How many people today grab a takeaway coffee cup from the local cafe to drink on the go? We don’t know, but the number must be enormous.. Most every one of the above have a plastic top that will last 100s of years. Some cafes still use plastic cups that last a similar time. Is 10 minutes of coffee worth 100s of years of trash?
These items can be seen littering our gutters and on our streets all over the place. If they were all cardboard, they would still be littered, but they would, at least, be gone in a short time.
They do not need to be made of plastic.
On the way home from the gym last week, a distance of about 1 km (1/2 mile), I counted the items of plastic litter on the curb as I walked. In that short distance I counted 63 pieces of plastic litter. Plastic drink bottles, bottle tops, candy wrappers, plastic film, polystyrene fragments etc. That seemed to be a lot to me. I guess it is a generational thing. Our parents would have been horrified to see that amount, whereas it seems to go unnoticed by our youth of today. In another 20 years how many pieces will there be on this stretch, -- 200? What will today’s youth think of that new amount then when they are older? Will their children be so readily accepting of a higher amount of litter? The Argument: Should plastic bags be banned at our stores? – The Boston Globe
Posted on September 13, 2015 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting RegulationsThe Argument: Should plastic bags be banned at our stores? – The Boston Globe.
As a nation, the US needs to do more, as we are one of the biggest contributors to ocean garbage patches. One study estimated that up to 28 billion pounds of plastic entered oceans in 2010, harming marine animals.
The biggest argument against banning plastic bags is convenience. I have been told that it’s too hard to use another option, such as reusable bags or paper. I have been told that the plastic bags are necessary for picking up dog waste and to act as liners for trash bins. But all of this is moot when you consider the viable alternative: Biodegradable plastic bags can do all of those things.
We don’t have a choice. These bags are used so proliferously nowadays that to continue on with out a change will lead to such a large problem and one almost impossible to clean up with existing budgets. A ban stops the problem immediately from getting any worse. This has to happen and soon.
Convenience is not an excuse. The word is really laziness. Once people are forced to bring their reusables, after a few months they will wonder what all the fuss was about and have something else to complain about.
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