10 reasons why plastic straws should be banned

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Speak out in support of local plastic bans, whether by calling your local government representative, submitting an op-ed to your citys newspaper, or simply starting conversations with neighbors. Single-use plastics are most commonly used for packaging and serviceware, such as bottles, wrappers, straws, and bags. Spare Yourself the Guilt Trip This Earth DayIts Companies That Need to Clean Up Their Acts, These Fanciful Sea Creatures Were Carried in on the Tide. Straws have been found stuck in a sea turtle's nose and wedged in the stomachs of dead birds and dolphins. When animals ingest plastic, it clogs up their digestive systems, which can easily choke or kill animals like birds or sea turtles. Our waterway plastic pollution is particularly concentrated: Just ten rivers carry 93 percent of the worlds total amount of plastic that enters the oceans via rivers each year. Manufacturers began replacing traditionally paper or glass staples with lighter or more durable and affordable plastic alternatives; plastic jugs replaced milk jars, for instance. Will Shifting to Reusable Straws Really Make a Difference? Avoid individually packaged goods, like snack packs. There is a lot of research now underway on the health effects of ocean plastics, but we already know that some plastics, and the chemicals that attach themselves to plastics in the water, can cause cancer, genetic disruptions and other ill effects. that do collect plastic bags and other plastic films and send them for proper recycling. For many of us it is hard to imagine that something as small as a plastic bag can actually cause flooding, but residents of some cities in Bangladesh have been struggling with this problem every monsoon season for the past two decades [3]. Quick Navigation for Reasons Why Plastic Shopping Bags Should Be Banned REASONS 1. Will others? The single biggest reason why people want to ban plastic straws is because of their negative effects on the environment. The subtropical gyres of the North Pacific Ocean are also documented to contain the highest concentrations of plastic. Unfortunately, such costs are typically not included in most economic analyses, as they are not easy to calculate because the equation would have to involve many indirect variables. These examples could go on for a long time. Policies like bottle bill lawswhich generally require retailers to add a fee on individual bottles, which can then be partially redeemed by customers when they recycleare a way to increase corporate responsibility for waste while providing a monetary incentive to recycle. And recent studies found plastic in the guts of 90 percent of the seabirds tested and 100 percent of the turtles. So, for example, companies need to not only make products that are recyclable, but actually make them out of recycled or truly biodegradable material. They discovered that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestl products were found most often. (Photo credit: Shutterstock). Her Stand-Up Paddleboard Is a Platform for Campaigning Against Plastic Pollution, A Growing Concern: Microplastic Pollution on Farm Fields. Sadly, one of their newly acquired enemies is created by us who should protect them instead. Such is the case with many environmental crises: the worst effects are pushed onto overburdened communities with the fewest resources to fight back. Look around and you will notice that plastic bags are the most common litter. Harmful to human health 6. Individual actions can lead to collective actions. Straws, Ives says, made the perfect target: too inconsequential to really be missed but so ubiquitous that their absence would be noticed. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Since their birth, baby turtles have only one goal to get to the sea and swim into deep waters where they will feed and if successful grow into adult turtles. They are also not biodegradable and cannot be broken down naturally by bacteria and other decomposers into non-toxic materials. It is estimated that there are now 150 million metric tons of plastic in the ocean. However, we are all too familiar with situations when a cashier automatically puts your items in a plastic bag before you can oppose it. Hi, Im Hugh, and my mission with Get Green Now is to raise awareness of environmental issues and teach people how to live sustainably. National Geographic made a video on how helpless it feels to be caught in a plastic bag. Leape has long been a leader in ocean conservation efforts. We hear everywhere around us that we need to save energy. Plastic Straws: Is Paper Really Better for the Environment?Continue. This is due to the fact that the plastic tubes are far too lightweight to be recycled in an efficient manner. In fact, plastic straws only make up around 0.03 percent of total plastic waste by mass. They're bad for the environment, kill marine life and damage human health. New research shows their prolific dam building benefits river water quality so much, it outweighs the damaging influence of climate-driven droughts. America Needs a Plastics Intervention. 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. If plastic straws are completely banned, local small businesses like boba tea shops will have to look for pricier alternatives. Here are a few more tips for ridding your life (and your community) of single-use plastics for good. The most common are inorganic dyes that are added to change the color of plastic bags. Rating: 5 (913 reviews) Highest rating: 5. According to market research firms, Americans use about 350 million plastic straws every single day. But a whopping 91 percent of all plastic isnt recycled at all. 10 Reasons Why Plastic Straws Should Be Banned? Scientists have recorded some species of zooplankton eating tiny plastic particles. Once the wheel starts spinning, it leads to even more positive changes. Because of this, the plants and wildlife in the area have a potential risk of absorbing the microplastics through their diets and drinking water. 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. Although single-use plastic pollution accumulates most visibly on our streets, in fact our water suffers even more. Companies are trying to sell communities on a toxic solution to the plastic pollution crisis. Though plastica chain of synthetic polymers, essentiallywas invented in the mid-19th century, it wasnt until the 1970s that its popularity skyrocketed. Over time, sun and heat slowly turn plastics into smaller and smaller pieces until they eventually become what are known as microplastics. According to a 2017 study, more than half of non-fiber plastic, which excludes synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon, comes from plastic packaging alone, much of which is for single-use items. Straws are said to be one of the top 10 objects recovered during beach clean-ups by the Ocean Conservancy. This amount of marine life, which includes fish and turtles, is sufficient to fill 125 school buses. Yeah I end up going through like 5 paper straws because they keep disintegrating and I can't drink my drink anymore. Start from yourself and slowly expand to your family and friends. On other issues, from overfishing to deforestation, we have seen that consumer-facing companies like McDonalds, Unilever and Walmart can be exquisitely sensitive to the concerns of their customers. Author: floridadep.gov. Accompanied by high social accountability and musical garbage trucks, that strategy has proved wildly effective: the island now reports recycling rates above 50 percent. New and sustainable business models are needed to address the current plastic deluge and also to enable a new generation of sustainable materials and technologies. It also took 100% of those plastic grocery bags out of the recycling system, where they bound up machinery and increased costs. Some companies are taking initiative on their own. How To Make A Bracelet Out Of Plastic String? In Germany alone, we use 40 billion plastic straws every year. The crisis is so serious that many people are saying that plastic straws should be outlawed. They are tinier than a palm of your hand and appear so fragile when struggling across the beach to make it to the sea. Plastic bags are everywhere. They store these polymers inside their cells as tiny granules. After all, ask your grandparents, they will remember that during their time people were used to go shopping with their own bags or baskets. Some Disabled People Require Plastic Straws to Drink For some people with disabilities, straws are the only way they can drink. Those global companies can be important levers in driving change and shifting to a regenerative, circular economy. Companies are forced to innovate, rethinking their designs and sourcing sustainable materials. However, if a plastic straw ban is properly implemented with education about single-use plastics, then the ban could encourage the public to reduce their usage of other single-use plastics as well. As it turns out, many microorganisms make moldable bioplastic polymers that are fully degradable. NDLA National Disability Leadership Alliance: Nothing About Us Without Us. Read more about us. 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. McDonalds swapped its plastic straws for paper at its United Kingdom and Ireland restaurants. Better alternatives are available 10. Additionally, awareness raising campaigns create a social pressure that should inspire local government and institutions to help in making changes at a bigger scale, like a regional ban or levy. Many of the chemicals in plastics are known endocrine disruptors,and research has suggested that human exposure could cause health impacts including hormonal imbalances, reproductive problems like infertility, and even cancer. This leaves few other alternatives other than plastic straws. Here are 3 reasons why plastic straws should not be banned, explained in a simple and easy-to-understand manner: 1. Plastic waste that clogs water drainage channels and river tributaries of many Asian cities increases exposure of residents to water-borne diseases, as it creates a toxic soup that remains stranded in one place for prolonged periods of time. Plastic bags being the major component of the trash thrown away, most of it ends up on the streets. Ill also go over whether or not plastic straw bans will actually help the environment, and explain everything else youll need to know. The answer isnt as simple as you may think: While its true that paper straws arent as harmful as plastic straws, this doesnt mean that, Read More Paper vs. Globally, 8 to 10 percent of our current oil supply goes to a plastic bag manufacture [4]. 2023 Get Green Now. Also, giving a speech in . A complete ban on plastic straws would harm disabled people, which definitely isnt the goal of such a ban. It is predicted that each year 8 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean, with 1.152.41 tons of that plastic being carried there by major rivers all over the world. We should just stick to plastic. Plastic use costs approximately $75 billion a year [16]. Banning straws may confer 'moral license' allowing companies and their customers to feel they have done their part. If we ban single-use plastic straws we will have to turn to the dangerous alternatives.In source When you sip beverages through a straw you end up inhaling more air into your belly than you would otherwise. Fortunately, microorganisms can also use cheap, renewable substrates, such as food wastes, biogas methane, carbon dioxide and renewable hydrogen. You need to know what effects plastic bags have on the environment and health. 2015-2023 Greentumble. 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. and reefs composed of coral, F) I Plastic straws are one of the top five most often used items. JIM LEAPE: Our oceans are currently swimming with plastics. As communities act to ban single-use plastics and individual consumers raise concerns, bigger actors pay attention. It started with cardboard straws, but once plastic production in America increased, people realized it was quicker and cheaper to produce plastic straws. All Rights Reserved. The ban also kept them from littering neighborhoods and the environment. Polypropylene is a form of plastic that is frequently used in the production of straws. The country instituted the ban in 2013 to minimize livestock deaths. When the monsoon rains start, streets get waterlogged just after the first few minutes because the water cannot pass through clogged sewerage pipes. Nearly 20 years ago, a dead pelican was found with its stomach filled with 17 plastic bags [10]. If you are a kid reading this, and you want to get green and help the Earth, you are at the right place. The very best alternative is a reusable bag. Plastic pollutionwhether in our oceans, piling up on our coastlines, or contributing to our climate crisisimpacts vulnerable communities first. Exposure to microplastics, as well as the chemicals that are added to plastics during processing, harm our health. Single-use plastics in particularespecially small items like straws, bags, and cutleryare traditionally hard to recycle because they fall into the crevices of recycling machinery and therefore are often not accepted by recycling centers. If youd like to learn more about how plastic straws negatively impact the environment, you can check out this article I wrote about the environmental impact of plastic straws. If it looks clean, smells clean (and sounds clean! [PDF] Skip The Straw - 10 Reasons Fact Sheet - Kids. The people of Macon, Georgia, saw through it. For instance, a lot of the plastic produced in Asian countries is for products that serve U.S. demandand the United States often sends plastic waste back to these countries for recycling.). Animals can also easily become entangled in this plastic waste. For wildlife, microplastics can be particularly dangerous; when eaten they can easily accumulate inside an animals body and cause health issues, like punctured organs or fatal intestinal blockages. But, getting rid of all single-use plastics definitely will. Plastics bags are not so much necessary that man cannot live without it. Sugar and oils are too expensive. More and more states are looking to pass a new kind of recycling law that asks manufacturers to foot the bill for the waste created by their products. Have you ever seen endangered sea turtles hatch? Many of you may have heard it already. The upshot of the Sydney study is that the California bag ban reduced plastic bag consumption by 71.5% - a huge decrease. Nows the Time. To align with global efforts, India banned single-use plastic items from July 1, 2022. by TFK Kid Reporter Maria Suarez, 10 Bellaire, Texas Plastic straws should not be banned until we can find alternatives that are affordable, environmentally friendly, and acceptable for disabled people. The majority of plastic bags are made of polyethylene, a substance that is derived from crude oil refining and natural gas processing. You'll receive your first NRDC action alert and Plastic bag bansideally accompanied by a fee on paper bagsare also catching on. Oil and natural gas are non-renewable fossil fuel-based resources and through their extraction and production, they emit greenhouse gases, which contribute to global climate change. Our goal is to inspire people to change their attitudes and behaviors toward a more sustainable life. 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. 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. Instead it ends up in landfills or in the environment. Overall, the goal of a plastic straw ban should be to increase public awareness for single-use plastics and their nasty effects on the environment. Affiliate Disclaimer: Some links on this site may be referral or affiliate links. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Lizzie Carr is shining a light on what is floating through the worlds waterways, and breaking athletic records along the way.

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