Francesca Popa

Composition I
08.11.2017

Plastic Pollution: Why Plastic Bags And Bottles Should Be Banned

Humans have produced 8.3bn tonnes of plastic since the 1950s, with the majority ending

up in landfill or polluting the world’s continents and oceans. 1 The negligent disposal of plastic

can have alarming consequences. The use of plastic bags and bottles has a negative impact on

marine life, animals and humans, and therefore should be banned. The number of plastic items

that end up in ocean is incredible, and leads to the killing a huge number of marine species. The

small parts of plastic bottles are deceived into perceiving it as a source of food, which leads to

filling their stomach and taking their ability of digesting; hence, they die. Humans are exposed,

through their nose, mouth and skin to the chemicals from plastic that have been proved to have

harmful effects and be carcinogenic. Undoubtedly, this has become a big concern the issues

caused by the use of plastic that ended up in the oceans.

Around one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed each year due to

plastic ingestion.2 From 8 to 12 million tons of plastic per year are dumped into the oceans. 3 It

harms marine animals on a terrible high level. A plastic bag looks like a jellyfish to a feeder like

the sea turtle, but plastic is indigestible. It leads to blocking the intestines of, or cause infection in

those animals that consume it.4 In 2013 in Spain, scientists found a dead sperm whale and

1 Matthew Taylor, “Will There Be More Fish Or Plastic In The Sea In 2050?”, BBC News, 2017,
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/19/plastic-pollution-risks-near-permanent-contamination-of-
natural-environment, 5 Nov 2017
2Rinkesh, “What Is Plastic Pollution?”, Conserve Energy Future, https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-
effects-solutions-of-plastic-pollution.php, 5 Nov 2017
3 Will Dunham, “World's Oceans Clogged by Millions of Tons of Plastic Trash”, Scientific American,
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/world-s-oceans-clogged-by-millions-of-tons-of-plastic-trash/, 4 Nov
2017
4 Malorie Macklin, “Is it Really Worth the Convenience? 6 Ways Plastic is Harming Animals, the Planet and Us”,
One Green Planet, 30 April 2017, http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/how-plastic-is-harming-animals-the-
determined its cause of death was intestinal blockage. In its digestive system were 59 pieces of

plastic waste totaling 37 pounds in weight. 5 At least the plastic bags and bottles should be

banned, otherwise by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans. 6 Furthermore, a big

negative impact it has on land, especially animals.

The use of plastic bottles and bags puts in jeopardy the life on land: millions of animals

and birds. They end up being trapped in plastic nets which stops them from moving, feeding

themselves and in general, surviving. Moreover, the chemicals from plastic produce toxins that

become a part of their food and hence, people’s food. Misunderstanding a plastic bag for a

source of their nutriment has a deadly effect on them. If plastic bags and bottles were banned,

which is the most common way of plastic usage, the ecosystems of land would be kept from an

impressive amount of dangerous situations. Additionally and consequently, human’s life is also

influenced.

The effects of the use of plastic bags and bottles concern the humans as well, bringing

serious issues. After years of exposure to sunlight, plastic bottles eliminate toxins bad for

human’s health.7 Through their nose, mouth and skin, people get endangered to all the

carcinogenic chemicals that obviously have negative effects. Additionally, depending on their

diet, people eat meat and seafood that used polluted water or even ate plastic. The danger

becomes bigger day by day and it would make a huge difference if bottles and bags from plastic

were banned. If the use of plastic will not be decreased, a much more serious harm will be felt by

all the species.

planet-and-us/, 6 Nov 2017

5 Malorie Macklin, “Is it Really Worth the Convenience? 6 Ways Plastic is Harming Animals, the Planet and Us”,
One Green Planet, 30 April 2017, http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/how-plastic-is-harming-animals-the-
planet-and-us/, 6 Nov 2017
6 Leo Hornak, “Will there be more fish or plastic in the sea in 2050?”, BBC News, 15 Feb 2016,
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35562253, 6 Nov 2017
7 Richard H Wagner, Environment and Man. (New York City: W. W. Norton & Company, 1978) 465
 Billions of tons of plastic have been produced in the last decades. The use of the bags and

bottles from this material was brought about serious harm for the oceans, animals and humans.

Fishes and animal are trapped in the plastic nets, which causes their death. The same

consequence is when they mistake the plastic items with their food. Since plastic many

chemicals that are toxic, humans attract them through their nose, mouth and skin. Plastic bags

can be substituted with the others from paper, and instead of plastic bottles we could use

recyclable glass and other materials that decompose faster than plastic. Considering everything

mentioned above, the ban of plastic bags and bottles is a necessity.

Bibliography

Taylor, Matthew. "Plastic Pollution Risks 'near Permanent Contamination of Natural

Environment'." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 19 July 2017. Web.
Rinkesh. "Causes, Effects and Solutions of Plastic Pollution." Conserve Energy Future. N.p., 24
Dec. 2016. Web.
Dunham, Will. "World's Oceans Clogged by Millions of Tons of Plastic Trash." Scientific
American. N.p., n.d. Web.
Macklin, Malorie. "Is It Really Worth the Convenience? 6 Ways Plastic Is Harming Animals, the
Planet and Us." One Green Planet. N.p., 30 Apr. 2017. Web.
Hornak, Leo. "Will There Be More Fish or Plastic in the Sea in 2050?" BBC News. BBC, 15 Feb.
2016. Web.
Wagner, Richard H. Environment and Man. 3rd ed. N.p.: W. W. Norton, 1978. Print.