Cause And Effect Of Plastic Bags Essay

The author proves the falsehood of the long known assumption that plastic is a threat to our planet. By citing the research done by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the author convinces his readers that not only are plastic bags not harmful as people think, but also beneficial. This surprises his audience and shows them how exaggerated the cries of environmentalists, which gets the readers wondering what else have they falsely believed in and what other information are paper-bags advocates hiding from them, and that pulls them into the argument and intrigues them further. Additionally, Summers lists the harmful consequences of using reusable bags by presenting research results and observations. This alarms the audience and raises concern in their

Plastic bags have been used on a daily basis since 1977 (Williamson, 2003) as a means of carrying items such as groceries as they are not only convenient but also cheap. However, the over-use of plastic bags has posed significant threats to the environment in recent times as they are non-biodegradable and also a threat to wildlife. The primary reason for this concern is that plastics bags are not re-used, but simply disposed of in landfills.

Due to the proximal ban of plastic bags in California, Adam B. Summers argues the reasons why they should not be banned in his article, “Bag Ban Bad for Freedom and Environment”. In order to build his argument, Summers includes an effective use of factual data and evidence, relating to the audience, and appealing to the audience’s emotion.

According to ecowatch.com, all the plastic humans added up thrown away added up can circle the Earth four times. This is around 500 billion plastic bags, and most of them end up on landfill sites. The plastic bags in landfills usually lay there for over 300 years until they are completely photodegraded, or decomposed by the light, especially sunlight. During the process of being photodegraded, the plastic bags break down into small toxic particles that are either released into the air, or into the soil. These small toxic particles contaminate many different things such as soil and waterways. Since it is in the soil and waterways, animals often come and end up eating these dangerous toxic particles. Some supermarkets use biodegradable bags that are said to be “environment friendly,” but that is a total lie. According to an article about plastic bag pollution by Sharon Jacobsen, it says, “...the truth is that the process of breaking down these petrol based bags causes carbon to become methane which is a greenhouse gas.” Greenhouse gases are very dangerous to the environment since it causes temperature increase around the whole entire globe. Therefore, in conclusion, neither plastic bags or so-called “environment friendly” bags are good for the environment all around us, and we should not use them. Instead, we should use reusable

Plastic bags begin as crude oil, natural gases, or other petrochemical derivatives. By some estimates almost 12 million barrels of petroleum oil are used to make 100 billion plastic bags. One solution is to stop using plastic bags. Plastic bag bans are spreading across the country with over 100 community bag bans across 16 states. Hawaii right now is the only state in the nation to adopt a full statewide ban. Internationally,19 countries from Bangladesh to Ireland have passed bans. Reducing plastic bag usage and shoppers to use reusable bags will help decrease our demand for a new fossil fuel and reduce our environmental impact. As a nation we need to begin to move away from the concepts of single use and waste. Plastic is made from oil.

Summers’ facts and examples in this article to support his claim that banning plastic bags would be bad. A fact that he uses in his article is that the bill would have prohibited grocery stores and convenience stores at least $2 million in gross annual sales. People often debate that plastic bags hurt the planet and marine life. However, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, plastic bags, sacks, and wraps make up about 1.6 percent of all solid waste materials. Out of that little percent, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bags, the most common plastic grocery bag, only make up about 0.3 percent of them.

To many, plastic bags are seen as malevolent and criminal, and heavy campaigns have been pushed into our communities to ban the use of them and enforce those beliefs, but in actuality, plastic bags aren’t as horrible as we make them out to be for

Australians approximately use 6.9 billion plastic bags per year (Errata Nolan ITU, 2002). The high consumption of plastic bags highlights one outstanding issue. The adverse impact, consumption and disposal of plastic bags have towards the environment. This involves the resources used to make

The over consumption of plastic bags imposes pollution and damage on the environment leading to negative externalities (Hubbard & O’Brien, 2014, 323). This is due to the fact that the social cost of plastic bags and their damage on the environment being greater than the private cost of production, as can be shown in Figure

We can use plastic bags with minimal impact on the Earth by reducing use, reusing, and recycling the bags.

Plastic bags disturb the environment in a very serious way. The plastic bags get into the soil and as time passes they slowly release toxic chemicals. Eventually the plastic bags break down into the soil and the unfortunate consequence is that the animals will eat the plastic, choke on it and then die!

As the United States deals with the overwhelming amounts of waste building up, Nitin et al explain that “plastics take anywhere from 15 to 1000 years to biodegrade” once they are discarded (Nitin). Changes in recycling methods can no longer keep up with the exorbitant amount of waste produced in the United States. This is why some states choose to take their initiative one step further by placing either fees or a ban on the use of plastic bags. Due to the enormous waste the United States produces on a daily basis and the negative outcomes of this trash including adverse health effects, harmful impacts on nature, and the exponential piling of trash in landfills, the US government should ban plastic bags.

Plastic bags cause a massive amount of pollution to the earth. It lets out lots of CO2 into the air with the production of it. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that if let out too much at one time can hurt the planet. Not only do plastic bags produce pollution while being made, but also when they are decomposing. Plastic bags go on to last for up to 10-1000 years. That is possibly 1000 years that a plastic bag goes on to add the huge amount of trash in the world. Although plastic bags take so long to decompose they do eventually break down. Exposure to a lot of sunlight and wind will also speed up the process of the decomposition of plastic bags. The breaking down of plastic bags seems like a good thing, however it is the complete opposite. Plastic bags are broken down into microscopic particles that are toxic. Those toxic particles then go on to hurt the environment. An articles states, “They break down into tiny toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them.”. This goes to show that those

Introduction: Have you ever wanted to help the environment, but you just didn’t know how? When we go shopping we see a lot of people carrying bags made of plastic. I must admit; plastic bags can be very convenient at times, but the use of plastic bags has it disadvantages. If you knew about the dangers of the use of plastic bags, then I'm sure you will think twice about using plastic bags and use tote bags instead.

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.