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The image was published in 2016. It has been updated in 2020. The image proves my point towards my topic. It also supports my claim. In the article is shows what kind of plastic products are affecting marine life. The image was made by European Commission. The source is a .com so it should be reliable, but it depend what you're looking for. No errors were found whole looking at the image. Purpose was to show what is affecting marine life and how we can solve it. It informs the reader about plastics and the percentage of what they're affecting.

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The article was made on March 28, 2019. Hasn't been updated. The article answers all my questions about my topic and supports my claim. The article is about how the government has taken thought into banning single use plastic. This article was published by Marie J. French. The website for this is a .com and surprisingly it was actually a good resource. No errors were found whole I read the article. The reason for this article was to show how the government has actually been thinking about this for awhile now. It informs the reader about what the government thinks about this disaster.

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People walk with plastic bags. | AP Photo

ALBANY - The Department of Environmental Conservation will not enforce penalties for store owners handing out single-use plastic bags until April 1, following a legal challenge.

The statewide ban is set to go into effect Sunday. Regulations relating to plastic bags that are exempt and which ones qualify as reusable go into effect March 14.

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The state agreed to the suspended enforcement during a hearing on a temporary restraining order sought by a plastic bag manufacturer and New York City bodega owners on Friday in Albany County Supreme Court. In a last-ditch attempt to halt the statewide rollout of a ban on single-use plastic bags, the groups argued the regulations implementing the ban conflict with the statute.

"Strict compliance with this law ... would lead to consumers leaving the bodegas with their arms full of unwrapped goods," said Jim Featherstonhaugh, a lawyer for the groups challenging the ban.

The plaintiffs challenging the bag ban and the regulations included Poly-Pak, a Long Island plastics manufacturer, and an association of 5,000 small bodegas in New York City. They argued the new ban is unconstitutional, overly vague, conflicts with other laws and is "arbitrary and capricious." A lawyer for the state argued a temporary restraining order would be extremely harmful and confusing. Additional briefs on a preliminary injunction must be filed by March 24.

Both sides brought props: Featherstonhaugh had an orange reusable bag from the Hannaford grocery chain, which he said would be banned under a strict reading of the law. Loretta Simon, a lawyer with the attorney general's office arguing on behalf of the DEC, held up a green reusable bag being distributed by the department to food banks. She also had examples of thin plastic bags that will be banned starting March 1, and a somewhat thicker bag that is in compliance with bans in other states but not with New York's regulations.

(The attorney general's office objected to still photographs during the court proceeding.)

The DEC has previously indicated it would not immediately begin enforcing the law with monetary penalties. Simon made that clear to the judge during the hearing as part of the reason why no restraining order should be issued.

"There is no plan, nor do they want to begin enforcement," Simon said of the DEC. "They want people to have an opportunity to learn about the law and comply with the law."

Simon also raised concerns about a restraining order causing conflict with local paper bag fees in New York City, Tompkins County and Suffolk County. Those do not appear to be affected by the DEC's nonenforcement pledge and the suspension will not alter the rollout of local fees on paper bags March 1.

A major part of the plaintiffs' argument is that the law does not enable the DEC to create its own definition of exempt reusable bags. The plastics industry and retailers have raised concerns about a requirement that plastic-only bags be 10 millimeters thick to be exempt.

They argue that will limit the number of reusable bags available and leave retailers unable to provide any type of bag. Environmentalists meanwhile have objected on the grounds that those bags are still plastic and should be prohibited.

"You cannot rewrite the legislation with regulation," Featherstonhaugh said.

The plaintiffs' lawsuit also challenges the regulations as "arbitrary and capricious"

It argues the law itself is also inconsistent with existing statutory requirements for retailers over a certain size to collect film plastic for recycling, unacceptably vague and internally inconsistent. It also raises a constitutional argument, saying the law unfairly benefits some manufacturers of certain reusable bags purchased for distribution by the state or local government when a 5-cent fee on paper bags is collected.

The return date for the underlying Article 78 challenge to the regulations and law is May 1.

This article tagged under:

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DEC officially delays enforcement of plastic bag ban

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ALBANY - The Department of Environmental Conservation will not enforce penalties for store owners handing out single-use plastic bags until April 1, following a legal challenge. The statewide ban is set to go into effect Sunday. Regulations relating to plastic bags that are exempt and which ones qualify as reusable go into effect March 14.

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The article was published in 2020. It was updated on January 09,2020. The article answers my point of view. It also supports my claim. The article is about how plastic is affecting animals more and more everyday. The article was by Courtney Lindwall. THe website for the article is a .org and that means it is a good resource for research. I did not find any errors in the article as I read it. The purpose for the article was to not only show how its effecting the environment but it is affecting animal life too. The article teaches the reader about the animals being harmed from simple as a straw.

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What Are Single-Use Plastics?

Put simply, single-use plastics are goods that are made primarily from fossil fuel-based chemicals (petrochemicals) and are meant to be disposed of right after use-often, in mere minutes. Single-use plastics are most commonly used for packaging and serviceware, such as bottles, wrappers, straws, and bags.

Though plastic-a chain of synthetic polymers, essentially-was invented in the mid-19th century, it wasn't until the 1970s that its popularity skyrocketed. Manufacturers began replacing traditionally paper or glass staples with lighter or more durable and affordable plastic alternatives; plastic jugs replaced milk jars, for instance. Since the 1950s, 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics have been produced, and half of that in the past 15 years alone.

There are many uses for plastic that are not only reasonable but important, such as surgical gloves, or straws for people with disabilities. But these cases make up a small fraction of single-use plastic. According to a 2017 study, more than half of non-fiber plastic, which excludes synthetic fabrics like polyester and nylon, comes from plastic packaging alone, much of which is for single-use items.

Why Is Single-Use Plastic Bad?

Single-use plastics are a glaring example of the problems with throwaway culture. Instead of investing in quality goods that will last, we often prioritize convenience over durability and consideration of long-term impacts. Our reliance on these plastics means we are accumulating waste at a staggering rate. We produce 300 million tons of plastic each year worldwide, half of which is for single-use items. That's nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population.

Reducing plastic use is the most effective means of avoiding this waste (and the impacts linked to plastic production and use). Carrying reusable bags and bottles is one great way to avoid single-use plastics in our day-to-day lives; more on preventing plastic waste can be found below.

Recycling more plastic, more frequently, reduces its footprint. Polyethylene terephthalate, one of the most commonly recycled plastics and the material that makes up most water and soda bottles, can be turned into everything from polyester fabric to automotive parts. But a whopping 91 percent of all plastic isn't recycled at all. Instead it ends up in landfills or in the environment. Single-use plastics in particular-especially small items like straws, bags, and cutlery-are traditionally hard to recycle because they fall into the crevices of recycling machinery and therefore are often not accepted by recycling centers.

Left alone, plastics don't really break down; they just break up. Over time, sun and heat slowly turn plastics into smaller and smaller pieces until they eventually become what are known as microplastics. These microscopic plastic fragments, no more than 5 millimeters long, are hard to detect-and are just about everywhere. Some microplastics are even small by design, like the microbeads used in facial scrubs or the microfibers in polyester clothing. They end up in the water, eaten by wildlife, and inside our bodies. They've even made their way up to the secluded Pyrenees mountain range and down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. For wildlife, microplastics can be particularly dangerous; when eaten they can easily accumulate inside an animal's body and cause health issues, like punctured organs or fatal intestinal blockages.

Single-Use Plastics and Pollution

Although single-use plastic pollution accumulates most visibly on our streets, in fact our water suffers even more. Litter can be the first stage in a waste stream that enters waterways as plastics tossed on the street are washed away by rain or travel via storm drains into rivers and streams. Our waterway plastic pollution is particularly concentrated: Just ten rivers carry 93 percent of the world's total amount of plastic that enters the oceans via rivers each year.

In 2015 researchers from the University of Georgia estimated that between 4.8 million and 12.7 million metric tons of plastic per year make their way into the oceans via people living within 30 miles of a coast. The majority of this pollution-dominated by single-use plastic waste-comes from countries lacking infrastructure to properly manage waste, particularly in Asia. India, for example, generates 25,940 tons of plastic waste every day but collects only 60 percent of it. (It's also important to remember that waste management is just one part of the global materials cycle. For instance, a lot of the plastic produced in Asian countries is for products that serve U.S. demand-and the United States often sends plastic waste back to these countries for recycling.)

Marine animals bear the burden of this influx of garbage into their habitats. Beached whales have been found with stomachs full of plastic trash. And recent studies found plastic in the guts of 90 percent of the seabirds tested and 100 percent of the turtles. Alarmingly, scientists estimate that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by weight in 2050. Not only is plastic estimated to kill millions of marine animals and seabirds each year, but it's also contaminating seafood that humans have relied on for millennia, particularly with microplastics in animals' guts.

Our addiction to plastic also has negative impacts on the climate. A recent report showed that plastic production contributes to planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions at every point in its life cycle. The process of drilling for plastic's source materials, oil and gas, leads to methane leaking and flaring and is often combined with clearing forests and wetlands that otherwise would have sequestered carbon. Refineries where crude oil is turned into plastic make up one of the most greenhouse gas-intensive industries in the manufacturing sector. And "cracker plants"-which break, or "crack," ethane molecules, a component of natural gas, into the chemical building blocks of plastic products-are energy intensive and highly polluting. In 2015 a mere 24 of these ethane cracker facilities in the United States had the combined carbon output of 3.8 million passenger vehicles. And the recent fracking boom, resulting in a surplus of oil, is fueling a subsequent rise in cracker plants, too. That's bad news for our carbon reduction goals: if plastic production continues unabated, its greenhouse gas emissions could reach 1.34 gigatons per year by 2030 -equal to adding nearly 300 new coal-fired power plants-even as the need to curb global climate change becomes more urgent.

Plastic pollution-whether in our oceans, piling up on our coastlines, or contributing to our climate crisis-impacts vulnerable communities first. Even if plastic doesn't end up in the ocean, recycled plastic is often exported from high-income countries to developing countries to process. But the sheer amount of plastic waste inundates communities until they are drowning under thousands of tons of plastic trash. This is the case particularly in Southeast Asia, which has begun to import much of the plastic that used to go to China for recycling. Not only does the waste destroy the land itself, but when plastic is incinerated (as is the case for unrecyclable plastic at some illegal facilities) its toxic fumes quickly become a health hazard for residents, leading to everything from skin rashes to cancer. Such is the case with many environmental crises: the worst effects are pushed onto overburdened communities with the fewest resources to fight back.

Should We Ban Single-Use Plastics?

Plastic is putting a strain on waste management systems, our oceans, and vulnerable communities the world over. A wave of single-use plastic bans is sweeping the country and the globe-most often on plastic bags, straws, stirrers, and takeout clamshells. (Some places are going so far as to ban single-use plastics entirely; most notably, India intends to go this route by 2022.) Among the U.S. cities to outlaw plastic straws are Malibu, Berkeley, Seattle, and Miami Beach. Plastic bag bans-ideally accompanied by a fee on paper bags-are also catching on. New York State and Hawaii just passed theirs, set to go into effect in 2020, and California's bag ban, which was passed in 2014, has been shown to have reduced plastic bag usage by 85 percent (with some customers opting to pay a 10 cent fee for thicker plastic bags) and has reduced coastal pollution.

What do the bans accomplish? They prevent millions of tons of plastic from entering the waste stream each year. And when it comes to waste that lasts forever, every ton counts. In New York, 23 billion plastic bags are used by residents each year. Not only does banning single-use plastic reduce pollution, but it also reduces demand for plastic production that's contributing to global climate change. But beyond these impacts, the bans have cultural effects. Companies are forced to innovate, rethinking their designs and sourcing sustainable materials. And they help shift consumer mind-sets, as people begin to recognize that exorbitant and avoidable waste is not sustainable.

Large producers of single-use plastics can make a big environmental impact. As part of the Break Free From Plastic movement, Greenpeace volunteers conducted an audit of plastic pollution along coastlines, sifting through tens of thousands of individual pieces across 42 countries to identify the pollution's sources. They discovered that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé products were found most often. Coca-Cola has said that it alone produces three million tons of plastic packaging each year, equivalent to a terrifying 200,000 plastic bottles per minute. Policies like bottle bill laws-which generally require retailers to add a fee on individual bottles, which can then be partially redeemed by customers when they recycle-are a way to increase corporate responsibility for waste while providing a monetary incentive to recycle. In Taiwan, which was once overflowing with so much trash that it spurred public protest and the nickname "Garbage Island," companies now either manage their own waste or subsidize government-run infrastructure. Accompanied by high social accountability and musical garbage trucks, that strategy has proved wildly effective: the island now reports recycling rates above 50 percent.

Some companies are taking initiative on their own. McDonald's swapped its plastic straws for paper at its United Kingdom and Ireland restaurants. Disney is eliminating single-use plastic straws and stirrers at all its theme parks, resorts and properties. And Starbucks, which uses an estimated one billion plastic straws per year, is phasing them out in favor of paper ones. These actions are a response to calls for change and shifting consumer habits.

Avoiding Single-Use Plastics

Individual choices -and the collective shifts they bring about-add up quickly. Making just one simple swap, like purchasing a reusable water bottle, can spare the environment hundreds of plastic bottles each year. Here are a few more tips for ridding your life (and your community) of single-use plastics for good.

Always pack a reusable bag when shopping. (And yes-reusable totes are better for the environment than plastics, recent media claims aside.)

Cook more often, to reduce your use of plastic-heavy takeout containers.

Buy in bulk. Avoid individually packaged goods, like snack packs.

Though buying online sometimes has a lower carbon footprint than shopping in a store (skip the express delivery option, if you can), online shipments are still chock-full of plastic. Your best bet to reduce your footprint and plastic waste? Walk, bike, or take public transit to buy in-person.

Avoid plastic wrap altogether by storing leftovers in reusable containers. Try reusable and compostable beeswax wrap for an easy and decorative option.

Buy a metal or bamboo reusable straw. Pack it alongside reusable cutlery (like wood, bamboo, or metal chopsticks) for sustainable eating on the go.

Talk to the owners of the restaurants you frequent. Ask if they have nonplastic alternatives to plastic straws, stirrers, or bags.

Speak out in support of local plastic bans, whether by calling your local government representative, submitting an op-ed to your city's newspaper, or simply starting conversations with neighbors.

Let companies that make your favorite products know that you care about the packaging. Tweet, call, or send letters to these companies to ask them to switch to more durable, recyclable, compostable, renewable, and/or recycled-content packaging with less fossil fuel-derived plastic.

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Here's everything you need to know about the most ubiquitous (and avoidable) kind of plastic waste: the kind made to be tossed in mere minutes.

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The image was made on September 18,2019. It hasn't been updated since posted. The image does answer my questions. It most definitely does agree with my claim. Also the image shows what single use plastic is and what kind is effective. THe image was made by Daybreak Nantucket. Website is a .com and is a good resource. I didn't find any errors in the image. The purpose is to show the reader what is affecting the environment and how. The image teaches the reader what kind of plastic is bad and what's good.

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Nantucket is saying no to "single-use" plastics. And nearly every resident, visitor, and business operating on the island will be affected by the upcoming ban on the sale of plastics intended for just one use.
Island voters approved the ban, to go into effect on June 1, 2020, at a special Nantucket Town Meeting in fall of 2018. Forbidden products include plastic straws, plates and eating utensils, drinking cups and lids, and plain water in PET/PETE containers. Those plastic "yokes" holding together bottled and canned drinks, which can end up strangling wildlife, are also banned. All eateries will need a substitute for plastics, and retail stores will be barred from selling single-use items likes cups, forks, spoons, and knives. The town is letting business owners and consumers know what's involved in the island's ban on single-use plastics tomorrow at 6 pm in the Community Room of Nantucket's Public Safety Facility at 4 Fairgrounds Road. It's a good thing for Nantucket.

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Our future single-use plastics ban - DayBreak Nantucket

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Nantucket is saying no to "single-use" plastics. And nearly every resident, visitor, and business operating on the island will be affected by the upcoming ban on the sale of plastics intended for just one use.

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The image was issued on September 09,2019. It hasn't been updated since posted. It does relate to my topic because my topic is about reusing and banning single use plastic ans the image should how much plastic is taking up the whole earth. The image is made by Kiran Sharma. The website is a .com so it is not the best for research but it's a good image to look at. The image did not have any grammar or spelling mistakes. The reason for the image is to show how much plastic is taking over a lot of the space in the environment. The image is to inform the reader that plastic is getting out of hand.

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NEW DELHI -- India, which has some of the world's most polluted cities, is moving toward enforcing a nationwide ban on single-use and disposable plastic products, including lightweight plastic bags and coffee cups.

The ban may take effect by Oct. 2, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi. The same day, India is also expected to be declared free of open defecation -- five years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his ambitious Clean India drive, under which more than 95 million toilets have been built across the country.

Several government departments have already moved to eliminate single-use plastic products, including thin plastic bags, coffee cups and soda and water bottles, and food packaging. The Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ministry last week announced a blanket ban on all single-use plastic products, starting Sept. 15, while the Ministry of Railways has directed its vendors to avoid use of plastic carry bags from Oct. 2, among other measures.

The effort is being spearheaded Modi himself, who on Aug. 15, the country's independence day, called on Indians to shun single-use plastics and to pledge on Oct. 2 to eliminate these items in India. His government aims to phase out disposable plastic by 2022.

Modi has on numerous occasions highlighted the problem of plastic pollution, which he said is causing deadly harm to the marine ecosystem, along with declining fish catches, warming ocean temperatures and vanishing habitats, and could threaten humanity.

India and its 1.3 billion people are already battling severe pollution. The northern city of Gurugram, near New Delhi, was rated as having the world's most toxic air, according to the "2018 World Air Quality Report" published by IQAir AirVisual and Greenpeace. The report also said the country is home to 22 of the world's 30 most polluted cities.

About 9.4 million tons of plastic waste are generated in India annually, translating to 26,000 tons a day. Of this, about 60% is recycled, mostly by the informal sector. "While the recycling rate in India is considerably higher than the global average of 20%, there [are] still over 9,400 tons of plastic waste [per day] which is either landfilled or ends up polluting streams or groundwater resources," according to a report published in March by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

The report pointed out that while some kinds of plastic do not decompose at all, others could take up to 450 years to break down.

According to Archana Jyoti, a New Delhi-based environment and health columnist, India's effort to ban single-use plastic is making progress, though carrying it out nationwide will not be easy. "More importantly, alternatives should be made available to people and greater awareness generated for effective implementation of the move," Jyoti said.

According to some estimates, India's per capita annual plastic consumption may nearly double to 20 kg by 2022, up from 11 kg in 2015.

In 2002, India's neighbor Bangladesh became the first country to ban lightweight plastic bags. That move was followed by several other countries, including South Africa and Rwanda. Two more of India's neighbors, Pakistan and China, have announced steps to gradually scrap single-use plastic products.

Plastic is used massively because of its useful qualities. It is lightweight, flexible and relatively inexpensive. But as a waste product it harms the environment. "Our tremendous attraction to plastic, coupled with an undeniable behavioral propensity of increasingly over-consuming, discarding, littering and thus polluting, has become a combination of lethal nature," the urban affairs ministry report warned.

"This year, on the second of October, when we celebrate [Gandhi's] 150th birth anniversary, we shall not only dedicate to him an India that is open-defecation free, but also shall lay the foundation of a new revolution against plastic, by people themselves, throughout the country," Modi said in a recent radio address.

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India set to ban single-use and disposable plastics

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NEW DELHI -- India, which has some of the world's most polluted cities, is moving toward enforcing a nationwide ban on single-use and disposable plastic products, including lightweight plastic bags and coffee cups. The ban may take effect by Oct. 2, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi.

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The article was published on January 28,2020. The article hasn't been updated. It doesn't connect to my topic because my topic is about the us banning single use plastic but in the article it talks about keeping plastic around more. The article is from Stephanie Vermilion. The website is a .com so it is not the greatest for research. This article did not have any spelling or grammar mistakes. The reason for the article is to show how we still need single use plastic objects so we shouldn't get rid of them. The article is to persuade the reader to not ban single us plastics.

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In early January 2020, China joined the growing movement of more than 120 countries pledging to ban single-use plastics. The country of 1.4 billion citizens is the No. 1 producer of plastic waste in the world. It topped 60 million tons (54.4 million metric tons) in 2010 based on a September 2018 report titled " Plastic Pollution."

But China announced it plans to outlaw the production and sale of non-degradable bags by the end of 2020 in major cities (and everywhere by 2022), as well as single-use straws by late 2020. Markets selling produce will have until 2025 to follow suit.

The push to ban plastic took center stage in 2018 with massive promotions like the award-winning # StopSucking campaign, which featured stars like NFL quarterback Tom Brady and his wife Gisele Bündchen and Hollywood actor Adrian Grenier pledging to give up single-use plastic straws. Now countries and companies are saying no to plastics by the dozens, and consumers are following along with them.

As the plastics-ban movement hits major milestones - such as China's latest announcement - we decided to define the bottles, bags and straws that are causing this global stir.

What Is Single-use Plastic?

True to its name, a single-use plastic is disposable plastic that's designed to be used once then tossed or recycled. This includes everything from plastic water drink bottles and produce bags to disposable plastic razors and plastic ribbon - really any plastic item you use then immediately discard. While these items can be recyclable, Megean Weldon of the blog and waste-prevention shop Zero Waste Nerd says that's hardly the norm.

"In reality, very few plastic items can be processed into new materials and products," she says in an email. "Unlike glass and aluminum, plastic isn't processed into the same item it was when it was collected by a recycling center. The quality of plastic is downgraded, so eventually, and inevitably, that plastic will still end up in a landfill."

Take a plastic water bottle. Most bottles say they can be recycled - and based solely on their easily recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) composition, they could be. But nearly seven out of 10 bottles end up in landfills or tossed as litter. This problem increased when China decided to stop accepting and recycling plastic in 2018. For municipalities, that meant recycling became significantly pricier, according to The Atlantic, so many municipalities are now simply opting for the budget-friendly landfill over recycling.

Pair this landfill-first approach with the world's ever-growing plastic consumption - humans produce almost 20,000 plastic bottles per second, according to The Guardian and America's waste grew by 4.5 percent from 2010 to 2015 - it's no wonder the world is overflowing with plastic waste.

Plastic Could Outlive Us All

Think banning all of this plastic is overkill? There are some very solid reasons why it makes sense. First, plastic in landfills just doesn't go away. According to Weldon, a plastic bag takes 10 to 20 years to degrade, while a plastic bottle takes almost 500 years. And, even when it's "gone," its remnants remain.

"Plastic never breaks down or goes away; it only breaks into smaller and smaller pieces until they're so microscopic they can be found in our air and our drinking water," Kathryn Kellogg, author and founder of the waste-reduction website Going Zero Waste, says via email.

Some grocery stores have switched to biodegradable plastic shopping bags as a way to meet consumers in the middle, but research shows this is hardly a savvy solution. One study from researchers at the University of Plymouth in England analyzed 80 single-use plastic grocery store bags made of biodegradable plastic over the course of three years. Their goal? Determine just how "biodegradable" these bags really were. Their findings were published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Soil and seawater didn't lead to bag degradation. Instead, three of the four types of biodegradable bags were still sturdy enough to hold up to 5 pounds (2.2 kilograms) of groceries (as were the non-biodegradable bags). Those exposed to sun did break down - but that's not necessarily positive either. The small particles from degradation can quickly spread through the environment - think air, ocean or the belly of hungry animals who mistake plastic fragments for food.

Can't We Just Reuse Single-use Plastic?

Another reason many countries are prohibiting single-use plastics is because they shouldn't be reused, despite our best intentions. As many municipalities forego recycling, it's tempting to take matters into your own hands by reusing (and therefore "recycling") plastic bottles and containers. Sure, this may work for bags, but experts say to take caution when it comes to plastic bottles or food containers. One study in Environmental Health Perspectives showed that all plastics used in food containers and plastic bottles could release harmful chemicals if used repeatedly. (This includes those said to be free of bisphenol A [BPA] - a controversial chemical that's been linked to hormonal disruptions.)

While researchers are still analyzing the safety of repeated plastic reuse, experts recommend glass or metal to avoid potentially harmful chemicals. And according to Weldon, it's time we adopt a reuse mindset - be it cotton produce bags, stainless steel straws or a full-on zero-waste.

"The worst thing about any single-use item is that we devalue something to the point that we intend to throw it away," she says. "The convenience culture has normalized this destructive behavior and as result, we produce millions of tons of it every single year. If we change our mindset on what we consume, we will be more aware of the single-use plastic we use and how we can avoid it."
This story is a part of Covering Climate Now's week of coverage focused on Climate Solutions, to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Covering Climate Now is a global journalism collaboration committed to strengthening coverage of the climate story.

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What Are Single-use Plastics and Should They Be Banned?

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In early January 2020, China joined the growing movement of more than 120 countries pledging to ban single-use plastics. The country of 1.4 billion citizens is the No. 1 producer of plastic waste in the world. It topped 60 million tons (54.4 million metric tons) in 2010 based on a September 2018 report titled " Plastic Pollution."

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The article was made in January 20,2020. The article hasn't been updated. It connects to my topic because my topic is about banning single use plastic and the article is about countries finally banning plastics. The article is by Trevor Nace. The website is a .com so it might not be the best for research but it's still good. This article did not have any spelling or grammar mistakes. The reason for this article is for to show how China realized how bad plastics were and is trying to get the US to agree with banning single use plastics. The article is to inform the reader about all about the dangers of single use plastics.

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A boy carries bottles of water during a severe drought in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan province ... [+]
AFP via Getty Images

China, one of the world's largest consumer of plastics, just announced its plan to ban single-use plastics across the country.

The proposal, announced Sunday aims to reduce plastic waste that has become ubiquitous in Chinese cities, promote recycling and green packaging and curb their overflowing garbage dumps.

The policy will ban the production and sale of disposable plastic tableware and cotton swabs by the end of 2020. Production of household products containing microbeads will be banned by the end of 2020 and sales of such products will be banned two years after that.

Single-use and non-degradable plastic bags will be banned in major Chinese cities by the end of 2020 and across the country by 2022. In addition, single-use straws will be banned by the end of 2020.

A child carries a chick bought from a vendor outside a primary school on March 3, 2009 in Changchun ... [+]
Getty Images

By 2025 the proposal, which was introduced by both the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, would ban all single-use plastics across the country.

The phased approach will allow time for China to ramp up manufacturing of biodegradable and alternate products to replace single-use plastics.

The ban comes on the heels of China announcing that it's mega-dump, the largest in the country is full 25 years ahead of schedule. The Jiangcungou landfill in Shaanxi Province is the size of 100 football fields and was built to receive 2,500 tonnes of waste per day. Instead, the landfill received 10,000 tonnes of waste per day.

While China is one of the largest waste producer s in the world, the United States produces more waste per person than China.

Shopping cart filled with plastic bags.
Toronto Star via Getty Images

Canada is the largest producer of waste in the world. It is estimated that each Canadian produces 36.1 metric tons (about 80,000 pounds) of waste per person per year. In total, Canada produces 1.33 billion metric tons of waste per year.

To date, there are three states in the United States that have banned single-use plastic bags. California was the first state to ban its use, followed by Hawaii then New York. The ban of single-use plastic bags in New York will go into effect in March of 2020.

While those are the current states that have banned single-use plastic bags, numerous cities and counties across the country have banned their use.

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China, one of the world's largest consumer of plastics, just announced its plan to ban single-use plastics across the country. The proposal, announced Sunday aims to reduce plastic waste that has become ubiquitous in Chinese cities, promote recycling and green packaging and curb their overflowing garbage dumps.

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The image was published in 2018. It was updated on September 23,2019. The video relates to my topic because it helps support my option. In the image it shows how we should ban single plastic use. The image is by Sun Fabric. The website for the image is a .in so it is a dependable method for research. This image did not have any spelling or grammar mistakes. The purpose of the image was to show how US and other countries should ban single use plastic and how it is bad for the environment. The image is to persuade the viewer.

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In the past 20 years, India's has witnessed incredible development in how retail businesses advertise and reach out to potential customers. With more than 1 billion population India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
According to the Indian Brand Equity Foundation,
The total expenditure of the Indian population in retail supermarkets is expected to reach nearly US$ 3,600 billion by 2020 from US$ 1,824 billion in 2017. This shares a massive 10% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and around 8% of the employment.

India is the world's fifth-largest global destination in the retail space. Naturally, this scenario has caused businesses to have relentless competition amongst themselves to capture more market share.

For retail businesses dealing directly in-person to customers like retails chains, grocery stores, factory outlets, restaurant, etc, the marketing channel is traditional outdoor and indoor displays, which include promotional posters, flyers, shop window displays, storefront displays, lightboxes, highway advertisements, billboards, banners, building wraps, flags, outdoor signages, mobile billboards, and many more.

India every year has almost 30 thousand tonnes of plastic waste disposed of. Since plastic is non-biodegradable this extremely large quantity of plastic waste is leading to a hazardous and toxic environment. Now coming to the materials used in creating these commercial outdoor endorsements, flex and vinyl are the most common. Flexi or more commonly known as flex is a PVC plastic-based material. Due to its cheap price, it is easily available all over India and is used in all kinds of outdoor and indoor displays. However, the plastic pollution caused by these printing materials can't be overlooked.

Prime minister Narendra Modi in 2019 Independence Day started a campaign against single-use plastics. Single-use plastics include Flex and Vinyl under it with many other types of products like plastic soda bottles, plastic straws, etc. Furthermore, on 19 September the central government have sent out official notices to remove all the flex banners in Delhi. The central government has also claimed that flex manufacturing business in Delhi will be sealed after Gandhi Jayanti on 2 nd October 2, 2019. It is very likely that other states are to follow and ban single-use plastics.

Supporting the prime minister's initiative to curb single-use plastics, the majority of retail businesses are trying to stop using plastic in their banners and promotion media. Many upscale retail chains have switched from flex displays to aluminum profiles with acrylic and Backlit Fabric printed on UV machines. However, a majority of businesses are still to make the shift from flex to fabric.

With central governments aim to ban single-use plastic from 2 nd October, the change from traditional media of flex to new eco-friendly digital printing media is crucial. This eco-friendly flex alternative for digital printing businesses is much better in durability and has other benefits like lightweight, better resolution, and print clarity.

The recent trend shows a high number of retail chains and business are removing PVC material in their advertisings and starting to use fabric. Sun Fabric aims to serve and fulfill the demand of eco-friendly flex alternative with front-lit and back-lit fabric for visual displays. Sun Fabric's ready to print fabric is 100% PVC-free and 100% environmentally friendly.

Sun fabric's front-lit fabric for printing is the perfect option for someone who wants to create backdrops, dropdowns, hoardings, standees, pull up banners, etc. Whereas backlit fabrics are the best material to create super eye-catching and attractive backlit designs. Check out our product application samples.

Some of the key features of Sun Fabrics printable fabrics are:

1. Color adaptability and richness.

2. Superb print quality irrespective of the platform (Solvent/Eco-solvent/Latex/UV)

3. Fast Drying capability

4. Available in matt, gloss, semi-gloss, and greyback.

5. Widths available in 40 to 124 inches

6. Easily foldable for transportation and storage

7. Super stretchable for easy installation on the frames

8. Allows neat seaming by heat seaming machines (alternatively seaming by the bond)

9. SGS Certificate purity certification for being 100% PVC free and eco-friendly

Sun Fabric envisages that fabric is the future of flex printing, and sooner or later the flex printing industry will have to make a definite switch from flex to fabric. Therefore, Sun Fabric was established with the purpose of developing eco-friendly printable fabrics to replace PVC flex and put a stop on use of PVC plastic pollution.

Contact us to learn more about our product range and its uses.

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Single-Use Plastic Flex Banners To Be Banned in October 2019 - Sun Fabric

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In the past 20 years, India's has witnessed incredible development in how retail businesses advertise and reach out to potential customers. With more than 1 billion population India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

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The video was uploaded on October 24,2018. It hasn't been updated. The video relates to my topic because it supports my thoughts on single use plastic. In the video it shows the amount of plastic we are using and where is it going. The video is by Euronews(in English). The website is YouTube.com so it should be a good resource for good information. This video did not have and spelling or grammar mistakes. The purpose of the video is to show how plastic is all over the US and it needs to stop. The video informs the viewer.

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Bye-bye plastics: MEPs approve single-use plastic ban

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The article was made in 2020. It hasn't been updated. The article does relate to my topic because it supports my opinion. In the article it shows the percentage of plastic usage is going up. The article  is by Cathy Rust. The website for the article is a .com so it is a reliable resource. This article did not have any grammar or spelling mistakes. The purpose of the article is to show how plastic should be banned in the cities and should be watched how much we use. The article is to persuade the reader.

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Plastic bag waste. Credit: Zainub Razvi
As Montreal debates whether or not it should ban plastic bags, it's an opportunity for me to express my opinion on the subject, yet again. Toronto began charging a 5¢ fee for all plastic bags in mid-2009. A few years later that ever-forward-thinking mayor, Rob Ford, decided to eliminate the bag charge.

In mid-2010 I did some research to see what effect the policy had had on single-use plastic bag consumption within Toronto (you can read that article here). In a nutshell, the 5¢ charge reduced plastic bag use in grocery stores by 70%. It was an effective policy mechanism that allowed consumers to make a choice about whether they wanted to pay for bags or bring their own.

Last year when New York City was debating charging 10¢ per single use bag, not surprisingly, the American Progressive Bag Alliance was outraged and sent out a press release saying:

Denying that this legislation is a tax is disingenuous to the hardworking residents of New York City. This proposed ordinance will drive up the cost of already expensive groceries for New Yorkers while failing to achieve any environmental goals.
[ Source]

In California there will be an outright ban on all single use plastic bags introduced through bill SB 270 which comes into effect on July 1, 2015. Now, it should be noted that the bill permits alternatives to single-use plastic bags such as multi-use bags made with a component of post-recycled plastic content and post-consumer recycled paper bags which can be purchased for 10¢ each. It also appears that certain types of stores (such as convenience stores) aren't included in the bill until July, 2016.

The website plasticoceans.net notes: "In 2010, 300 million tonnes of plastic will be made - about half of this will be used just once then thrown away." According to this site, over one million plastic bags are used around the world every minute. The negative effects of plastic bags as waste are tremendous. They clog city sewer systems and cities such as New York deal with over 1700 tons of plastic bags per week and cost more than $12.5 million to dispose of them. When they get into the aquatic environment, they can also be mistaken as a food source. [ source] Just type in "plastic ocean" in Google images and you will see images of sealife that has intermingled with plastic that will make your stomach turn.

The point of this information is to show that regardless of what route a city decides to take, the epidemic of plastic bag use needs to be addressed, and quickly. So, should a ban be placed or should there simply be a charge per single bag? And should it be for all single bag types (plastic and paper) or just plastic?

We need to look at the consequences of banning bags with respect to the larger picture of its effect on the retail environment - and a healthy retail environment is good for cities' bottom lines. In cities such as New York and Montreal which not only cater to residents but also to significant numbers of tourists, banning single-use plastic bags may do more harm than good. While I carry a convenience fold-up bag in my purse at all times, I'm not about to stash a few more bags in my purse when I travel. If I'm a tourist in New York and I want to purchase some items - and let's face it, it's hard to leave New York without purchasing something - I need something to put them in.

What about reusable plastic bags?

In an age where reusable bags are being given out more and more often, I find myself with more durable bags than I know what to do with. In fact, these bags can completely off-set the intended environmental good of the bag ban in the first place since it takes about 28 plastic bags to make one reusable bag. Case in point: the SAQ (the Société des alcools du Québec - where you buy decent wine and liquour) no longer carries any single use bags, paper or plastic, and instead offers empty wine/liquour boxes or reusable bags for purchase.

While I have never bought a single bag, our house now has over 15 of them. Sure, it might point to the need for an intervention for our household, but beyond that, what am I going to do with all these bags? They are beverage specific and only allow four bottles max. I use a few of them for groceries and stuff concentrated frozen juices, condiments, and sparkling water bottles in them, but that's about all they can handle.

A charge per single use bag, on the other hand, while unpleasant and may have tourists rolling their eyes, at least provides the opportunity for people who either forgot to bring their reusable bags, or tourists who don't want to bring along bags when they travel, to purchase their items and have somewhere to put them.

Given the fact that a simple 5¢ fee had the effect of shrinking plastic bag use by 70% within a year, I believe that a small fee per single bag is the most effective method of reducing plastic bag consumption, regardless of the type of bag offered as the alternative.

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Should Cities Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags?

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Plastic bag waste. Credit: Zainub Razvi As Montreal debates whether or not it should ban plastic bags, it's an opportunity for me to express my opinion on the subject, yet again. Toronto began charging a 5¢ fee for all plastic bags in mid-2009.

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The image was originally created in 2019. The image hasn't been updated. It relates to my topic by it shows my thoughts on a picture and also supports my claim. On the image it shows not using plastic helps the environment. It was created by Alayna Meyer. The website for the the image in a .gov so it is a good resource. The image did not have any grammar or spelling mistakes. The purpose of the image is to show how plastic should be recycled. This image is to persuades the reader to no use plastic products and recycle more.

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The video was published in May 17,2019. It's last been updated on January 23,2020. It helps the reader understand more about plastics. The video was produced by Conall Jones. The website for the video is a .com so the video is pretty reliable. It also didn't have any spelling or grammar mistakes. The purpose of the video was to show how plastic is getting produced better and people are starting to care about cleaning up the environment and recycling more. This video teaches the viewer.

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5/17/2019 9:00AM

Plastic represents one of the biggest waste challenges for cities in the future. The Wall Street Journal examines the new technologies that could revolutionize our conception of waste. Photo illustration: Drew Evans/The Wall Street Journal

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Plastic: The Scourge of Cities Becomes a Resource

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5/17/2019 9:00AM Plastic represents one of the biggest waste challenges for cities in the future. The Wall Street Journal examines the new technologies that could revolutionize our conception of waste. Photo illustration: Drew Evans/The Wall Street Journal