these bags are used, they often end up in landfills or as litter, roughly only three percent of plastic bags is actually recycled per year (Planet Ark, 2011). The materials used in making plastic bags make them non-biodegradable. According to the science dictionary, 2011 refers to “these materials cannot be decomposed into environmentally safe waste materials by the action of soil bacteria.” These harmful substances are toxic and take approximately four hundred years to break down, or in this case photo-degrade; which is how plastics made from (HDPE) break down. Since they are not biodegradable, they remain in the environment and are absorbed in soil or water (Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment, 2010). This essay will discuss the various harmful effects of plastic bags, and demonstrate the risks that these bags impose on humans, animals and the environment. It will also discuss a series of suggested solutions that could help reduce plastic bag usage.

    Read More

  • Advantages And Disadvantages Of Paper And Plastic

    927 Words  | 2 Pages

    Everyone has heard a cashier one time or another mumble, “Paper or plastic?” as he put their groceries in a bag, but do shoppers know the effects of each vessel in which they carry their comestibles? There are many issues and benefits to both paper and plastic. The making and recycling of both paper and plastic bags can harm the environment. One must also look at the costs of making each bag. The convenience of each is also something to look at. Many people jump to conclusion that paper bags are better for the environment without knowing the facts. Since plastic bags are preferred by customers and plastic bags actually do not hurt the environment as much as paper ones do, consumers should feel at ease when choosing plastic.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Speech On Recycling Plastic

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 1870’s, plastic was discovered in the United States when John Wesley Hyatt was trying to create a different material to make billiard balls (Manrich, 3). Little did he know it would majorly evolve into material we use everyday. However, plastics are now taking over our landfills. The average American throws away one-hundred and eighty-five pounds of plastic a year (Popescu, 121). The answer to decrease this statistic is easy: recycling. I believe that recycling will help eliminate littering and the growth of landfills, while also creating jobs for the unemployed. Not only does recycling plastic help eliminate littering, but also reuses the plastic so there is not a production of additional unneeded plastics. The

    Read More

  • Ocean Protection and Conservation

    1961 Words  | 4 Pages

    Saillant, Catherine. "L.A. Starts 2014 with Its New Plastic-bag Ban." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 31 Dec. 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

More about Plastic Bags Should be Banned

Open Document