I
like to be friendly to the environment but I think that many people are ill
informed about how they should be treating the environment. I think that our
local government should regulate how many plastic bags can be used at a grocery
store with each customer. With this said, when people are going to grocery stores, they should
have some kind of tote bag just in case they exceed the certain amount of
plastic bags they can use. There are pros and cons to this regulation though.
The pros are that it will be a lot friendlier to our environment since plastics
bags won't be produced as much which means money will be saved and can be put
to better use. The cons are that people can possibly steal items and sneak it
into their tote bag without getting caught and it may be a hassle to
some people because they would have to constantly bring it back and forth to
the grocery store. Since these issues exist, I think that plastic bags should
still be around but just not as much.
If
the government can’t do this regulation, I think that they should try to
educate the people that live here about how they can help with this regulation.
The more people are educated, the better because it can spread throughout the
local community and it will eventually turn into something bigger from there.
Plastic bags can be used for so many things like collecting trash or putting
things you need inside it in order to keep it for later on and these uses are
practical but people tend to just throw it away without reusing it (if it’s
clean) after they have gotten it at the grocery stores and this is what causes
the wastefulness of these bags. In conclusion, I think that the government
should take in consideration about regulating how many plastic bags can be obtained
from each customer at a grocery store.
I read an entry from my classmates blog, Thoughts About Texas Politics. The article I read was "Austin's Environment" and it was about how Austin should be more eco-friendly. I agree with this belief and would like to expand the argument by proving that the beliefs stated are already being put into effect. In an article published by Austin Business Journal the author states that the Austin city council voted and "unanimously" passed a bag ban ordinance. The ordinance will begin March of 2013 and will prohibit retail stores from offering "single-use" plastic or paper bags, customers can bring in reusable bags if they wish. My classmate had great insight by saying that completely banning plastic bags without educating people on how to go "green" might be a disaster. In the same article by the Austin Business Journal, it is said that 2 million dollars will go to educating people on how to switch to reusable bags.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with one of my classmates ideas or a con to the bag ban of there being and issue of shoplifting with reusable bags, but I think it is a chance that should be worth the risk because it will save the environment. The only thing I disagreed with my classmate on was the idea that people will have a hard time adjusting to a change like banning plastic bags. I think, like any habit, it will take time but people will eventually remember to bring reusable bags into a store with them. I think it will only takes one time for a person to go into a grocery store and have to carry out all the items without bags to turn it into a habit.
Austin’s environment should be more important than what it is now days. I completely agree with the article, people should take this serious and stop messing with Austin. I would prefer the stores to forget about the plastic bags and start using only the reusable bags. Stores need to start charging for plastic bags in case people forget theirs. But there is other ways to take care of the environment and “go green.” We can start at home, just by simply taking shorter showers or skipping the bottle water and buy a reusable one instead.
ReplyDeleteI don’t really think people would take advantage of the reusable bags to steal from the grocery stores, if we think about it, people does that already, so I don’t see why start using reusable bags will have any cons.
I think Austin needs more “go green” campaigns. Just like the Austin’s environment article states, “The more people are educated, the better because it can spread throughout the local community and it will eventually turn into something bigger from there.”