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Battle of the Bag

    We've all heard save the turtles before. I think of saving the cute, tiniest, smiling turtles when I hear the phrase. In the Battle of the Bag documentary viewers see Tony Amos explain how just a few grams of plastic can cause death for a 100-pound turtle. It took me by surprise to see how such a small amount of plastic waste can cause that much harm to a large animal. I had the same sentiment when seeing footage of volunteer vets pulling 50 kilos of plastic out of a large animal that appeared to be similar to a horse.

    Rebecca Hosking's attempt to locally curb plastic bag use was both simple and clever. By simply showing her film to local business owners, she eliminated their ignorance towards the harm of plastic bags. And without any law or taxation being enacted, she convinced the town to steer away from plastic bags. Even the more conservative-leaning town people were on board. This makes one think, this can truly work anywhere. Recently, Rhode Island was able to enact a law that banned plastic bags. Link to learn exactly how it was done: https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2024/01/statewide-plastic-bag-ban-takes-effect-after-months-of-refinement 

    To deal with plastic bag waste, I think there has to be a government campaign against the use of plastic bags. I also think this should start locally and eventually make its way to national and maybe even global anit-plastic bag campaigns. We see how anti-cigarette campaigns have curbed new generations from smoking them. Also, think of the campaign to wear seat belts. It's a habit for most, but it wasn't always. I would like to add that a benefit of starting on a smaller scale is that it could be more focused and personalized to that State or City. While Texans and Wisconsinites are all humans, they may not think the same. There has to be an appeal for both. In regards to the comment that plastic bags are “misunderstood”, I don't think plastic bags are misunderstood. It's plain and simple; plastic bags are useful, but terrible for the Earth. The theory of recycling plastic bags instead of banning them isn't totally nonsense. However, it's important to remember that a lot of plastic bags aren't recycled. Around 9% globally, to be exact. So, the best solution is to curb the use of plastic bags. 

Plastic Bag Facts

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