Why Plastic Bags Should Be Banned Analysis

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

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.

After a bill that would ban plastic bags in California was shot down, Adam B. Summers, author of, “Bag Ban Bad for Freedom and Environment,” explains how plastic bags should not be banned. He uses statistics, ethos, logos and diction to support his claim. Summers uses these devices to create a stronger argument. Summers overall purpose of his passage was to express his view that plastic bags should not be banned and the effects banning or not banning them would have on the environment. By using statistics, Summers creates a more credible argument.

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.

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 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.

I first had to develop my argument, and my main points in order to get the best information fit for this essay. Once I had all of my main points generated, finding the research was not difficult. Since plastic bags have been a controversial subject, there was a lot of scholarly articles that gave me the information needed for my main points of my paper. Determining research for my Media Analysis essay was much simpler. I knew I needed to find an advertisement or commercial that I could analyze with America’s culture today.

Since 1985, America has used plastic bags due to them being waterproof and having handles making them easier to carry goods. Paper and plastic have always been a huge controversy in supermarkets through the preference of customers. Some customers prefer having the paper bags standing up straight in the trunks of their cars. Other customers prefer the plastic bags because of the handles making it easier to walk home and carry their goods. Although both preferences are fine, all customers know the dangers of the plastic bag. Banning plastic bags from stores and replacing them with only paper or reusable bags, will reduce corruption of organic products, reduce CO2 emissions from the creation and destruction of the plastic and prevent harm

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.

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.

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.

“Americans use more than 100 billion thin plastic bags every year.”(Pickert, 11). This number is extremely large and needs to be addressed, however, the alternative needs to be environmentally friendly. Reusable tote bags have been the answer in most Americans eyes, this is evident through grocery stores selling them and in certain cities requiring one to have to pay for plastic bags. Reusable bags can be made from a various variety of materials, but cotton is one of the most popular. “One study found that a cotton tote must be used at least 131 times to be better for than planet than plastic.”(Pickert,11).The reality is that these cotton tote bags usually do not get used that many times before they are thrown out. This is because the bags are made with very inexpensive materials . The argument is that because the bags are reusable means they're better which is not the case, because once it is time to thrown away the bag justs sit in landfills. “Production of tote bags commonly marketed as sustainable actually had an environmental impact many times larger than that of a standard plastic HDPE

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.

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.

What are the issues that plastic bags create? There are a wide range of issues around plastic bags, including impacts on animal welfare. According to an article I found on healthguidance.org “One of the greatest problems is that an estimated 300 million plastic bags end up in the Atlantic Ocean alone.” So just think of the poor sea life that go hunting and mistake a floating plastic bag for a meal and end up suffocating and experiencing a slow, painful death. “86% of all known species of sea turtles have had reported problems of entanglement or ingestion of marine debris including plastic bags” (post