5 Metals in your Home that can be Recycled for Cash, How exactly bidets offer a healthier, green option for your bathroom, A Closer Look at General Motors (GM) Sustainability Initiatives. Alarmingly, scientists estimate that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by weight in 2050. its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. "To us, it was the 'gateway plastic' to the larger, more . Why Plastic Bags And Straws Should Not Be Banned A 2017 Environmental Sciences and Technology study reported that up to 95 percent of plastic waste enters oceans from one of 10 riverseight in Asia and two in Africa. This strategy has been adopted by some countries and municipalities so far and has proven to greatly reduce plastic bag usage by consumers. Problematic degradation 4. Not only does banning single-use plastic reduce pollution, but it also reduces demand for plastic production thats contributing to global climate change. An Oregon community is making spectacular statues out of ocean plastic to raise awareness about a crisis at sea. Tangled in trees and fences along roads, floating in water, lying on the ground in parks and forests, surrounding garbage bins, washed off on beaches. Ideally, to be suitable for recycling, bags need to be clean to be accepted, which is often a problem, considering that we use them to carry groceries and potentially leaky goods. Even if plastic doesnt end up in the ocean, recycled plastic is often exported from high-income countries to developing countries to process. In my opinion, plastic straws should not be banned outright, because many disabled people require plastic straws to drink. 1 producer of plastic waste in the world. Without further due, here are the top 3 ways kids can help, Read More 3 Ways Kids can Help the EarthContinue, What Are Microplastics? McDonalds swapped its plastic straws for paper at its United Kingdom and Ireland restaurants. The first country to ban single-use plastic bags was Bangladesh in 2002 when plastic bag litter clogged drainage channels and contributed to destructive floods. One recent survey found plastics in 94 percent of tap water samples in the U.S. and in nearly every brand of bottled water. Required fields are marked *. Read more about us. TIME for Kids | Should Plastic Straws Be Banned? The first is to invest in better waste collection in the handful of countries that account for most of the plastic flowing into the ocean. Although single-use plastic pollution accumulates most visibly on our streets, in fact our water suffers even more. Juan Cristobal Cobo/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Author: floridadep.gov. Plastic straws are also the 6th most common trash item found during ocean cleanups. However, one thing we know, is that by introducing a pollutant that may never break down in the environment can have implications that will far exceed any of our predictions. It's free to sign up and bid on jobs. And when it comes to waste that lasts forever, every ton counts. Help us break the cycle of causing unnecessary harm and damage in the name of "convenience". Items made of plastic that come into contact with food can be recycled, whereas products made of paper that absorb both food and garbage cannot. America Needs a Plastics Intervention. We will This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. A straw with our iced coffee, a plastic bag to carry our takeout, a wrapper on a candy bar: taken individually, each seems harmless. Its also important to look at the bigger picture regarding plastic bans. What does occur in most instances is that when out in the environment, the plastic breaks up into tiny microscopic pieces that get deposited in soils (where we grow food) or contaminate waterways. Well, lets have a look at the most important reasons why single-use plastic bags should be banned right now. Exposure to microplastics, as well as the chemicals that are added to plastics during processing, harm our health. There is only one requirement these plastic bags need to be dry and clean, otherwise they contaminate the entire batch and your effort will do more harm than good. Avoid plastic wrap altogether by storing leftovers in reusable containers. Refineries where crude oil is turned into plastic make up one of the most greenhouse gasintensive industries in the manufacturing sector. Reasons why smoking should be banned articlestrabajos Marine animals bear the burden of this influx of garbage into their habitats. These costs include the true environmental costs of resource extraction and depletion, the loss of quality of life, economic loss from littering, and wildlife loss. As a result, the ban will reduce the number of plastic straws polluting the ocean. In fact, the global backlash against plastic straws likely started after researchers off the coast of Costa Rica shared a viral video of a sea turtle with a plastic straw stuck up its nose. Plastic utensils are convenient and straws are fun for kids, but much of that plastic eventually winds up in a landfill or as litter. You as an individual have the power to make a gradual change in your community. By comparison, an estimated 46 percent of all pollution in the ocean is made up of lost or abandoned fishing gear (Vox). This includes waste collection, regular cleanups to remove plastic bag litter along the roads or blown away from landfills and then even processing at landfill sites. Should Plastic be Banned Essay for Students in English - VEDANTU Stanford Reportspoke withJim Leape, co-director of theStanford Center for Ocean Solutions, andCraig Criddle, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, about the path to reducing ocean plastic pollution. BY Rob Jordan, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, As Colorado River wanes, water supplies and ecosystems hang in the balance, Riverfront forest restoration can deliver outsized benefits, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, An AI solution to climate models gravity wave problem, Beavers will become a bigger boon to river water quality as U.S. West warms. The Natural Resources Defense Council works to safeguard the earth - its people, Put simply, single-use plastics are goods that are made primarily from fossil fuelbased chemicals (petrochemicals) and are meant to be disposed of right after useoften, in mere minutes. Overall, the main reason for a plastic straw ban is to help the environment by preventing plastic straws pollution. This is due to the fact that the plastic tubes are far too lightweight to be recycled in an efficient manner. Five Reasons Banning Plastics May Harm the Environment and Consumers Here are 3 reasons why plastic straws should not be banned, explained in a simple and easy-to-understand manner: 1. Coca-Cola makes an estimated 110 billion plastic bottles a year. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Driven by public pressure, governments and corporations are considering eliminating or phasing out single-use plastics such as straws. Actress Nina Nelson and other celebrities made a video claiming that plastic. Single-use plastics are most commonly used for packaging and serviceware, such as bottles, wrappers, straws, and bags. Lizzie Carr is shining a light on what is floating through the worlds waterways, and breaking athletic records along the way. You can share this article on social media by using the share buttons below. Here's a quick list of the ways plastic straws may be harming your health: 1. And, if you dont like wearing the same shirt or pants, Read More Dont wash it if it doesnt look dirtyContinue, At age 50, Kay is a little over halfway through her life as a driver. How exactly does the use of plastic do harm to the environment?Plastic has a very long half-life in the environment, during which it poses a danger to animals and spreads toxic chemicals.Additionally, plastic is a contributor to the warming of the planet.Nearly every type of plastic is manufactured using chemicals that are leftover from the manufacturing of fossil fuels, which contribute to global warming (gas, oil and even coal). For the oceans sake, wed better hope so. About half the cost of making biodegradable polymers is the cost of feedstock. But single-use plastics come with a steep environmental priceone that well be paying off for millennia. Without proper education, few people would know the purpose of the ban, and they would continue using other single-use plastics which could be even worse for the environment. TOP 10 10 reasons why plastic straws should be banned BEST and NEWEST Cause of environmental pollution 2. Individual choicesand the collective shifts they bring aboutadd up quickly. Only then would a plastic straw ban be able to actually help preserve the environment. Our reliance on these plastics means we are accumulating waste at a staggering rate. On their long journey, they will encounter many difficulties and only a small portion of them will survive. Such changes could have outsized benefits for vulnerable populations that rely on rivers for their water supply. Learn how your comment data is processed. Why is plastic bad for the environment? Buying a product through my link comes at no extra cost to you, and I only recommend products that I believe in. Additionally, someone has to pay the cost of dealing with plastic bags in the waste stream. 10 reasons why plastic straws should not be banned Instead of investing in quality goods that will last, we often prioritize convenience over durability and consideration of long-term impacts. Summary: Reduce your use of single-use plastics. How? High costs for cleanup 8. The upshot of the Sydney study is that the California bag ban reduced plastic bag consumption by 71.5% - a huge decrease. The majority of this pollutiondominated by single-use plastic wastecomes from countries lacking infrastructure to properly manage waste, particularly in Asia. A Ban Could Harm Local Businesses If Don't Ban Straws - Reason.com 12 Compelling Reasons For Banning Plastic Bags [2023 Update] - MindsetEco Let us know if you liked this article. But this comes along with many unanswered questions. If the answer is yes, you should know that this inadvertent overconsumption of single-use plastic carries with it a very high cost to the environment, which in turn also negatively affects our health. The second, more fundamental imperative is to get plastics out of our waste stream. This means that you are not consuming more resources every time you need to carry your groceries home. According to the findings of a study that was carried out in 2019 by students at the University of Washington, 78 percent of respondents used straws made of biodegradable materials that are in compliance with the prohibition, and 68 percent used utensils that are in compliance with the ban. A plastic straw ban could be a good step in the right direction, but we must use less single-use products overall to actually help the environment. You are free to have your own personal opinion on whether or not we should ban plastic straws. Why Should Plastic Straws Be Banned? - Nationwide Plastics
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