Sustainable Development: Banning Plastic Bags and Plastic Bag Pollution
Earth vs The World
Recycle, reduce, and reuse. Right? I think at times during our busy lives walking down the street or driving down the road we look down and see plastic! Typically, plastic bags, bottles, and straws are often coming from our favorite fast food chains or supermarkets. If you think there is a lot of trash in the streets, you should look at our landfills or even the seas. It seems like most people around the world are starting to understand the impact of these plastics which aren't biodegradable nor can they be turned into compost. However, what we are beginning to see is a global reaction to the pollution that comes from plastic and improper waste disposal.
reusethisbag.com
More than eight billion tons of plastic trash is produced annually by the world's population. Americans use more than 500 million plastic straws a day, that equates to 180 billion straws a year. That is more than one in a half straws for every citizen or enough plastic to wrap around the planet twice. Since the 1990's, more than 6 million straws and stirrers were recovered from beaches. The World Economic Forum estimates that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by the year 2050. In response to this issue New York City, Hawaii, California, Washington, New Jersey, and Florida have started to pass legislation banning plastic straws. Similar laws are becoming more popular around the world. Rwanda, Botswana, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Uganda, Bangladesh and Somalia, all have total bans in place. Vancouver has banned straws, Scotland seeks to ban plastic straws by 2019, and Taiwan is committed to banning plastic straws, cups and shopping bags, by 2030. Even China has totally banned plastic bags since June 1st, 2008.
Considering their problem with air pollution which is only made worse by the incineration of plastics it's a step in the right direction. If you haven’t seen China's issues with air pollution just Google it, and you will find that people in some cities are wearing face masks. More than a quarter of the children in our largest cities in America have developed asthma, but that's another story. Against our efforts, some states have actually banned legislation banning plastics. Yes, you heard me correctly bans on bans. This is the result of large food marketing firms using their deep pockets to influence state laws. These companies use lobbyists and campaign contributions to manipulate the justice system. The fact of the matter is that companies care more about their sales and plastic maybe be cheaper to produce but harms the environment. One interesting fact is that the first patent for the paper straw was filed in 1888 . The straws were made of natural cellulose paper, that could be turned into compost and is completely biodegradable. Companies like Aardvark Paper Straws are making a change, they use only FDA-compliant and food-grade materials, and are marine degradable and eco friendly. So it's not that the technology isn't available or that there is a lack of public demand. Simply put corporate greed and lack of awareness has created a trash vortex and a global waste crisis.