In this essay on should plastic be banned, it is very important to put forth the fact that there are many bodies of health and environmental governance around the world who argue that plastic ban can be problematic stating the following reasons-. Its also important to look at the bigger picture regarding plastic bans. Some countries have decided to do so after directly experiencing negative impacts of plastic bags, other countries have implemented the ban to reach their sustainability goals. As communities act to ban single-use plastics and individual consumers raise concerns, bigger actors pay attention. Because they are so lightweight, plastic bags get easily picked up by wind and travel long distances by wind and water to pollute the nature. The people of Macon, Georgia, saw through it. Microplastics are plastic debris that measures less than five millimetres, or 0.2 inches, in diameter. This type of plastic is derived from petroleum. | | There is a lot of research now underway on the health effects of ocean plastics, but we already know that some plastics, and the chemicals that attach themselves to plastics in the water, can cause cancer, genetic disruptions and other ill effects. The crucial challenge is to ensure that these bans are just a first step. Come with external costs 9. They contribute to the contamination of our landfills and seas when they are discarded after use. 6461 garfield street hollywood, fl. Polypropylene is a form of plastic that is frequently used in the production of straws. Thats nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population. 12 Reasons for Banning Plastic Bags: Plastic Bags Are Made With Non-Renewable Energy Plastic Bags Use Up Lots Of Energy Plastic Bags End Up In The Ocean Beach Plastic Litter Is On The Rise Plastic Bags Kill Millions Of Animals Every Year Plastic Takes A Long Time To Disintegrate Plastic Is Harming The Ocean's Coral Plastic Bags Contain Toxins Straws don't provide as much utility as bags, so for many this is an easy adjustment. Pack it alongside reusable cutlery (like wood, bamboo, or metal chopsticks) for sustainable eating on the go. Plastic bags are a convenient way to carry our purchased goods when we go shopping. It topped 60 million tons (54.4 million metric tons) in 2010 based on a September 2018 report titled "Plastic Pollution."But China announced it plans to outlaw the production and sale of . JIM LEAPE: Our oceans are currently swimming with plastics. Consumer outrage about the plastics crisis is already commanding attention from big companies and from many governments. The answer isnt as simple as you may think: While its true that paper straws arent as harmful as plastic straws, this doesnt mean that, Read More Paper vs. If there is one piece of advice that everyone should remember, it would be that nothing is for free in this world. Paper straws cannot be recycled in any way. The Pasig River in the Philippines is another scary example of the negative effects of plastic bags on the environment. Plastic Straws: Is Paper Really Better for the Environment? Its because Asian and US coastlines release large amounts of plastic waste in the ocean [7]. Scientists have recorded some species of zooplankton eating tiny plastic particles. Paper straws cost on average around 2.5 cents ($0.025), whereas plastic straws cost only half a cent ($0.005). Greentumble is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. A plastic straw ban could be a good step in the right direction, but we must use less single-use products overall to actually help the environment. For those governments that are opposed to full bans on plastic bags, another option is to institute a plastic bag tax, where consumers or retailers would pay a small fee for each plastic bag. Plastic bags. Plastic use costs approximately $75 billion a year [16]. But single-use plastics come with a steep environmental priceone that well be paying off for millennia. Prior the ban, 70 percent of livestock losses were attributed to plastic bag ingestion. Lizzie Carr is shining a light on what is floating through the worlds waterways, and breaking athletic records along the way. At the beginning of July 2018, Seattle became the largest U.S. city to ban plastic straws. Most retailers will get your point, but it can also happen that they will not be willing to sell you some products without placing it in their plastic bags because of having to oblige with some hygiene and sanitary standards (for example when selling meat products). Better alternatives are available 10. 82 percent of the responding food service establishments were aware of the prohibition, and 69 percent of those establishments viewed the ban favorably. 10 Reasons Why Plastic Bags Should Be Banned | Greentumble You could either discuss with a store manager a possibility of bringing your own containers for these products. Heres everything you need to know about the most ubiquitous (and avoidable) kind of plastic waste: the kind made to be tossed in mere minutes. We dont know how it will in the long term affect plankton-feeding species and their predators. Our reliance on these plastics means we are accumulating waste at a staggering rate. On average, plastic bags cost retailers about 3-5 cents each. The resulting number is staggering. Making just one simple swap, like purchasing a reusable water bottle, can spare the environment hundreds of plastic bottles each year. In 2015 a mere 24 of these ethane cracker facilities in the United States had the combined carbon output of 3.8 million passenger vehicles. A laboratory photograph of microplastics found in the Corsica River in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Maryland, An albatross found dead with a belly full of plastic on Midway Atoll. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Growing public concern has inspired movements to ban single-use plastics, most notably straws. We will Other country that has decided to enforce the country-wide plastic bag ban after suffering of negative consequences was Mauritania. CRIDDLE:We need to think about what incentives will promote a culture of recycling and innovation with respect to waste streams. Microplastics were found in soft drinks like Coca Cola, in tap water, in seafood It has contaminated our food chain, so it should not surprise us that it can be tracked in our body. Sadly, one of their newly acquired enemies is created by us who should protect them instead. Why Are Plastic Straws Bad for the Environment & Should Be Banned The most heartbreaking part of this is that the affected animals are not aware they eat something that will make them feel miserable and will slowly kill them. This form of ban could lead to a reduction in landfill across the country, going a long way to protect the nature and serenity of the area. Martin Grimm/Picture-alliance via Associated Press. Rating: 5 (913 reviews) Highest rating: 5. Why are Plastic Straws Bad and What are the Alernatives? Buying a product through my link comes at no extra cost to you, and I only recommend products that I believe in. Plastic straws only account for roughly one percent of the total amount of waste plastic found in the ocean. 5 Metals in your Home that can be Recycled for Cash, How exactly bidets offer a healthier, green option for your bathroom, A Closer Look at General Motors (GM) Sustainability Initiatives. Five Reasons Banning Plastics May Harm the Environment and Consumers These steps are pretty straight forward and depend on your own initiative. When the monsoon rains start, streets get waterlogged just after the first few minutes because the water cannot pass through clogged sewerage pipes. For example, in Botswana, the consumption of plastic bags dropped by 50 percent after the introduction of the tax in 2007. The first is to invest in better waste collection in the handful of countries that account for most of the plastic flowing into the ocean. Plastic Straws: Is Paper Really Better for the Environment?Continue. The most common are inorganic dyes that are added to change the color of plastic bags. Not only does the waste destroy the land itself, but when plastic is incinerated (as is the case for unrecyclable plastic at some illegal facilities) its toxic fumes quickly become a health hazard for residents, leading to everything from skin rashes to cancer. Here are 3 reasons why plastic straws should not be banned, explained in a simple and easy-to-understand manner: 1. You as an individual have the power to make a gradual change in your community. 1. Plastic utensils are convenient and straws are fun for kids, but much of that plastic eventually winds up in a landfill or as litter. Most of it is either dumped in landfills or ends up in the ocean. Many people with disabilities rely on flexible straws to drink safely and independently. 'Banning plastic straws will not be enough': The fight to clean the oceans FNB News - Choose the right straw | FNB News Here's a quick list of the ways plastic straws may be harming your health: 1. Once a person gets into the habit of bringing reusable bags when shopping, it is not much of an inconvenience at all. Nearly 20 years ago, a dead pelican was found with its stomach filled with 17 plastic bags [10]. Straws are notorious for being readily blown away by the wind. We should do likewise. The production of these bags is very energy intensive. Another indirect danger of plastic bags has breeding ground in the pollution they create. 1. You can share this article on social media by using the share buttons below. They are also capable of being ingested by fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, which in turn causes the animals injury and, in the case of fish, allows them to enter the human food chain. Plastic bag bansideally accompanied by a fee on paper bagsare also catching on. You probably already saw the video, but if you didnt, you can watch it below (WARNING: Graphic Content): Supporters of plastic straw bans claim that the ban will help reduce our use of single-use plastics. The reason to worry is that scientists do not know how our metabolism and immunity will react to the increased concentration of plastic particles in our system. A straw with our iced coffee, a plastic bag to carry our takeout, a wrapper on a candy bar: taken individually, each seems harmless. (Source: Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment), Stanford scientists are among a growing number of researchers harnessing artificial intelligence techniques to bring more realistic representations of ubiquitous atmospheric ripples into global climate models. Made from fossil fuels 3. So, plastic waste only speeds up the destruction of these most biodiverse ecosystems on earth. About half the cost of making biodegradable polymers is the cost of feedstock. What can I do for you? female pomeranian temperament; splinterlands terms and conditions; carbon emissions data by company; ( ) + . Quick Navigation for Reasons Why Plastic Shopping Bags Should Be Banned, [1] https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/25496/singleUsePlastic_sustainability.pdf, [2] https://www.eco-business.com/opinion/getting-rid-of-plastic-bags-a-windfall-for-supermarkets-but-it-wont-do-much-for-the-environment/, [3] https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/2018/04/09/plastic-chokes-dhakas-drainage/, [4] https://1bagatatime.com/learn/plastic-bags-petroleum/, [5] https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=2935417&page=1, [6] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/plastic-planet-waste-pollution-trash-crisis/, [7] https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/10/12/124006/pdf, [8] https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/rare-sea-turtles-eating-plastic-at-record-rate, [9] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.12126, [10] http://www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr/index.en.php?id=934, [11] http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2008/12/plastic-bags-and-animals-making-the-wild-safe-for-wildlife/, [12] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6374/460, [13] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/22/microplastics-found-in-human-stools-for-the-first-time, [14] https://1bagatatime.com/learn/plastic-bag-clean-costs/, [15] http://www.bagmonster.com/2010/04/the-true-cost-of-single-use-bags.html, [16] http://www.cep.unep.org/cep-documents/unep-press-release-on-the-effects-of-plastic-waste-on-marine-ecosystems.pdf, [17] https://greentumble.com/can-plastic-bags-be-recycled/, [18] https://1bagatatime.com/learn/plastic-bag-clean-costs/, [19] https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/how-many-countries-are-in-the-world.html, [20] https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/25496/singleUsePlastic_sustainability.pdf. Cook more often, to reduce your use of plastic-heavy takeout containers. Low rated: 2. State Disclosures. This means that you need to first educate yourself about the problem. There are some great initiatives that strive to provide jobs for women in rural communities with limited possibilities of securing monthly income. For example, millions of discarded plastic bags clog water drainage channels and sewers in urban areas of Bangladesh. These costs include the true environmental costs of resource extraction and depletion, the loss of quality of life, economic loss from littering, and wildlife loss. By comparison, an estimated 46 percent of all pollution in the ocean is made up of lost or abandoned fishing gear (Vox). The very best alternative is a reusable bag. Why is plastic bad for the environment? Large producers of single-use plastics can make a big environmental impact. In Ireland, where this fee was instituted in 2002, plastic bag usage decreased by about 90 percent. New York State and Hawaii just passed theirs, set to go into effect in 2020, and Californias bag ban, which was passed in 2014, has been shown to have reduced plastic bag usage by 85 percent (with some customers opting to pay a 10 cent fee for thicker plastic bags) and has reduced coastal pollution. One of the most significant negative effects that plastic bags have on the natural world is that it takes a very long time for them to degrade.In addition, the breakdown of plastic bags in the sun results in the release of hazardous compounds into the surrounding soil, and the combustion of plastic bags results in the release of a poisonous material into the surrounding air, contributing to the problem of ambient air pollution. PLASTIC STRAWS CANT BE BROKEN DOWN BY NATURE. As plastic bags are not disposed properly . Paper straws are horrible and should be taken out of circulation Busca trabajos relacionados con Reasons why smoking should be banned articles o contrata en el mercado de freelancing ms grande del mundo con ms de 22m de trabajos. When you sign up you'll become a member of NRDC's Activist Network. The Natural Resources Defense Council works to safeguard the earth - its people, 10 Reasons Why Plastic Straws Should Be Banned? Thats a promising start. Don't Ban Straws - Reason.com Even if you can't go zero waste entirely, it's high time we all ended our reliance on single use plastics. Its Plastic Incineration. 2023 Get Green Now. In Germany alone, we use 40 billion plastic straws every year. They prevent millions of tons of plastic from entering the waste stream each year. Her Stand-Up Paddleboard Is a Platform for Campaigning Against Plastic Pollution, A Growing Concern: Microplastic Pollution on Farm Fields. 2. That's a whole 900 tons of plastic waste produced every day, and that's just for plastic straws! Without proper education, few people would know the purpose of the ban, and they would continue using other single-use plastics which could be even worse for the environment. If plastic straws are completely banned, local small businesses like boba tea shops will have to look for pricier alternatives. Or you may need to accept that plastic bag this time and then start campaigning for a plastic bag ban in your area . Read more about us. However, if a plastic straw ban is properly implemented with education about single-use plastics, then the ban could encourage the public to reduce their usage of other single-use plastics as well. Straws made of plastic contribute to the pollution of our seas and streams. Author: floridadep.gov. In early January 2020, China joined the growing movement of more than 120 countries pledging to ban single-use plastics.The country of 1.4 billion citizens is the No. If you are constantly feeling gassy, then you should definitely consider drinking beverages the old fashioned way. But a whopping 91 percent of all plastic isnt recycled at all. We can also decrease costs through improved bioprocessing methods, through metabolic engineering and by exploring and harnessing the incredible diversity of bioplastic-making systems that evolution has already created. A Ban Could Harm Local Businesses If Plastic straws have an especially high propensity to end up in our rivers after being thrown away. Over time, sun and heat slowly turn plastics into smaller and smaller pieces until they eventually become what are known as microplastics. Activists Say Straws Should Be Banned Because They Are a 'Gateway Plastic' Plastics bags are not so much necessary that man cannot live without it. To date, around 60 countries and municipalities around the world have instituted plastic bag bans, and additional seven countries are planning to enforce the law in the closest future. Although, really, these tips can be used by anyone, not just kids. Plastic bags have become such a nuisance because we as consumers use them excessively even when not needed and authorities havent figured out effective ways of dealing with them as waste. As a result, the actual recycling rate for plastic bags globally is between 5 to 15 percent, while in the United States it makes only 1 percent a year [17]. It started with cardboard straws, but once plastic production in America increased, people realized it was quicker and cheaper to produce plastic straws. 1. plastic straws litter our environment Every day, about 3-6 billion plastic straws are produced. Spare Yourself the Guilt Trip This Earth DayIts Companies That Need to Clean Up Their Acts, These Fanciful Sea Creatures Were Carried in on the Tide. We use them to drink beverages at home and we get them at almost every restaurant. NRDCs Eric Goldstein gives the scoop on the latest environmental villain and explains why plastic straws really are a big menace to our oceans. Skip the Straw - Florida Department of Environmental Protection Theyre in about a quarter of the seafood in our markets, and even in table salt. Coca-Cola makes an estimated 110 billion plastic bottles a year. According to the findings of a study that was carried out in 2019 by students at the University of Washington, 78 percent of respondents used straws made of biodegradable materials that are in compliance with the prohibition, and 68 percent used utensils that are in compliance with the ban. NDLA National Disability Leadership Alliance: Nothing About Us Without Us. They are tinier than a palm of your hand and appear so fragile when struggling across the beach to make it to the sea. Interestingly, these granules contain the seeds of their own destruction: enzymes that break the polymer down when it is needed for food. Unfortunately, such costs are typically not included in most economic analyses, as they are not easy to calculate because the equation would have to involve many indirect variables. Car Recycling: Everything You Need to Know (With Statistics), Sustainable Diving & Snorkeling: How to Prevent Damage to Marine Ecosystems, What Are Microplastics and Why Are They a Concern? And they help shift consumer mind-sets, as people begin to recognize that exorbitant and avoidable waste is not sustainable. Ill talk about this more in the next section: By itself, a plastic straw ban is unlikely to have a large impact on the environment. What Is Plastic Made Of And How Is It Manufactured? Sugar and oils are too expensive. The bottom line of any plastic ban is that we must use less single-use plastics overall. This strategy has been adopted by some countries and municipalities so far and has proven to greatly reduce plastic bag usage by consumers. Help us break the cycle of causing unnecessary harm and damage in the name of "convenience". No! Actress Nina Nelson and other celebrities made a video claiming that plastic. Why Plastic Straws Are Being Banned - Square
Boston Marathon 2023 Qualifying Window, 5 Letter Word Second Letter O Last Letter E, Articles OTHER