Debate About Plastic Bags!

• Humans produce about 300 million tonnes of plastic per year
• Only 9% of all plastic waste ever created has been recycled - 79% has been dumped in the natural environment and 12% have been incinerated.
• 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in the world's oceans every year
• Plastic, as people have said already, takes centuries to degrade. Right now it's just getting smaller - that means it's clogging up and gathering together in places like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
• Plastic in the oceans kills marine life:

  A Bryde's whale that became stranded and died on Cairns beach in August 2000 had an autopsy done to reveal 20 square feet of tightly packed plastic, primarily shopping bags, lodged in its stomach.
  (Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3948365)

Not only that, but 40% of autopsies done on sea turtles show that the cause of death is plastic bags caught in their intestinal tract. Estimates say that over 100,000 marine creatures die every year because of plastic pollution. Never mind that the small chunks are entering the food chain via creatures like jellyfish and small fish.

• If things keep going at the rate they're going at, oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050

• If it clogs up in rivers, it makes the water stagnant and creates more breeding ground for pests like mosquitos, who can be vectors for diseases like malaria.

= yeah we really need to ban plastic bags
Because we're killing marine life, we're killing our planet, and we're ultimately killing each other

I agree for the most part. Plastic bags are in fact harmful but they're also useful. So we need to find alternatives. Maybe not outrightly banning them completely, but having a fine of some sorts for them and making sure the plastic bag is being used for something that there are no other alternatives. Plus it's less expensive to just reuse a cloth bag again and again. They can last a long time if you use them right.

While I don't know much about the subject, what I have heard was that plastic straws were created by environmentalists as a better substitute for paper ones, so their own creation has backfired on them. This might not be true, as I mentioned before I don't know much, but I figured I'd say this anyway cause why not

I feel like putting an immediate ban on it would result in too much backlash since people are so used to relying on plastic bags, and they're either uninformed about the devastating effects of pollution/they don't care. Putting prices on plastic bags, however, and encouraging consumers to purchase reusable bags (and pointing out that the bags are a cheaper alternative in the long run since you have to buy the single-use plastic bags) can help get people used to not using plastic bags as often. Then, stores should start taking away plastic bags entirely and offer only reusable and biodegradable cloth bags.
Once no stores (or close to no stores) are using plastic bags anymore, and enough information about the pollution caused by plastic bags has been spread, I think there should be a ban on the sale/use/production of plastic bags.

I agree. Putting a ban would definitely result in some bad consequences. But by slowly encouraging people to use alternatives, we'd be better off

I understand the idea of having a gradual approach, but the possibility also exists of having gradual bans - in Zanzibar, they started out by banning bags below the width of 30 microns in 2006 and extended that to 50 microns in 2015. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6135886.stm)(https://www.newtimes.co.rw/business/tanzania-mulls-banning-plastic-materials)
I was there just last year, and things worked fine with paper bags.
I think at some point, we're going to have to accept the reality of backlash and go ahead and try to salvage what's left of the environment.

But people in this country have to vote for or against the ban on plastic bags. I feel like if we took this slowly, we could get people more used to the idea and less likely to fight back against such a sudden change (because the change wouldn't be so sudden)

Ah sorry. I didn't realise we were applying this to America specifically…
(sliding right out of the debate bc I have no idea how Americans politic)

Ah wait I don't think we are, we don't have to be
I meant my* country
but this goes for a lot of other countries as well

Ah sorry. I didn't realize we were applying this to America specifically…
(sliding right out of the debate bc I have no idea how Americans politic)

As an American, I don't either

Also Americans politic badly. Very very badly. We shut down our government when we get mad and screech about walls and immigrants and don't ever have civil debates because that's just how America works our education system is shit and a lot of people aren't well informed on most topics and don't know how to properly argue

Ah wait I don't think we are, we don't have to be
I meant my* country
but this goes for a lot of other countries as well

That's very true. How far is the plastic bag war in America right now? Where I live, they're already pretty expensive so I guess I just assumed that was the point we were arguing from

Also Americans politic badly. Very very badly. We shut down our government when we get mad and screech about walls and immigrants and don't ever have civil debates because that's just how America works our education system is shit and a lot of people aren't well informed on most topics and don't know how to properly argue

Yeah idk it seems like American politics are kind of on fire right now, and I mean that in the most polite way possible

Also Americans politic badly. Very very badly. We shut down our government when we get mad and screech about walls and immigrants and don't ever have civil debates because that's just how America works our education system is shit and a lot of people aren't well informed on most topics and don't know how to properly argue

I know. I'm only somewhat educated on this topic and i don't know how to properly debate/argue but I joined this to learn it better

Also Americans politic badly. Very very badly. We shut down our government when we get mad and screech about walls and immigrants and don't ever have civil debates because that's just how America works our education system is shit and a lot of people aren't well informed on most topics and don't know how to properly argue

Yeah idk it seems like American politics are kind of on fire right now, and I mean that in the most polite way possible

no you're definitely right

I think I'm getting better at respectfully debating, but idk
and yeah America is a total mess right now

If you want to debate, pm me. I would love to.

Ayyyyy