Plastic Bag Ban

         Environmental pollution is one of the controversial issues around the world. Human has been affecting the environment negatively over the last few centuries. Plastic waste is a significant effect on the environment, specifically, plastic bags. Austin established the single-use carryout bag ordinance in March 2013 as a tool to protect our environment. However, this ordinance has just been overturned by the Texas Supreme Court by ruling on Laredo’s plastic bag ban. In my opinion, Austin should reinstate its ban on plastic bags for some reasons.
         Plastic bags are durable and convenient for consumers to carry their purchased goods. However, plastic bags are harmful to the environment. They are one of the major sources of waste that can damage our natural environment. First of all, plastic bags are hard to decompose. It takes 10 to 1000 years to completely decompose plastic bags. People have solved this problem by recycling used plastic bags. However, can we recycle all of the plastic bags that we produce? Where are those actually end up? Most of them end up in landfills as litter. Second, plastic bags can impact wildlife and marine animals. Many of them could die because of mistakenly eating plastic bags. Approximately 100,000 marine creatures have been killed annually by plastic bags. Moreover, plastic bags contribute a large amount of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which has the size as twice as the size of Texas.
          For all of those reasons, I think plastic bags should be banned to save our environment. Austin, as a fast-growing city in the state, should consider paying attention to its environmental pollution. A survey shows that Austin can decrease the amount of plastic bags use by the ban. The ban actually works in reducing the number of plastic bags. Specifically, in 2015, the number of plastic bags in the litter composition was reduced by 75%. Austin’s bag ban has decreased the amount of about 200 million plastic bags a year. Therefore, why don’t we continue to expand the right thing that can help to protect our environment?
          In short, Austin should reinstate its plastic bags ban. Now, the ban is struck down by Texas Supreme Court. However, Texans and Austin residents can still do good things for the environment. People should continue to use reusable bags for their shopping. Stores should not provide consumers with single-use plastic bags. Instead, they can encourage consumers to bring their reusable bags to protect our environment.