We’ve all heard the horror stories – starving turtles chasing after plastic bags, mistaking them for nutritious jellyfish; dead birds washing up onshore, bellies full of microplastics, bottle caps, and various other contraptions; entangled seals suffocating, six pack rings around their necks. However, the environmental consequences of plastics are not restricted to oceans and marine life. Plastic bags are floating through the wind (as observed by popstar Katy Perry), while water bottles litter our landscapes. Furthermore, exposure to BPA, a common ingredient of certain plastics, has been linked to a variety of health effects in humans, especially children.
Plastic pollution is not only harmful to humans, but also to entire ecosystems. (PC: https://greennews.ie/can-turn-tide-marine-plastic-pollution/)
However, our future does not have to look like this – we already have numerous sustainable alternatives to single-use plastic items that can be used to design a nature without plastics. Thus, I want to implement a nation-wide “second-generation” ban on plastic bags. Unlike a mere ban on plastic bags, this policy would also add a fee for all other bags, further promoting the use of reusable bags. I think that this will be more effective because a lot of companies have actually replaced the banned “single-use” plastic bags with thicker plastic bags that count as “reusable” under many of these laws. Consequently, a policy supposed to help the environment ended up backfiring for companies’ bottom lines, making the “second-generation” ban necessary.
