Modified:
07 Mar 2010
by Victoriar
Vote totals:
Yes:
50%
No:
38%
Neutral:
13%
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DEBATE: SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
Posted by: mikearcher87
Karma:
415
Plastic bags are an environmental disaster; they are unsightly, they
decimate wildlife, are filling the oceans and are made out of oil so
help cause global warming. We use billions of plastic bags every year.
Should they be banned?
Executive Summary
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All the Yes points
All the No points
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
environmental damage
Plastic bags for use by consumers in supermarkets and other stores should be made illegal. In the UK alone, over 13 billion plastic bags are handed to consumers each year, representing a substantial proportion of all floating marine litter[1]. More than this, plastic bags are responsible for the deaths of huge numbers of marine species, who mistake the bags for food. Consumers must accept that it is hugely wasteful, massively unethical, and potentially deadly to continue using plastic bags. Supermarkets must be told by the government that continued supply of plastic bags will result in large fines, whilst those supermarkets who remove all their bags can be rewarded.
Of all the sins of supermarkets, it is hilarious that plastic bags are the main cause of people's concern. From sweat shops, to over production; things which have much more disasterous consequences on the environment and people than misely plastic bags. The reality is, the environment argument is a smokescreen for people to moan about litter. A more diligent approach to parenting and teaching would solve this problem more effectively.
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
Repairing the Damage
Charging consumers for using plastic bags should not result in profit for the supermarkets. Instead, any supermarkets who refuse to totally ban plastic bags, and charge their customers for using the bags (eg. 10p for bag), should be made to pay a fine to local governments. This revenue should then be used to repeal some of the damage supermarkets reap on the local economy, environment, and society.
If shops and supermarkets are to be encouraged to ban plastic bags then they may well need economic encouragement to do so. This may well be simply from not having to pay for buying the bags in the first place. Having the money paid for plastic bags going to anyone other than the supermarket that sells them would be complex and involve waste through bureauracy
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
The Great Waste
Plastic bag production uses almost 10 percent of the world's annual oil supply. Only 3.5 percent of this number are recycled. This means that much of the planet's precious natural resources are being used to produce plastic bags that many of us maintain are unneccessary. The chemicals and compounds that go into making plastic bags could also be utilised in a far more effective manner. These two factors show that plastic bag production is a waste of resources, which could be being used in a far more effective way.
yes but if we are to get rid of plastic bags we would not have a job be able to travel or even see this write now because your computer has a lot of plastic in it and if you do find a substitute for plastic then what would it be and how do you know that its not more harmful than plastic if you choose something like paper or cardboard it could be a fire hazard to the products useing it such as planes or computers and most of the machines to make paper like it is or metal like it is contain plastic in them and there are many chemicals that go into paper to make it white also a lot of paints and paint has a lot of chemicals in them as well as plastic. Also we would probably not survive as a CIVILIZED human being without them any protien we could get we would have to eat directly becasue plastic packageing is the only way to keep it fresh and you also would not be a vegetarian because there would be no other way to get protien I strongly think that plastic should not be banned.
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
Non-biodegradable
An estimated 17 billion plastic bags are given to British consumers. We do not need this many plastic bags in the world. The pollution caused by their creation alone is enough to warrant a ban on their manufacture and their use. In addition, they do not degrade well in our rubbish dumps, so they will remain on this planet forever more. We cannot have this accumulation of plastic bags and the only way forward is to ban their distribution and use.
Ireland has seen a 400% increase in black bin liners since the tax was levied against plastic bags. These black bin liners are designed to hold more in them than the plastic carrier bags and therefore they are thicker. They use far more oil in their production and due to their thickness they take even longer to degrade. How can the ban, therefore, be seen as having a positive effect on the environment?
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
They litter our streets
Not only do plastic bags fill up our landfill sites where they will remain forever more, but people throw them into the streets. They accept plastic bags when they do not need to and once out of the shops take their items and litter the streets with the unwanted plastic bags. Animals can caught in them, motor accidents are caused, and many end up in trees. As a society, this shows that we do not need plastic bags if we are willing to just throw them away. Plastic bags should be banned and replaced with bags that we would not so readily disregard.
This is an argument against a society's attitude towards consumption. But the war against plastic bags is not worth the relatively little gain, the problem will remain long after a ban on plastic bags is placed on people. Instead we need to recognise our dispoable society and start looking at the bigger picture. Instead of picking on the small features of the problem, we need to get to the roots. And here, the roots is not the plastic bag, but our attitude towards consumption.
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
Plastic bags suffocate and kill
Plastic bags can and have killed/(have been used to kill) many an animal (including human beings) and they only have one singular use(carry things) for which, they can easily be substituted (with other bags) for.[1]
A baby was deliberately suffocated with plastic bags in this particular case:[2]
- ^ http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ei=36KHSp3INo3W6gPN0_HOAw&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Plastic+bags+suffocate+asphyxiate+kill&spell=1
- ^ transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0709/20/ng.01.html
Well if Animals have to die, just force them to mate as much as you can until they are over populated, then if some are killed it will be ok, and the same thing for children. If each couple has atleast 10 children, then out population will be atleast five times of what it is.
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
Wildlife concerns
Plastic bags often end up floating in the seas- the home to many mammals, fish and invertebrates. One species that is at great risk from plastic bags is the already endangered Leatherback turtle (amongst others including the Green turtle, see the article below).
Turtles often mistake floating plastic bags for jellyfish- their only food source. The tragedy is that once they eat the plastic bags, they can get caught up and wrapped round the gut or in the throat, causing suffocation and starvation.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-519770/Banish-The-Bags-The-Mail-launches-campaign-clean-country---planet.html
even if we are to ban plastic bags the litter that gets into the ocean won't stop the animals will just get trapped in the other items that we replace plastic bags with such as cloth it could rap around them and smuther them almost 30% faster than any plastic bag couldand any heavier items could sink to the bottom and kill ofthem plant life the animals thrive on plus most turtles will realize the difference between the plastic bags and jellyfish as soon as they startchewing on it and most of the time when they are close to it.Hunter schofield
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
Spread Awareness
By banning plastic bags, not only will we reudce all the environmental issues such as animals, litter and landfill, we will also spread awareness globally and even potentially nationally. For example, say Australia bans plastic bags, in a couple of years time, all these issues would be on their way to being resolved and America's government might think "Wow, we didn't realise this was such a big issue! And look, 5 years ago Australias landfill was overflowing with plastic bags that do not break down and now the small perentage of cloth bags that do go in landfill (not many go in because cloth bags are so reusable) are gone very quickly because they break down into what is not unhealthy for the environment! Maybe we should ban plastic bags too so we can recieve such a great effect!" And the England may copy, the France and Japan and China and Brazil etc etc. Do you see what I mean. People realise it is a big enough issue to make a law and see this great effect and actually CARE!
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
No need to ban, add a tax
taxes may well reduce the number of plastic bags that are handed out and used by consumers however a reduction even by 90% would still leave more than a billion bags a year used in Britain, this still seems like an aweful lot plastic bags added to those that are already in the oceans and spread across the land.
Place a restraint where people will feel it most, their pocket. By placing a tax on plastic bags you are not limiting people’s choice but you will ct down on plastic bag use. This can be seen in Ireland where a 15p tax has caused a reduction of 90% on the plastic carrier bag use[1]. The revenue gained would also be valuable to the government who could put it towards environmental issues already caused by the use of plastic bags. This is a much more effective way of dealing with the problem.
- ^ Isabelle Chevallot, The Guardian, 12 May 2007
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
Used as a marketing ploy
Most people already have bags, whether they be 'a bag for life', old style shopping trolly bags, rucksacks etc. There would be little need for consumers to buy new bags any more regularly than they do now and certainly no need to buy new bags to replace the plastic bags now used. These bags are mostly used because they are free and more convenient than consumers carrying their own bags to the shops as well as back again.
Anya Hindmarch launched a bag to combat plastic bags. But this was merely a business woman making a profit out of the negative press attention to plastic bags. The bags she made were in fact made in China using cheap labour.[1] If plastic bags were banned, shopping bags would be just another way for scrupulous entrepreneurs to make money out of people believing that not using plastic bags is helping the world. In fact, sweat shops would be used to create maximum profits.
- ^ Isabelle Chevallot, The Guardian, 12 May 2007
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
Freedom of choice
Why should we not be free to make nuclear bombs? Why should we not be free to kill another human being if they annoy us? Why? Because some things in life are more important than 'choice'. Why? Because we live in a society where our actions have implications upon everyone else. It would not be fair for some to strive to keep the environment clean whilst those with money show a blatant disregard just because they can afford to.
Why should we not be free to chose to take a plastic bag? As with everything else there must be a market price for plastic bags that includes the cost of making them and the cost to the environment in the monetary cost (therefore providing revenue to clear up the leftover plastic bags), at this particular price there will still be some people who are willing to pay the cost for the convenience of just being able to pick one up with the shopping, or if a shopper has forgotten to bring their own bags with them they should be able to buy plastic bags at the shop. There is no need for an outright ban on plastic bags.
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
people forget their re-useable bags
It is a lamentable and rather devastating reflection on the current state of human apathy that somebody should argue that helping to reduce the negative impact of human beings on the environment is an "unwarranted inconvenience". Indeed, it is an inconvenience that we should have to replace fossil feuls, or drive hybrid cars, or improve home insulation. If things were easy or convenient, you can bet that consumers have already adopted that process. Don't worry though, if we keep going the way we are none of us will be around to apologise for our collective naivity and arrogance.
Re-useable bags may sound ideal. However, do people actually remember to bring them shopping each time they go? If they do not, what happens is that they have to buy more re-useable bags which means that more plastic is being used. Yes, the idea is that they are not disposable and so do not fill our dumpster, but the reality is, after a few times of forgetting to bring your reuseable bags, you will have accumulated many of them. Eventually, you people will throw them away, just like they did with plastic bags. A ban on plastic bags seems like an unwarranted inconvenience when you look at the long term consequences.
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
Causes expense to consumers in a time of recession
If you have/had a cloth bag or a relatively sturdy durable plastic bag already, with longevity, so that can be used be and reused over and over(without getting torn or damaged or inefficiently disposed like a standard plastic bag) .Then you will not have to buy 'carrier bags' every time you went to the market.
If plastic bags are banned, people will buy nice big bags that are much more useful. Since this would only be a one-time purchase the costs in the long-run will be significantly lower for shoppers and supermarkets alike(in monetary as well environmental terms.)
Instead of letting people pay for what they buy, the banning of plastic bags in reality will lead to people having to pay to carry their purchases out of the store. Plastic bags are cheap to produce so supermarkets are willing to give them out for free. To ban them would mean that supermarkets would charge for the more costly forms of carrier bags. This is putting an additional financial strain on families who do large grocery shopping trips. In a time of a recession, surely the policy of banning plastic bags should be left aside.
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
causes loss of jobs
I sometimes forget that the protection of plastic bag manufacturers is more important than attempting to clean the planet we live on. I forget that, so long as the workers in the plastic bag industry are OK, we will not suffer any environmental damage. Economic conditions should not impact upon the manner in which we address a problem that is contributing to the destruction of our planet. To believe that the livelihoods of a few workers is more important than preventing environmental damage is a ludacrous sentiment that deserves significant criticism.
The production of plastic bags is a big industry. There are factories which produce the bags and distribute them. Let us not forget that these factories may cause poolution, but they also have a vast amount of staff policing the production. In the time of a recession we should not be looking to thwart thriving industries but save them. Factory workers are finding it increasingly difficult to get work in this day and age and the ban of plastic bag distribution would only make their plight for employment even tougher.
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
People can and do recycle plastic bags
You might as well argue that a very small percentage of the human population has A.I.D.S or S.A.R.S or Cancer. Should we stop fighting disease, since most people at any particular point in time, are healthy? If we let the sale and purchase and inefficient disposal of plastic bags(including large black garbage bags) continue then more will be produced to be sold and inefficiently disposed in the future.If we stop production and sales, here and now, then one more environmental hazard(existing and in the making) will be checked off the list.
As we all know, demand causes sales and production. Stop buying and/or using plastic bags and production & sales will eventually cease. To argue that plastic bags once BANNED will be replaced by more plastic bags. Is almost as redundant and (oxymoron-ic) as my posting the same rebuttal against this AND the next NO point.
Plastic bags are being labelled as part of our disposable culture. However, the reality is, people do re-use their plastic bags of their own accord. Many people will use them on their future shopping trips, or hand them into recycling centres, and many people use them as bin liners. Ireland has seen a 400% increase in the purchasing of black bin liners since their plastic bag tax was introduced in 2002[1]. This means that the free white plastic bags are merely being replaced by larger blag plastic bags which have to be paid for. The banning of plastic bags is not all as proponants would have you beleive.
- ^ Leo Hickman, The Guardian, 11th August 2009
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
the environmental war needs to be won elsewhere
You might as well argue that a very small percentage of the human population has A.I.D.S or S.A.R.S or Cancer. Should we stop fighting disease, since most people at any particular point in time, are healthy? If we let the sale and purchase and inefficient disposal of plastic bags(including large black garbage bags) continue then more will be produced to be sold and inefficiently disposed in the future.If we stop production and sales, here and now, then one more environmental hazard(existing and in the making) will be checked off the list. As we all know, demand causes sales and production. Stop buying and/or using plastic bags and production & sales will eventually cease.
Plastic bags are being vilified for harming the environment when the reality is that they make only a small percentage difference. In the US plastic bags account for less than half a percent of domestic refuse[1]. The only reason why they are being unfairly scrutinised is because they are white and so stand out like a sore thumb when dropped as litter. Instead of banning plastic bags and claiming to be an 'environmentalist' people should target the larger issue; over consumption. If the people of the world stopped stuffing their trolleys to stuff their faces, not as many plastic bags would be needed and our domestic waste would be reduced dramatically.
- ^ Leo Hickman, The Guardian, 11th August 2009
What do you think? Vote on this point below.
SHOULD PLASTIC BAGS BE BANNED?
Loss of Technology
if you are to ban plastic bags humans as a race will lose a lot of technology because plastic bags are used for more than just supermarkets plastic bags are actually used to build and support structures when architects are making them without plastic bags it would be very hard for us to make houses they are used to package up areas on walls so they can see through the plastic when they are making the wallsso they know they did not block anything important banning plastic bags would cause most people with brocken walls have to pay a lot more to get them fixed as well as the price for house will raise plastic bags should not be banned.Hunter Schofield
Vote on the overall debate: Should plastic bags be banned?
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mikearcher87
|05:09, 12 August 09
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LLBlynch
|13:53, 12 August 09
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|05:17, 12 August 09
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|11:24, 12 August 09
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