Plastic bags provide many practical benefits for customers for carrying and transporting products such as lightweight, inexpensive and hygiene. However, they are also the double-edged swords as they pose a threat to the environment including water contamination and air pollution. This essay will analyze the issue of excessive consumption of plastic bags in terms of my daily life, provide explanations for the impact of this issue and offer my personal policy that I plan to follow during the semester. Then it will evaluate the outcome of my personal policy and whether this policy could be implemented successfully in the future.
Plastic bags can be get from supermarkets, open-air markets and shops easily so that the quantity of plastic bags used …show more content…
Littering is a negative impact of the plastic bags. Wind and water can carry plastic bags or plastic fragments to different places including city streets, rivers, sea and other natural environment (Environment Protection Authority [EPA] 2016). Consequently, the high mobility of plastic bags has significantly influenced marine animals, ecosystems and food chains (EPA 2016). Marine life and animals may be misled into eating plastic bags or plastic pieces, which pose risks to them by ingestion and entanglement (EPA 2016). Turtles are one of the marine animals that at risk of eating plastic bags, especially for young sea turtles which are more likely to mislead plastic bags as jellyfish (G. Balazs 1984). It can lead to reduce turtle populations (G. Balazs 1984). The 2014 NOAA Marine Debris Program Report has stated that approximately 200 different marine species have records of suffering from entanglements (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program 2014). Marine animals which are entangled by plastic bags may have difficulties for moving, feeding and growing up (Macklin 2016). Birds may suffer from the impacts such as failure in reproductive or even death (Azzarello and Van Vleet 1987). Other animals like seabirds who mistaken plastic bags as food may be injured by choking or ingestion (Azzarello and Van Vleet …show more content…
Also, many animals are suffering from issues caused by plastic bags as they mistaken plastic bags as their food and some of them are entangled by plastic. Therefore, in order to reduce the amount of plastic bags consumption on a weekly basis, I had a personal policy which was to bring my own cloth bags or plastic bags from home. During this semester, I made effort to follow my personal policy such as to put my shopping bags in my schoolbag to avoid taking new plastic bags to home. Overall, my personal policy is considered successful as I changed my behavior of taking free plastic bags for carrying food every time I go to shops. I implemented my policy for most of the time, so that I have confidence that my personal policy can be executed successfully in the
Plastic bags can be get from supermarkets, open-air markets and shops easily so that the quantity of plastic bags used …show more content…
Littering is a negative impact of the plastic bags. Wind and water can carry plastic bags or plastic fragments to different places including city streets, rivers, sea and other natural environment (Environment Protection Authority [EPA] 2016). Consequently, the high mobility of plastic bags has significantly influenced marine animals, ecosystems and food chains (EPA 2016). Marine life and animals may be misled into eating plastic bags or plastic pieces, which pose risks to them by ingestion and entanglement (EPA 2016). Turtles are one of the marine animals that at risk of eating plastic bags, especially for young sea turtles which are more likely to mislead plastic bags as jellyfish (G. Balazs 1984). It can lead to reduce turtle populations (G. Balazs 1984). The 2014 NOAA Marine Debris Program Report has stated that approximately 200 different marine species have records of suffering from entanglements (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program 2014). Marine animals which are entangled by plastic bags may have difficulties for moving, feeding and growing up (Macklin 2016). Birds may suffer from the impacts such as failure in reproductive or even death (Azzarello and Van Vleet 1987). Other animals like seabirds who mistaken plastic bags as food may be injured by choking or ingestion (Azzarello and Van Vleet …show more content…
Also, many animals are suffering from issues caused by plastic bags as they mistaken plastic bags as their food and some of them are entangled by plastic. Therefore, in order to reduce the amount of plastic bags consumption on a weekly basis, I had a personal policy which was to bring my own cloth bags or plastic bags from home. During this semester, I made effort to follow my personal policy such as to put my shopping bags in my schoolbag to avoid taking new plastic bags to home. Overall, my personal policy is considered successful as I changed my behavior of taking free plastic bags for carrying food every time I go to shops. I implemented my policy for most of the time, so that I have confidence that my personal policy can be executed successfully in the