Environmental Impact Of Plastic Bags

Gandhi said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world. Laramie is a community of 30,000 people with the power to make a positive impact on our environment. Laramie needs a plastic bag ban to reduce the amount of plastic bags in Laramie. Plastic bags negatively impact the environment, people in Laramie use plastic bags more than multiple uses bags, and recycling bags are not cost-effective. Eliminating the use of single-use plastic bags is a way for Laramie to do their part in being accountable for its carbon footprint.  

Plastic bags negatively impact the environment. This argument is supported by “ We made plastic. We depend on it. Now we're drowning in it.”, an article is written by Laura Parker and published by National Geographic. In particular, this source explains how plastic bags get into the ocean and harm millions of sea life and how they never really decompose. According to Laura Parker  “ It’s unclear how long it will take for them to completely biodegrade into its constituent molecules. Estimates range from 450 years to never.” In Other words National Geographic thinks that it could take 450 years or so, plastic bags may never biodegrade into their constituent molecules. Plastic bags negatively impact the environment, people in Laramie use plastic bags more than multiple uses bags, and recycling bags are not cost-effective. Together we can help eliminate plastic bags from Laramie and help build a better world for future generations.

On Thursday, October 15th 15 students from the UW Lab School chose Walmart, Ridleys, and Safeway to sit outside for 30 minutes and count certain kinds of bags that people were using. When shoppers walked out we counted if they had plastic bags, reusable bags, paper bags, or no bags at all. During the 30 minute period of sitting outside both of the doors, the number of plastic bags was so overwhelmingly high that the students concluded that 5 million plastic bags were used per year. 

Although some might argue that plastic bags can be recycled, it is not cost-effective. Plastic bags can be recycled at Walmart and Safeway in Laramie. However, recycling plastic bags can be a tedious task, having to bring a bunch of bags back to the store is not easy to remember. Also, Safeway and Walmart are the only options it ns o recycle bags since the city of Laramie Recycling Program does not support it. According to JR Slingerland “The City of Laramie does not accept these bags in our single-stream program as they will jam up sorting equipment...” According to Jr because plastic bags jam up sorting equipment they are not recyclable in Laramie. Even though plastic bags mat is recycled in Walmart and Safeway, in actuality it’s not cost-effective for the city of Laramie Recycling Program. Even though plastic bags can be recycled it’s not cost-effective for the city of Laramie Recycling Program to do so. We need a plastic bag ban because it’s tedious and not cost-effective to recycle plastic bags. So they just end up in the landfill or just floating around Laramie.

Since Laramie Citizens use 5 million single-use plastic bags per year, single-use plastic bags should be banned to reduce the toxic impact they have on the environment and community. Plastic bags are awful for the environment because of their negative lasting impacts on the environment. Second, a ban will increase the amount of reusable bags being used and will decrease the amount of plastic bags being used. Furthermore, recycling plastic bags is not cost-effective, because it clogs up sorting machines and takes time and energy. Ultimately a Hybrid plastic bag ban is the best solution for Laramie because plastic bags negatively impact the environment, people in Laramie use more plastic bags than reusable bags and third, they aren’t cost-effective.