Amanda Jung/Contributing Writer
Nowadays, a person can’t seem to leave a store or a restaurant without their purchases being put into a plastic bag of some sort. Have you noticed that even the smallest items are put in plastic bags? Sometimes it seems like the baggers at the grocery store go out of their way to put as little amount of groceries in each bag as possible, leaving you with too many bags and trips from your car to your kitchen.
Plastic in general has become such a staple in today’s society. I mean think about it, it’s so convenient.
When you’re having a party, you can serve food on plastic plates and eat it with plastic silverware. You don’t have to worry about washing dishes. When you run out of shampoo, you can just toss it and purchase a new one.
And the most popular is, of course, plastic grocery bags. Have we ever stopped to think about how these bags are actually death traps for the environment?
According to Health Guidance, “there is strictly no way to limit the effects of plastic bags on the environment because there is no disposal method that will really help eliminate the problem. While reusing them is the first step, most people either do not or can’t based on store policies.”
Plastic bags either can be reused, go to the landfill, or be burned. Even if the bags are reused for quite some time, they eventually break or form holes and then they inevitably have to go somewhere else.
If the plastic goes to the landfill, it takes hundreds of years for the material to be broken down. And if the plastic goes to be burned, then it emits toxic gases into the atmosphere. There is simply no winning with any of the methods.
Humans are also very lazy. Sometimes the plastic bag they intended to throw out doesn’t even make it to the garbage can. Instead, it falls on the ground and liters the ear
The earth has become covered with a material that is harmful to the land, water, animals and the atmosphere.
Plastic is a material that takes much too long to decompose and if it ends up on the ground, it can endanger animals. Animals, who often mistake plastic bags as food, can suffer from internal injuries after ingesting plastic and ultimately die.
The same problems we encounter with plastic bags on land, happens in the water as well. Plastic that pollutes the oceans leaves the ecosystem unbalanced by killing off animals who have ingested it.
A safe alternative to using plastic bags in grocery stores is investing in reusable bags. Plastic has become too much of a staple in today’s society. Stores are now offering paper and reusable bag options and that’s something we should all take advantage of in order to protect our land, our oceans and our animals.
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The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of FIU Student Media Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.
Image retrieved from Flickr.
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