Should Plastic Bags Be Banned In The United States?

Answering this question, Adams B. Summers asserts that despite public knowledge, plastic bags are not, in fact, harmful and dangerous and shouldn't be banned. He conveys this through citing facts and research analysis, appealing to audience's logic, and utilizing word choice and vivid language.

The objective of this report is to illustrate the effect of the implementation of a plastic bag tax in Australia. By providing a brief overview of issues, correlated with plastic bag consumption in conjunction with current and proposed changes to policies in Australia. Through the application of economic theory, it can determined whether a tax would decrease consumption and through supporting evidence indicating its efficiency when applied in practice.

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.

In response to the growth of our world indiscriminate use of plastic bags, Summers (2013) has stated that the plastic bad is harmful for people and environment in his article “Bag ban bad for freedom and environment”. He uses some facts, examples, statistical data and rhetorical question. Also, he tried to make emotionally readers when he explained how many jobs can be lost because of the bill and how much waste is caused by plastic bags to compare with paper.

In 2013, the Senate disapproved of the law which would ban plastic bags in California. Environmentalist wanted to limit the waste the country produced, so they brought the case to court. This incident caused Adam B. Summers to think about the uses of plastic bags. He thought of various uses plastic bags have and the negative effects a ban on them would cause the California economy. Although his essay consists of only nine bullet points, Summers makes a great argument against banning plastic bags.

Today, Americans are worried about the effects plastic bag impact the environment. In the dispute between the Gulftowne Gazette Committe and gift shop owner Theo Jones, the Gulftowne Ordinance Committee provides a stronger argument for it point that plastic bags litter our landscape and threatening surrounding wildlife. As the Gulftowne Ordinance Committee points out cities across the country and globe have banned the use of plastic bag.

There was a reduction of over 1600 plastic bags ending up in the local waterways, with plastic bags being 3.2% of all litter found in the waterways, and they were previously 8.2% in 2011. (SanJoseCA.gov, 2012). The ban on plastic bags seemed to greatly affect the city in a positive way and did not appear to have a negative effect at all, despite protests by some locals and business owners.

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.

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

Using these plastic bags are increasing the dangers of thing that are happening in the world.

- Plastic storage bags can kill animals in the oceans like dolphins, turtles and whales. It is easy for wildlife to swallow and eventually causes death.

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.

One of the sites that have a density of 700 plastic debris is the North Sea in Europe. Currently, only Ireland has banned plastic bags and the United Kingdom put a 5-pound tax on plastic bags. All the other states surrounding has done anything about it yet. This is not okay because plastic debris is estimated to keep contaminating the ocean for another thousands years due to its extremely slow biodegradability rate. There are criminals that are put on death row each year for killing people, why can’t we do the same for sea animals? I propose these plastic factory owners surrounding the North Sea shall be tied up, and suffocated with their creations and be left to drown. As to put an end to plastic bag

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.

I decided to write this report after watching a documentary called, “Plastic Bags Environmental Impacts" on YouTube. The video showed poor innocent animals wrapped up in plastic bags and it made me feel heartbroken. So I wanted to find out what other issues do plastic bags create and if we really need to ban them, or if we need to find other alternatives, or just manage our use of them. Plastic bags have a benefit ‘convenience’, as most people nowadays use plastic bags for all sort of things e.g. moving things, reusing for shopping, art and crafts which show people are reusing them seen they are so convenient. My hypothesis is: Plastic bags are causing a problem and together we need to find a solution. My key questions are: What are the issues that plastic bags create? Are their environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic bags? How can we manage the use of plastic bags?