# data[].attributes.body
c- It was published on August 2014. It has not been revised or updated
r- The information does relate to my topic, It does agree with my claim
a- the author Matt Davie
a- It does not have any spelling or grammar errors.
p- The purpose of the picture is to inform us about how animals would try to eat balloons and plastic bags.

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c- It was published on June 3, 2016
r- Yes the information does relate to my information. it also agree with my claim.
a- The source is Pinterest.
The URL reveals that pinterest has concern about single use plastics.  a- No i did not find any spelling or grammar errors
p- The purpose of the information is to inform us that animals are feeding there babies plastic from the ocean

# data[].attributes.body
c- It was published on October 3, 2017
r- Yes it relates to my information. This does agree with my claim
a-The publisher is Domis(last name not given)
The URL shows that he wants to get rid of single use plastics.
a- No i did not find any spelling or grammar errors.
p- To inform about the problem with plastic bags suffocating fish.

# data[].attributes.body
c- it was published on july 6, 2018. it has not been revised.
r- yes it does relate to the topic, yes it agrees with my claim
a- the author is Paul Harvey
a- No i did not find any spelling or grammar errors
p- It is used to inform the reader about the problem with plastics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sometimes We Really Need Single-Use Plastics

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As governments around the world rightly consider bans of various kinds of disposable plastics, nuance is needed to protect crucial applications, such as in research, food aid and medicine, argues environmental science researcher Paul Harvey of Macquarie University.

# data[].attributes.body
C- It was published on December 20, 2017. The information has not been revised.
R- The information does relate to my topic, and it does answer my claim that we should ban single use plastics.
A- The source is Water Docs. The URL shows that they want to reduce the amount of plastic used.
A- no I did not find any spelling or grammar errors
P-It is used to persuade the reader to use less plastic.

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China, one of the world's biggest users of plastic, has unveiled a major plan to reduce single-use plastics across the country.

Non-degradable bags will be banned in major cities by the end of 2020 and in all cities and towns by 2022.

The restaurant industry will also be banned from using single-use straws by the end of 2020.

China has for years been struggling to deal with the rubbish its 1.4 billion citizens generate.

The country's largest rubbish dump - the size of around 100 football fields - is already full, 25 years ahead of schedule.

In 2017 alone, China collected 215 million tonnes of urban household waste. But national figures for recycling are not available.

China produced 60 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2010, followed by the US at 38 million tonnes, according to online publication Our World in Data based at the University of Oxford.

The research was published in 2018 and said the "relative global picture is similar in projections up to 2025".

What has changed?

The National Development and Reform Commission on Sunday issued the new policy, which will be implemented over the next five years.

Plastic bags will be banned across all cities and towns in 2022, though markets selling fresh produce will be exempt until 2025.

The production and sale of plastic bags that are less than 0.025mm thick will also be banned.

The restaurant industry must reduce the use of single-use plastic items by 30%.

Hotels have been told that they must not offer free single-use plastic items by 2025.

China looks to clean up act on illegally produced wood too

By Roger Harrabin, BBC environment analyst

The broadcaster David Attenborough has warned that the planet can't be protected unless China changes its polluting ways.

Suddenly that's just starting to happen.

Following Beijing's clampdown on plastic, there's now to be a ban on illegally produced wood.

For 20 years, China's demand for raw materials has been a massive driver of illegal logging, especially in South-East Asia and Africa.

It's said to be the single largest international consumer of illegally-felled wood.

Now Beijing has amended its law to help timber-producing countries trying to tackle corruption in forestry. It says it aims to protect forestry resources and supports a ban on the cutting of natural forests.

The UK-based Environmental Investigation Bureau said the news was thrilling, but critics will note that the central government tried to force provincial governors to stop building coal-fired power stations - but failed to impose its will.

This isn't China's first campaign against the use of plastics.

In 2008, the country banned retailers from giving out free plastic bags, and banned the production of ultra-thin plastic bags.

And in 2017, China - once the world's largest importer of plastic waste - announced that it would ban the import of foreign plastic waste.

China is not the only country in Asia that has cracked down against single-use plastics.

Thailand announced earlier this year that single-use plastic bags would be banned in major stores, with a complete ban across the entire country in 2021.

Indonesia's capital Jakarta also is banning single-use plastic bags in department stores, supermarkets and traditional markets by June 2020.

The Indonesian island of Bali has also banned single-use plastic.

You may also be interested in...

Separately, Malaysia has sent back 150 shipping containers of illegally imported plastic waste back to their countries of origin.

"[We] will take the necessary steps to ensure that Malaysia does not become the garbage dump of the world," Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin said on Monday.

She added that there were plans to send back further containers in the near future.

Wealthier countries have been sending plastic waste to Malaysia since 2018, but officials say they are struggling to cope with the amount that is being brought in illegally.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Single-use plastic: China to ban bags and other items

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China, one of the world's biggest users of plastic, has unveiled a major plan to reduce single-use plastics across the country. Non-degradable bags will be banned in major cities by the end of 2020 and in all cities and towns by 2022. The restaurant industry will also be banned from using single-use straws by the end of 2020.

# data[].attributes.body
C- This article was published on october 16, 2019
R- The information does relate to my topic
A- Environmental Law institute, The URL does not reveal anything about the author
A- I did find one spelling error.
P- It is to inform about the overuse of plastics

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Millions of tons of plastic enter the environment every year, killing wildlife, releasing toxins, clogging drains, and marring landscapes. Bans or restrictions on single-use plastics-most commonly bags and straws-have exploded in popularity recent years as a means of addressing these problems. Over 125 nations and 240 U.S. cities and counties have banned or taxed plastic bags, several cities have banned or otherwise restricted the use of plastic straws, and several private companies, including Starbucks, have also taken steps to reduce their straw usage in response to widespread consumer pressure.

Yet, these bans remain controversial. Some businesses have pushed back against what they consider excessive regulation. Those in opposition have noted that some populations, including those with disabilities, may require the use of a plastic straw, and that taxes on plastic bags may constitute a regressive tax. Even the environmental benefits are far from certain: when plastic shopping bags are banned, use of other bags that are potentially worse for the environment -including thicker plastic bags using more plastic, or paper bags, with a larger carbon footprint - increases. Others maintain that banning single-use plastics uses valuable political capital that could instead be spent advancing more urgent and system agendas like transitioning to a low-carbon economy.

Our panelists explored the benefits and challenges of an increasingly popular, and increasingly contentious, approach to the problem of plastic pollution.

Panelists:
Lillian Power, Environmental Protection Specialist, District of Columbia Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE), Moderator Catherine Plume, Principal, BlueGreen Plume, LLC and Managing Director, (r)evolve
Matt Seaholm, Executive Director, American Progressive Bag AllianceJean-Cyril Walker, Partner, Keller and Heckman LLP

ELI members will have access to materials/a recording of this session (usually posted w/in 48 hours). If you are not an ELI member but would like to have access to archived sessions like this one, go HERE to see the many benefits of membership and how to join.

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Millions of tons of plastic enter the environment every year, killing wildlife, releasing toxins, clogging drains, and marring landscapes. Bans or restrictions on single-use plastics-most commonly bags and straws-have exploded in popularity recent years as a means of addressing these problems. Over 125 nations and 240 U.S.

# data[].attributes.body
C- The information was published on January 9, 2020, it has not been updated or revised
R- The information does relate to the topic, It agrees with my claim
A- The author is Courtney Lindwall, She is a writer in the NRDC writing department
A- I did not find any spelling mistakes
P- the purpose of this article is to inform us the problem with plastic and how it is dangerous to the environment.

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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.

# data[].attributes.body
C- The picture was posted on April 22 2019, It has not been updated.
R- The information does relate to my topic about single use plastics.
A- The publisher is inquirer staff. The URL reveals nothing about the publisher.
A- I did not find any spelling or grammar mistakes
P- It's purpose is to inform us about the problem about single use plastics.

# data[].attributes.body
The video was uploaded on august 3, 2018 with no updates after publication. The information does relate to my topic. It agrees that we need to stop using single use items like a plastic bag.
It was uploaded by Our Changing Climate, Since it is on YouTube I don't know if it can be a reliable source but it seems to be.
There was no spelling or grammar errors. It is used to inform us about single use plastics

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Here's how plastic bags impact the environment

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The video was uploaded on april 7, 2017, it had not been updated. The video shows and tell us that most of the plastic in the world gets in the ocean. The uploader is Shedd Aquarium. It depicts that this person does not want single use plastic. It is used to inform the watcher about the problem with single use plastics.

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The picture was created on June 27, 2019. It has not been published to anything else besides the website. The picture shows two guys stuck on an island and want to get back to civilization. They want people to dump more trash so they can walk across it. There are no spelling errors and it is trying to inform us that we are dumping into the ocean.

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The article was published on January 3 2020, The information has been updated on January 23 2020. The article does agree with my topic. the author is Charles H. Dow, He works for a news company named Dow Jones & Company. There are no spelling errors. the purpose of the article is to inform us on how the government is trying to reduce the amount of plastic we use in america.

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Cities and states across the U.S. have been enacting a flurry of restrictions on single-use plastics.

Maine and Vermont just passed statewide bans on plastic bags, while Orlando, Fla., and Palo Alto, Calif., have both pushed through local restrictions on plastics this month.

Since the start of 2019, 200 bills related to single-use plastics...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Cities and states across the U.S. have been enacting a flurry of restrictions on single-use plastics. Maine and Vermont just passed statewide bans on plastic bags, while Orlando, Fla., and Palo Alto, Calif., have both pushed through local restrictions on plastics this month. Since the start of 2019, 200 bills related to single-use plastics...