In today’s society, plastic bags are used everywhere because of their convenience, low cost, and durability. People use plastic bags daily by simply going to the grocery store, using the bags as a handy trash bag, or by picking up the disposables left by their pets. However, the use of plastic bags has contributed to multiple environmental and health problems. Although many believe plastic bags are easy and affordable to use for everyday needs, we need incentives for limiting the use of plastic bags in our community. Our community must learn the environmental harm that plastic bags can cause and if they are worth using all the time. It has been found at The University of British Columbia that “93 percent of beached northern fulmars had bellies full of plastic” (Source B). Birds and other animals have mistaken plastic for food, since they do not biodegrade, which has caused the deaths of many animals. Clearly there is evidence to support the claim that plastic is harmful to the environment and effects the lives of animals in many ways. In order to eliminate the number of deaths of birds and other animals, it is simply easier to find reusable bags of many sizes to use instead. …show more content…
A chart produced from the Wall Street Journal found that plastic bags were among the top ten, but more specifically the top 5, most common type of debris found in the ocean (Source C). There is already enough debris and litter found in the ocean that harm and effect the marine animals living in it, so the community must take action and help prevent this from continuing to happen. In order to prevent this issue, the community must properly dispose their trash and recycle or eliminate their use of plastic
Cities, towns, streets, everything has plastic litter all about and this too has repercussions. Source F tells us that there is a multitude of litter and plastic bags are the most easily spread. Plastic bags are light so they can be blown all about and can get stuck on things such as streets and fences. Since plastic bags are so versatile in their spreading Source B tells us that they can often clog drainage systems causing floods later on. Causing problems for us as humans, a bigger reason why plastic bags should be removed or banned. Generally plastic lying all about can really make an area look horrendous. Source C reports a high amount of plastic items. With all this junk lying about it makes our cities and beaches look dirty and ragged. What better motivation to get of plastic when it hurts us as humans. Plastic bags cause way too much problems compared to their ability to aid
Which means their obviously bad for the aquatic marine life environment & are cause many different forms of damage for them & us as one. On p.g. 23 of The New York Times upfront magazine “Birds,fish, sea turtles, & others are getting tangled in plastic bags or mistake them for food & choke”. Someone else might argue that they could the plastic bags in landfills instead of oceans. But that counter- argument is flawed because you’re just polluting by burning plastic which is bad on our part we’re not doing our part to support & taking care of the earth. Plastic in the ocean isn't just bad for plants & animals but for humans too because of the food chain some of us eat animals as a meat source such as aqua marine life like fish. If the fishermen catch fish that have been eating plastic then it's in our food supply if we eat that fish it's gonna be bad for us so many will end up getting sick from the plastic inside of the fish then what will we do our aqua marine food supply will go down the drain we couldn’t eat the fish since it's basically contaminated with plastic that we’re dumping there instead of trying to fix it & getting rid of plastic bags for good for the good of the earth. We’re causing damage towards the earth by dumping all that plastic into the ocean which damages our water supply it’ll poison us although we clean the water it depends on how big the plastic particles are, it’ll make us sick & sense it’s been lying in the oceans could bring in new pathogens &
Plastic bags have never been free. Instead, their private cost is incorporated into the price of the purchased products, but this is not the only cost of plastic bags for the consumer (Allan 2002). There is additionally a social cost, a price paid for the impact of the pollution upon the aquatic environment and, ultimately, upon the consumers own health. Of the 3.92 billion plastic bags that Australia consumes annually(Commonwealth of Australia 2016), 80 million enter the litter stream, with 1-3% entering Australian waterways (Allan 2002; Dunn, Caplan & Bosworth 2014). About 35% of aquatic life has ingested plastic, resulting in the human consumption of plastic from seafood and eventually leading to increasing cost of healthcare for the consumer
M., Gutierrez…). This is something that the Marine Debris Program is looking to eliminate. By removing the plastic from the water, and preventing it from leaking its chemicals, the eating of the plastic in general, and the prospect of these plastics being breeding grounds for dangerous pathogens, the marine environment would be safer for animals and humans alike. So, it is clear, the removal of this harmful debris, specifically plastic is something that must be done through this Citizen Science
The plastic apocalypse is upon us. Our oceans are currently burdened by massive expanses of floating plastic products and shreds extending farther than the eye can see in multiple locations. The biggest of these, located in the North Pacific Ocean,1 is known by many as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This dangerous collection of trash is surrounded by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre,1 or a series of circling currents located in the Southern Hemisphere that carry plastics and other slow-degrading garbage and trap them inside its bounds.2 This specific Garbage Patch stretches from North America to Japan and the plastic-to-water ratio varies throughout.1 Because of this phenomenon, plastic is being distributed throughout oceans and deposited
Plastic bags are useful tools to use and have other benefits as well. This is a statement that is up for debate. Many people disagree with the statement that plastic bags are useful. The question is whether or not that is true. American stores offer both plastic and reusable bags, but when customers go through a line and say he or she wants a plastic bag, he or she might get a disgusted look. For most stores plastic bags are now frowned upon. The stores want their customer to use the reusable bags that the store offers them to purchase. Throughout the article Plastic Bags Are good for You, Mangu Ward goes back a forth of weather or not the bags are good. Mangu-Ward explains the cause and effects of which plastic and reusable bags have based
Every year, an estimated 8 million tons of plastic waste enters our environment, severely polluting oceans, beaches, forests, and even the towns and cities we live in. In the ocean alone, it is believed that 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic pollutes the waters (“Plastic Statistics”, Ocean Crusaders).The majority of plastic pollution can be traced back to single-use items, such as grocery bags, bottles, and plastic packaging. According to United Nations Environment, “At the rate we are dumping items such as plastic bottles, bags and cups after a single use, by 2050 oceans will carry more plastic than fish…” (“UN Declares War on Ocean Plastic”, UN Environment). This pollution is a major problem and endangers not only the environment, but human
This pollution problem is so ubiquitous plastic can be found throughout the marine environment from coastlines to near shore lagoons to remote ocean hotspots where plastics caught up in marine currents. And gathered up into huge garbage patches that swirl
Most of the necessities humans need are provided in supermarkets, in fact supermarkets have become a necessity for our everyday life. They are now the main source of water, food, clothes and everyday tools. Therefore, the plastic bags demanded and supplied in this industry increase every day. In the past decade, we produced as much plastic as we did in the whole twentieth century (Freinkel, 2011). This exponential increase of a non-biodegradable material has negatively impacted our environment immensely. Plastic production requires our dwindling fossil fuel resources, robs away animal lives, litters our beautiful landscapes and even affects our very own well-being. Hence, if plastic production doesn’t diminish immediately, we will suffer great
The ocean is an abundant source of life. It is home to thousand of different creatures, provides a great source of food, and provides the earth with about one half of the oxygen needed to sustain life. (National Geographic) Pollution especially plastic, is a catastrophic problem. Ironically plastic, which is a material designed to last forever is generally used for things we tend to throw away. Every year about one hundred to two hundred billion pounds of plastic are manufactured. Only 31% of that plastic is actually recycled. Biomass packaging estimates 10% of that plastic ends up in the ocean annually. About 20% of it coming from ships and other platforms, and the other 80% coming from land derived sources, such as international garbage dumping, winds or tides either way it finds its way to the ocean.(Biomass Packaging Co., et al)
Plastic or paper, is a choice that people face when going to the grocery stores. Plastic bags are often the choice that is made. A controversial issue in the world today is the use of plastic bags. Plastic bags are used because of the convenience they give, by being able to carry several items at once. However, in the article, “Banning Bans, Not Bags”, Jennifer Schultz claims, “Plastic bags clog up local waterways, litter roadways, and get swallowed up by unsuspecting fish” (6). Plastic bags are used once, then are discarded or, littered all over the place. When they are littered all over they become problems for more than just humans. These plastic bags pose a big hazard for animals on land and in especially the ocean. Humans eat land and
On the ocean floor there is approximately 4 billion microplastics per square kilometer. 35% of plastic is used once then is thrown into a landfill or ends up in the ocean, 85% of plastics are not recycled. Every time you throw out a plastic bag there is a chance that that bag ends up in the ocean and a sea turtle mistakes it for its favorite food, a Jellyfish, and slowly dies from eating a plastic bag. Not only are marine mammals at risk of dying, but seabirds are always found on beaches with exploded stomachs caused by a buildup of acid in their stomachs that come from this trash. The fish of the ocean that eat plankton usually mistake microplastics as their food, they don't die from the plastics but rather we hunt and kill them and serve them on plates all over the world.
Research from the University of California San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography said that species in the ocean consume a projected 12,000 to 24,000 tons of plastic every year in the Pacific Ocean (Nall, 2014). Pollution of recyclable materials in the oceans is one of the leading causes of why some marine species are nearing extinction. Many authors of articles and books analyzing this topic tend to agree that pollution of our oceans is a problem. The future of this problem is where their ideas tend to differ. The following four literature reviews attempt to demonstrate and support my belief that pollution is getting worse in the ocean and more marine life ecosystems are being affected, but there are things that we as humans can do
This essay will discuss the various harmful effects of plastic bags, and demonstrate the risks that these bags impose on humans, animals, and the environment. It will also discuss a series of suggested solutions that could help reduce plastic bag usage. Although plastic bags appear to be fragile and light, their negative environmental effect is devastating. Plastic bags may cause large amounts of pollution at every step of their limited life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials, production, transportation, and recycling or disposal. Plastic bags can be defined as the most damaging form of environmental pollution.
Everyone has heard a cashier one time or another mumble, “Paper or plastic?” as he put their groceries in a bag, but do shoppers know the effects of each vessel in which they carry their comestibles? There are many issues and benefits to both paper and plastic. The making and recycling of both paper and plastic bags can harm the environment. One must also look at the costs of making each bag. The convenience of each is also something to look at. Many people jump to conclusion that paper bags are better for the environment without knowing the facts. Since plastic bags are preferred by customers and plastic bags actually do not hurt the environment as much as paper ones do, consumers should feel at ease when choosing plastic.