Should single-use plastic products be banned? This question was answered back in 1987 in Berkeley, California, after the city first banned polystyrene foam (Styrofoam). After this ban, few states and well over 100 counties followed the city of Berkeley’s ban of styrofoam as well as plastic bags. Single-use plastic and styrofoam products have been a main cause in world pollution. Upto 50% of all plastic produced every year is single-use, which then ends up in our oceans and landfills.
Out of all the states that have banned forms of plastic and styrofoam, New Jersey has passed the most sensible ban. New Jersey has banned the worst kinds of single-use plastics and styrofoams. They have also limited the number of paper bags and made it to the point that drinking straws are only available upon request. However, San Francisco has taken it upon themselves to ban the sales of not only single-use plastics, but plastic bottles as well. These bans might help reduce the amount of plastic pollution, but they also reduce the amount of jobs.
Although plastic bans benefit the environment, they are causing people to lose jobs. The jobs lost don’t benefit the economy very well, even though these people could get jobs in factories that make reusable and biodegradable products to replace single-use plastics. With that being said, this is the time for eco-friendly companies to prevail and encourage the sales of their products. These eco-friendly products are sustainable to the world, can cause healthier living, and they are recyclable and reusable. All of which is the goal of these plastic bans, to lower the amount of single-use plastics around the world.
I personally think that there should be a bigger ban of plastics not just in a few states, but nationwide. My reason behind this is because plastics contribute to over 50% of the world's pollution. I also think that we should use more eco-friendly products on a daily basis because of all the benefits they have.
Do you think that single-use plastics and styrofoams should be banned and why?
Do you think that we need to use more eco-friendly products in our everyday lives?
https://www.thechicagogreenbox.com/the-moving-blog/what-is-the-importance-of-eco-friendly-products
Replies
Good topic choice and well done overall Anthony! Be sure to comment an three different days next time instead of two.
Single use plastics should be restricted in mass use. This, however, would be extremely dificult to both impliment and inforce. We should definitely push ourselves and latrge companies to become far more ecofriendly.
I agree that single use plastics and styrofoams are bad for the environment and should not be in the ocean or in landfills. I also think that they should not be 100% banned. I think they should just be restricted and make sure that more people reuse them and recycle.
I think we should use less plastic products but also recycle more and make less plastic. I feel there could be a better way to make more eco-friendly products and the would last longer. There has to be a better way then just waste plastic for a bag that will get used once or twice tops in its lifetime. There is no need for anymore plastic pollution in the world.
I definetly think that single use plastics and styrophoams shold be not used as much because it is way better to recycle the materials. I think that useing more eco friendly products is a great idea because it saves our enviorment and gives us a better world to live in.
Looking at this from an economic perspective, it would cause a lot of issues for many mass productions companies. This is due to the fact that plastic is extremely cheap and very easy to mass-produce. Many companies wouldn't be able to handle dumping all of their resources into making a more expensive container, which is exactly what a plastic ban would entail. From an ecofriendly perspective, this is a great idea as it would lower pollution and lower trash a significant amount.
That might be a good idea but how are they going to sell things like gatorade and pop. I mean I use a reusable bottle at school but I dump gatorade out of the plastic bottle into my bottle. Plus it is important to drink fluids. And if people can't buy bottles of water or other drinks, then some people won't drink and they might get dehydrated.
I think that using more eco-friendly products in our life would be beneficial for the environment and not affect humans. Some eco-friendly products are terrible though such as paper straw. I believe for people to use more eco-friendly products they need to be practical and be almost more useful than non-eco-friendly tools.
I agree with you that using more eco-friendly products in our everyday life would be beneifical for the enviroment. I'm also not so sure about the paper straw being worse for the enviroment then plastic unless you're talking about using them becuase they just fall apart and make your drink taste worse in my opinion.
I don't think that single-use plastics should be banned. I think banning single-use plastic wouldn't help the environment unless action was taken to clean up the mess's that were already made such as the oceans or other plastic build ups. After this action was taken then I believe that single use plastics could be banned or swapted with plastic that can be recycled.
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