Petition to decrease the negative environmental impact of USF

This petition is to ban the sale and use of single use plastic bags and styrofoam containers on University of South Florida’s Tampa campus. These items are not only unnecessary, but also have an environmentally-costly manufacturing process and can take thousands of years to degrade. When disposed of, they create an immediate hazard to wildlife that may ingest them, and over hundreds of years degrade, releasing toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) and PS oligomer into the environment. The rest go to landfills, to the streets, and to the oceans as litter. According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. Switching to reusable materials for students would be cheaper in the long run, and is the environmentally conscious thing to do. Options such as renting reusable containers at the dining hall are already available. Other alternatives would be to replace plastic bags with paper in the bookstore and to use paper/cardboard products in place of styrofoam in the food court. ‘Ireland has already reduced its plastic bags in 2002 by 95% with a simple 30 cent charge per plastic bag. Hawaii outlawed plastic bags and California will introduce a plastic bag fee. Over 130 US cities have a ban on plastic bags. China outlawed most plastic bags and American corporations including Whole Foods, Burger King, McDonald and Trader Joe’s have a ban on Plastic Bags.’ It is time for USF to take the next step to preserve our planet and resources not only for the present, but for future generations to come.