LOVE the Earth, HATE the plastic!

There are many different ways in which we humans help reuse and reduce waste, not just as corporations and businesses, but also as individuals, families and schools. When a person makes an everyday purchases in a grocery store or retail store, they often walk out of the store with one or multiple plastic bags in their hands.  Whether you leave the store with a plastic bag, and what you do with it later, is what makes the difference in the world and the usage we give that bag. Some ways that we can help ban or reduce the waste of plastic bags would be by:

1. Decline the bag. Hand-carry the items out of the store if you can!
2. Bring your reusable bags instead. The most challenging of this is remembering to take them into the store, and creating the habit.
3. Spread the word: By refusing to accept plastic bags from cashiers and store owners.t only takes a second to refuse a plastic bag, and to politely remind the cashier that plastic bags are bad for the environment.

Many of us do not know that over 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year, worldwide! A single plastic bag can take 20 to 1,000 years to degrade which can not only harm us but can harm animals too especially the aquatic animals. Plastic bags remain toxic even after they break down which is extremely sad. If we ban plastic bags the plastic bags are made from non-renewable sources and on this account, highly contribute to climate change. Plastic bags do not only pollute our water but also our land. Plastic bags are usually lightweight and as such, they can travel very long distances by either water or wind. Wind blows these plastic bags and trashes a whole area. These litters gets caught up in between trees, fences and floats in water bodies thus moving to the world’s oceans.

As we all know with great power comes great responsibility but what some people fail to realize is how important it is to conserve our environment and took keep a good healthy surrounding. Those who oppose for banding plastic bags would say that bans often lead plastic bag manufacturers to scale back business and may lead to layoffs. Plastic bag bans will require shoppers having to purchase reusable bags, which can range from $1 and up and people might find it really expensive. Those who oppose plastic bag bans are more often, not employed by plastic bag manufacturers or lobbyist for the industry. Plastic bag manufacturers want to stay in business and their efforts that would force them to change their business model to one that fits with a more sustainable ideology or go out of business which nobody as a business owner would want. Other people would point out that banning plastic bags probably means cutting down more trees, which could be true but not in most cases. Many people from around the world are saying that plastic bags are much more cost-effective to produce than the alternatives. Plastic bags manufacturing also has less water waste and much less deforestation.  

Plastic Bag Ban. The Truth About Plastic Bags. (2016, March 10). Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/plastic-bag-ban/

Environmental Impact. Effects, Dangers of Plastic Bags. (2018, April 03). Retrieved from https://www.reusethisbag.com/articles/plastic-shopping-bags-environmental-impact/