Ban on Plastic Water Bottles and Styrofoam
- by: Alli H
- recipient: individuals, businesses, and organizations
We are overusing our resources and then disposing of them incorrectly, which is doubly harming the environment. The good thing is that there is an easy solution to this problem that can actually make a difference in my community. This petition will not just benefit myself, or even one group of people. This petition will benefit our entire environmental community, which in turn will benefit the whole local community of people and future all of the generations to come. Additionally, this petition will sustain itself for as long as the businesses and individuals keep their promise to eliminate this waste. This ban will set a precedent for the future of our community, and hopefully it will be impactful enough that people will not consider using plastic water bottles or Styrofoam even if they are not participating in my ban. My plan to eliminate our harmful waste is to place a ban on plastic water bottles and styrofoam.
My goal of this petition is to convince individuals, organizations, and businesses to ban Styrofoam and plastic water bottles.
The Facts
- The United States consumes 30 billion plastic water bottles per year, making us the largest consumer in the entire world 1
- Plastic water bottles take over 1,000 years to bio-degrade and styrofoam takes over 1 million years to decompose.1,2
- Landfills in the United States contain more than 2 million tons of plastic water bottles 2
- Only 1/5 of the water bottles that are put in recycling bins can actually be recycled 2
-The process producing Styrofoam is the 5th largest creator of hazardous waste in the world. The manufacturing process includes the use of HCFC-22, which is a greenhouse gas that affects the ozone layer. 8
-The National Bureau Standards Center for Fire Research found that during the combustion of Styrofoam, there are at least 57 chemical byproducts 8
- 25 billion Styrofoam cups are thrown out in the United States alone every year
-3 billion pounds of waste from plastic water bottles is produced annually 7.
What you can do:
By committing to this ban, you can positively affect your environment in a positive way. Every little action you take ripples and effects so many other aspects of life, and by signing off and participating in this ban, your actions help save the environment. Even if you do not end up signing this petition, I ask you to be aware of the products that you are using and encourage you to make an effort to change your habits that might hurt our environment.
1: (Schriever, Norm. "Plastic Water Bottles Causing Flood of Harm to Our Environment." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2017.)
2: (Kinhal, Vijayalaxmi. "How Styrofoam Is Bad for the Environment." LoveToKnow. N.p., 24 Oct. 2016. Web. 10 Feb. 2017)
3: (Https://www.facebook.com/onegreenplanet. "What's the Problem with Plastic Bottles?" One Green Planet. N.p., 8 May 2012. Web. 10 Feb. 2017.)
4. "Plastic Bottle." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.
5. "Styrofoam." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.
6. MacDonald, Fiona. "San Francisco Just Banned All Polystyrene Products in the City."ScienceAlert. N.p., 30 June 2016. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.
7. "Education Database Online." Online Education Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.
8. Miller, Adrienne, Sheila Mohazzebi, Samantha Pasewark, and Julie M. Fagan, Ph.D. Styrofoam: More Harmful than Helpful. Rep. Rutgers: n.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.
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