Just two years ago, Austin faced a huge dilemma with the new
City of Austin ordinance: the shopping bag ban. Now, in 2015, we are finally
getting used to the ordinance. Many Austinites found this decision rather
absurd, ridiculous, and inconvenient. It might be true. However, as funny as
this sounds, I think Texas Government made a good decision to ban these thin, annoying
bags. Reading an article last week, I came across the pros of eliminating
plastic bags. Up until then, I was against this ordinance, but I rethought
about my opinion.
The first fact that caught my eye was that single-use
plastic bags can take hundreds of years to decompose in landfills. This is absolutely
not “good” for our environment. We want landfill to decompose as fast as
possible. The second fact was that these thin, single-use bags are a major
source of litter and can cause flooding by clogging creeks and storm drains. Lastly,
one high-quality reusable bag can replace 600 thin plastic bags over its
lifetime. Now, why would we want to fill our earth with garbage even more than
it already is?
By our State government putting an end to these flimsy bags,
it gives Texas a chance to refresh itself. Yes, it might be inconvenient, but
it saves our state tremendously. Why wouldn’t Texans want that for our state? To
me, it is another chance at cleanliness. Again, we need to be open-minded and
we need to quit being stubborn. Change is always good.
You've made very strong points. I find it slightly amusing that the City of Austin has probably made the better decision in the long run to ban plastic bags, and yet our State Government (who's buisness is conducted in Austin) are laying plans to ban city bans (I couldn't resist the word play). Plastic bags and other non-biodegrading plastics also litter our oceans and kill wildlife. Texas, with it's miles and miles of coast line, should be learning from Austin instead of undermining it out of convenience.
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