Let’s sack plastic bags

Immediately after finishing this letter I found that a similar story was written seven months prior on May 29 by Alex Hastings on the topic of banning plastic bags in the Kent area. This, however, did not deter me from speaking my mind.

I think it is time we all take a step back and realize that we must eliminate the use of not just plastic bags, but paper bags in Kent.

Upon researching the topic for my high school Civics Action Project, I began to understand that eliminating plastic bags is not the real answer to our problems. And what is our problem, you might be asking? The fact that we as a species have seriously screwed up our planet in only 200 years.

And this problem isn’t going to be solved overnight, it will require years and years of dedication to fix it.

But back to my original topic, eliminating plastic and paper bags in Kent. You see, paper bags may sound good, but in reality they take four times the energy to create, cause 70 percent more pollution then plastic bags, and emit 80 percent more greenhouse gases.

Don’t think for a second that I’m saying plastic bags are a better alternative to paper. More than one trillion plastic bags are produced each year. These bags end up on every shore of every continent, and they don’t plan on going anywhere, considering they can take upwards of 1,000 years to decompose.

So what can you do?

Buy a reusable bag from any store, they last long and are reliable. But how can this save the world? Like I said earlier, we cannot save it overnight. But, if we start here, then others will follow. How can we do the big things right if we can’t do the little things right.

So next time you stop by Walmart and pick up some milk or eggs, instead of having your items bagged in plastic, spend the extra $2.99 and buy a reusable bag or two. And even if you only use it once at least you can pride yourself in thinking you helped keep the world a little cleaner.

– Zachary Berry