Sustainability
There are many problems with plastic bags. They hurt our environment and our economy.
Plastic bags cannot be recycled in most cases, so they are thrown away into either our landfills or
our marine ecosystem. Plastic bags take about 450-1000 years to break down. Even when the
plastic bags break down, the toxins in the bags remain, and the fragments left from the plastic
bag contaminates soil, the ocean, and animals. Also, the bags end up becoming litter for our
environment. Plastic bags are a problem for our economy. It is estimated that city officials spend
about $8.5 million annually to manage plastic bag litter. Cities also lose money when plastic
bags are recycled, because they have to manually take them out of recycling machines.
I feel that a meaningful solution to plastic bag pollution is switching over to paper bags.
Switching over to paper bags would greatly help our environment. Unlike plastic bags, paper
bags are biodegradable and can be recycled. Also, instead of using plastic bags, we could bring
reusable bags to the store to carry our items. We would save money by using reusable bags,
because the plastic bag manufacturers wouldn’t need to make as many plastic bags, decreasing
the money we lose from taxes that go to plastic bags.
If we switched from plastic to paper bags, I feel that there would be a lot more positive
effects than negative ones. We can actually recycle paper bags for one thing, so less plastic bags
would be in our landfill. Also, paper bags are biodegradable, so even if the paper bags were
discarded into our landfill, they would decompose much faster than plastic. It takes plastic up to
1000 years to decompose, while it only takes about a month for a paper bag to decompose. Also,
changing from plastic bags to reusable bags would also help the problem. If we all just bought
reusable bags, and brought them to the store every time we had to get groceries, we would end
up saving tax payers money. Also, we would help the environment. The plastic bags might
eventually stop being made, and our landfills would be much smaller. You would only need to
buy reusable bags once, so you would end up saving money in the end if you kept reusing the
bags.
With the use of paper bags and reusable bags, there are also some negative effects. If we
begin to use paper bags again, we have to cut down and use trees. However, we can replant trees
whenever we cut them down. Cutting down then replanting trees would be much better than
plastic bags that take a long time to decompose and contaminate our environment. The problem
with reusable bags is they cost much more to make than plastic bags. The only way to balance
out the cost would be to use the reusable bags every time we went to the grocery store, and stop
using plastic bags.
If we switch from plastic bags to reusable bags, it would affect our economy. We would
eventually stop using plastic bags, and they would eventually stop being an option at the grocery
store. We would stop paying the money we do to taxes that were for plastic bags, and end up
saving money. The plastic bag makers would eventually lose their jobs, because no one is using
plastic bags anymore. Also, city officials would end up saving money because of the decrease in
plastic bags. If people don’t use plastic bags, then plastic bag littering cannot occur, and
therefore the officials do not lose money to littering.
If we switch from plastic bags to paper bags, it would affect our environment. For one
thing, we would begin to use more trees, which would decrease the amount of trees we have.
This would cause us to plant even more trees. If we started using paper bags, then we would
eventually stop making plastic bags. Plastic bags would not be in our landfills and ocean, and
wouldn’t contaminate our soil and water. This means that animals will have a better habitat
because of the decrease of plastic bags.
To support my solution, there are a few things I can do right now. Right now, I can buy a
few reusable bags and encourage my family to use them whenever we shop for groceries. I can
also encourage my friends to do the same. Also, I can make a Facebook page that encourages
people to use reusable bags. In the future, I can try to stop the production of plastic bags, at least
in my city. I can convince all of my family and friends that plastic bags are bad for the
environment, and that paper bags and reusable bags are a better solution.
Bibliography

Reuseit. "Facts About the Plastic Bag Pandemic" Reusable Lunch Bags, Shopping Bags, Bottles,
and More - Reuseit.com. Reuseit, 2003. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. <http://www.reuseit.com/learnmore/top-facts/plastic-bag-facts>.

Be Healthy and Relax. "How Long Does It Take To Decompose?" Be Healthy and Relax. Be
Healthy and Relax, 2009. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. <http://behealthyandrelax.com/2007/11/howlong-does-it-take-to-decompose/>.

Californians Against Waste. "The Problem of Plastic Bags | Californians Against Waste." Are You
a Californian Against Waste? | Californians Against Waste. Californians Against Waste, 2011.
Web. 11 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.cawrecycles.org/issues/plastic_campaign/plastic_bags/problem>.