The Pros And Cons Of Plastic Bags

Plastic – an American-made synthetic material, renowned and praised for its almost indestructible quality and versatility, yet on the contrary has had detrimental consequences on our environment and ourselves. It is quite amazing to observe how plastic has completely changed our way of life. In Susan Freinkel’s book “Plastic: a Toxic Love Story” she writes about the effects of plastic on our world. The author points out, a commonly overlooked fact, that plastic is literally everywhere. Plastic is in the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the cups we drink from, and sometimes even the ground we walk on. Two chemical bonds made in a laboratory have forever changed the way we live, through small commodities like

Plastic bags users have long received backlash and criticism from the majority of public, seeing as it is a known fact that plastic is harmful to the environment and the planet, but is this actually true?

Each year there is an increase in demands for plastic bags, and therefore more are shipped, creating further environmental pollution concerns. This increase in demand has lead to the phenomenal upsurge in the use and misuse of plastic bags globally, both in developed and developing countries. Statistics show that 4 to 5 trillion plastic bags are produced per annum, whereby North America and Western Europe account for nearly 80% (Geographical, 2005; Reusable Bags, 2005). Cheeseman (2007) states that approximately “380 billion plastic shopping bags are used in the United States annually”; in turn, only 0.6% of this is recycled.

In the argumentative essay “Bag Ban Bad for Freedom and Environment”, produced by the author Adam B. Summers, it narrowly focuses on the topic of the banning of plastic bags. The author illustrates the ban is bad can affect society in many ways. Adam provides the information through various amounts of stylistic elements, tools, word choice and so on

In “Bag Ban Bad for Freedom and Environment,” Adam Summers attempts to persuade the American public to no than plastic bags. Using facts to reach people’s minds, freedom and rights to reach people’s hearts, and writing style to catch their attention and to have them on his side by being friendly. Firstly, he stated facts on multiple occasions. For example, in the forth paragraph, he mentions that grocery bags make up 0.3 percent of municipal solid waste material, which’s close to nothing compared to the other 999.97 percent of the waste.

He sites from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “plastic bags, sacks, and wraps of all kinds (not just grocery bags) make up only about 1.6 percent of all municipal solid waste materials. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) bags, which are the most common kind of plastic grocery bags make up just 0.3 percent of this total.” From this statistic, plastic bags are not using a lot of waste that the average person would assume. Also, most users of plastic bags

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.

The author Adam B. Summers states in his article "Bag Ban Bad for Freedom and Environment" that plastic grocery bags are not that bad for the environment as we thought, but will infringe citizens' basic right. He effectively builds his argument by using comparison and reliable statistics.

Using products for months or even years will benefit our bank account and will also help our planet to be cleaner. This only can happen if the users agree to keep a product for a long time. Some people have a habit of keeping a product for several years because they do not want to spend money every time new things arrive. If we can use this kind of method on plastic bags and clothes, it will help reduce the garbage we throw every day. Using plastic bags for repeated shopping will benefit the stores not to buy or make plastic

The claims that plastic bags are worse for the environment over reusable bags are deceitful. Compared to paper bags, plastic grocery bags produce fewer greenhouse gases, require 70 percent less energy to make, generate 80 percent, less waste, and utilize less than 4 percent of the amount of water needed to make them. The reason for this is because plastic bags are lighter and take up less space. Another reason reusable bags aren't as useful is because they are more prone to food contamination if not washed properly. A study found that San Francisco’s plastic bag ban in 2007 resulted in more visits to the hospital from patients suffering E. coli, salmonella, and other infectious diseases from

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

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.

Picture this: A person goes out to the store to purchase a couple of necesites. Those necesites then get put into a plastic bag as per usual. They get home and take everything out of the bag. They then trash the bag because it is no longer needed. The plastic bag then ends up in some landfill where it is blown away into the middle of the ocean. The plastic bag then goes on to danger the marine animals. Plastic bags should be banned from stores because there are other ways people can carry their things, they are dangerous to marine animals, and cause pollution.

The resources and things that go into making plastic bags can be used for other important things.

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.