People Should Focus More On Regulating Litter Laws

Imagine yourself in a grocery store, a shop, at home. Looking around, you may not notice, but there is one thing that you are constantly surrounded by, plastic. Plastics are found in our food packaging, in our homes, and even in our clothing. Plastic was first introduced in 1862 by Alexander Parkes, who created the first man-made plastic, Parkensine. This invention paved the way for the plastic industry. As plastic products gained more popularity, plastic pollution had become a growing issue. The solution was introduced as recycling, but this was only developed later, and was still a fairly new concept for society to grasp.

In the present day, we are producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year, half of which is for single use [ Cite]. These single use plastics, or disposable plastics, are becoming an increasing concern as they are floating in our oceans and polluting our cities and wildlife. Although single use plastics are used in a variety of areas in our day to day lives and have many beneficial uses, they are detrimental to our ecosystems and environments, and should be worked on getting eliminated or reduced.

Get quality help now

Prof. Finch

Verified writer

Proficient in: Say No To Plastics

4.7 (346)

“ This writer never make an mistake for me always deliver long before due date. Am telling you man this writer is absolutely the best. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

There are of course arguments stating that single use plastics are a necessity for businesses and consumers; They describe how the elimination of disposable plastics would create too much of a disturbance to consumers’ shopping experience, and create hassalls for businesses searching for replacements for these products. During a testimony for a bill to ban the distribution and sale of plastic straws a restaurant group's statement had read 'The alternate for plastic straws whether it's paper or reusable is really not that available.

Is the next step banning all disposable utensils?' Although these are valid concerns,

-next point to rebuttle, people should focus more on regulating litter laws

One of the main reasons as to why America needs to be working towards a plastic ban, is because of the damaging effects of plastic pollution on the environment. Plastic is a material that takes hundreds of years to decompose and even then will only break down into smaller pieces. Currently, The Great Pacific Garbage, one of the biggest examples of plastic pollution, covers 600,000 square miles. The plastic located in this area has a monumental impact on marine life. “World Animal Protection highlight that around 640,000 tons of gear is discarded annually resulting in at least 136,000 seals, sea lions and large whales being killed each year “(__Citation Last name author_____). Along with the disastrous effects of the larger fragments of plastic, the smaller microplastics also cause devastating effects on marine life. “The albatrosses mistake plastic pellets for fish eggs and feed them to chicks, which die of starvation or ruptured organs.” (__Citation Last name author_____).

As the plastic industry is growing , this number will only go up. This is very troubling as it is known that plastic cannot decompose fully.