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Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Faculty of Electrical Engineering

Advanced Academic English Skills (ULAB 2122)
2014/2015

Title:

Plastic Bags Should Be Banned Worldwide

Class:

Group Members:

Section 15

Thaventran A/L Panchanathan

(A13KE0281)

Muhamad Arif Fikri bin Abd Malek

(A13KE0307)

Lecturer:

Date of Submission:

Dr. Faizal Yamimi Mustaffa

November 30, 2014

I last between 500 and 1000 years. In my manufacture, I let off poisonous gasses. I
suffocate many animals, blocked drains and litter roadside at beaches. Everyone has used me

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in their lifetime. What am I? I am a plastic bag. We may think plastic bag a completely
harmless, but every time we will accept the plastic bags at the check-out, it will doing
something that harms the environment in many ways. Based on Oxford Dictionary (1989),
plastic bag is defined as a bag made of a thin, flexible plastic material, especially one with
handles supplied by a shop to carry goods purchased there. While based on Cambridge
Dictionary (1992), plastic bag is defined as An artificial substance that can be shaped when
soft into many different forms and has so many different uses. For certain people, plastic
bag is a Substance that light in weight and does not break easily.

In a world of many consumers, plastic bags have contributed huge effect not only to
our environment, but also animals and humans. The product itself after we used may not be
seen. What happens to the bags that we used from the store to our cars? Putting food that
already in the bag into another bag is pretty redundant. The biggest downfall of plastic bag is
how much they cost to produce it. It is come from polythene which is bio product of oil.
They heat it to extremely high temperature. The statistic from media has mentioned that
Every year we throw away close to 100 billion plastic bags. So, if we are looking for some
solid evidence to make the switch to the reusable bags, here are some that may change our
mind. Plastic bag, one of the most lethal invention of mankind, should be banned because
they bring more harm than good to animals, human beings and our environment.

Plastic is a brought term and composing many product. From the most common,
polythene used to make packaging any grocery bags. The very true, we called plastic as
made entirely molecule was not formed in nature. All plastics are made up of 1000 tiny
building box call monomers, which all link together to form a chain and called polymers.
Today plastic bags have become familiar in the daily life of the community. Therefore, we
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have to take a number of measures to replace plastic bags with other products to help the
environment cleaner. From time to time plastic bags have caused a lot of problem not only to
environment but also to animals and human being. Micheal (2012) said that, Plastic bags
will eventually going to end up in the landfill, where they will remain for quite a while
(roughly a thousand years), taking up space, because there are not biodegradable. Albert
(2014) mentioned that, Both land and marine animals suffer from strangulation, choking,
entanglement by plastic bags, whether because they blunder into them and become trapped or
because they try to eat them.
Many plastic bags find their way out into the world and has endangered marine and
land animals when getting out into environment. Once plastic bags go away, they actually go
everywhere. AndreaD, (2010) mentioned that, In the ocean every square mile of water
contain 46,000 thousands of plastic litter. Over 100,000 thousand marine animals, 1 million
sea birds died from plastic bags, 86% of sea turtles either dies from ingesting plastic bags or
being entangled in them. Many marine animals and birds mistakenly ingest plastic bags or
get entangled and choke in bags floating around. Environmentalists pointed out that turtles
often mistaken plastic bags for jellyfish and swallow them. This issue was not over yet. It is
just the beginning to another big effect. The saddest thing is after animals died eating plastic
bags, the body decomposes but the plastic bags does not. So then the plastic bags will back
float around and taking another victims. Graham, (2007), Plastic bags are now in all places
in our environment, and animals, on land and water, are getting choked, strangled and killed
by them. Terrestrial animals died when they quit eating other food because the plastic bags
in their digestive system stay for a long period of time and they end up died starved. Believe
it or not, cows are the main victim of the plastic bags. A farmer in Australia found 8 plastic
bags in the stomach of a dead cow. The loss of these cows costs around 500 dollars just

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because some of us were too lazy to say NO to plastic bags. Do you have pets? They could
be in danger as well.
Plastic bags causes harm to people when it is not kept away from toddlers. Some
people might wondering how can possibly plastic bags give harm to human, be assured there
are a couple of ways. Mark Enderson, (2013) stated that A report by the U.S consumer
product safety commission notes that an average of 25 children die each year by suffocating
on plastic bags, the majority of these children are under 12 months old. Just look around us,
we all know that plastic bags contributed into lethal dead of our mankind, but are we
personally going to do anything about it? Maria, (2009) said that, when plastic bags are litter
around, the beautiful natural environment will end up losing its beauty. This will make all the
visitors and tourists refuse to come for holiday. We hold a clean air and environment in this
world. So do not let our generations spoil that by littering on the beautiful land.
On top of that, Chester Wong, (2014), mentioned that Plastic bags have created litter
and bring toxic in our environment. Unlike paper bags which are bio-degradable, most plastic
bags do not break down or disintegrate easily. Plilips Nelson, (2011), A plastic bag can take
up to 1,000 years to decompose on land, and 450 years in water while a paper bag
decomposes in 3-6 week. Bag that only used for only a few minutes last for five hundreds
to one thousand years. The number of plastic bags that is not being recycled has increased
tremendously. One of the reason is due to the plastic bags are very cheap to produce. Janet
Walker, (2007) states that, An average person uses about 350 to 400 plastic bags per year.
Based on the America United States Agency, America used 380 billion plastic bags each
year. These plastic bags can leave at least four to five times than human life spent and they
continuing to accumulate. According to the Wall Street Journal, Only 1% of plastic bag is
recycled worldwide. Not only plastic bags harm after used, but also a horrible substances
has been release from the factory to the atmosphere. This does not need to happen. We must
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not and try to think how we can make a big difference. So next when we go to the shops take
the reusable bags and refuse the plastic bags.
Waste of natural resources will bring harm to humans, animals and the environment.
According data taken from Andrew J. (2012), The production of plastic bag uses almost 10
percent of the worlds annual oil supply but only roughly 1 percent are recycled. Humans
will face difficulty because our daily life is highly depending on it, for instance,
transportation will come to a halt. Besides, animals will also suffer since more trees will be
cut down to replace the depleted oil and they will lose their habitat and certain species maybe
face with extinction. Furthermore, the environment would have a devastating effect, as
deforestation will occur at a faster rate and change in the ecosystem will have a chain effect
to Earth, which means exponential increase in carbon footprint around the globe and Earth
will become a hostile planet eventually. Finally, it shows that plastic bags are a waste of
resources, which could be put to use in more effective ways and it can have a huge negative
impact on humans, animals and the environment.
Theres no doubt that plastic bags are very helpful for everyday situation, plastic bags
are reusable for a number of purposes, people use them as garbage bag or to pack and store a
variety of items. Plastic bags will last considerably longer paper bags and can be washed and
reused, unlike paper bags. If we need to store something wet, plastics bags will be very useful
but paper bag will be useless because plastic bag is water resistance whereas paper bag is
useless in that kind of situation. Joseph H. (2008), we realise that, plastic bags are quicker to
open, store and lighter then paper bags. In terms of practicality, plastic bags is the definite
winner because in each case, life is made easier with plastics, simpler, and safer.
Plastic bags can save trees. According to National Geographic, forests still cover
about 30 percent of the worlds land area but 14.6 million hectares or the size of New York is

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lost each and every year to deforestation. Even with plastic bag being the popular choice
currently, deforestation is happening at a shocking rate. Imagine, if we revert to paper bags
instead of using plastic bags, what would happen to the rainforests? James G. (2011) said
that, Since plastic bag was introduced in the late 1950s, the production of paper bags has
reduced because plastic bags are the preferable choice, thus less tress will be chopped down
for the making of paper bags. When plastic bags was introduced, it saved many of trees
from being cut down. Paper bag cannot fulfil todays world demand but plastic bag can.
Michelle K. (2013) stressed that, The current world is experiencing a rapid cut-down of trees
to meet paper production demand and if paper bag needs to be produced in a large amount
that would result in an even faster rate of tress being cut-down. This means that if we were
to change to paper bag as our preferable choice, we cannot produce enough to meet todays
world demand because of limited trees. On the other hand, plastic bags do not suffer from
that crisis because we have abundance of petroleum. In short, plastic bags can help save trees
from being cut down and can meet the worlds demand for supply.
Believe it or not, plastics bags are more environmentally friendly to be produced
compared to paper bags. Even though petroleum goes into making plastic, it turns out that
making a paper bag consumes four times as much energy as making a plastic bag. Douglas
(2011) said that, the manufacturing of both materials consume water, 3800 litres of water are
needed to produce 1000 paper bag but 220 litres of water is only needed to produce the same
number of plastic bags. According to Lilienfield (2011), Paper bags generate 80 percent
more solid waste than plastic bag. Production of paper bags generates significantly more
greenhouses gases than plastics bags, so itll be contributing to the increasing carbon
footprint around the world every year. Overall, plastic bags comes out best because it is more
environmentally friendly to be manufactured than paper bag, in terms of water usage,
greenhouse gases emitted and solid waste produced.
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Since paper bags were introduced in the 1850s, it has gone through a lot of
transformation. Paper bags can be used to replace plastic bags for everyday situation as there
are various choices of paper bags available to cater consumers demands. Nowadays, paper
bags have been more resilient quality hence improving their durability. Besides, its safer
than plastic bags because suffocation may be induced if a child accidently put a plastic bag
over its head. However, with paper bags, one could simply tear it easily. Nowadays, trees are
planted to supply paper making in a special reserve forest to assure continuous supply of
trees. Janet Walker (2007) mentioned that, paper bags resource will never run out like plastic
bag because petroleum is used to create plastic bag and petroleum is a non-renewable source
that will exhaust eventually. Ron (2009) indicated, although plastic bag are more energy
efficient and environmentally friendly to produce compared to paper bag but paper bag brings
less harm to the environment. Unlike plastic bags, paper bags dont release toxic fumes when
burned. In summary, paper bags can help save the environment and could be a popular choice
among people as a replacement for plastic bags.
Plastic bags have many downsides whereby it is a danger to animals and human
beings, create litter and releases toxin to our environment and wastes our non-renewable oil
source. Shelley (2011) said that, You may be asking, What can I do to help? Try
switching to paper bags instead of plastic ones when you go grocery shopping. Paper bags
are definitely much better for the environment than plastic bags and can be recycled easily.
Surprisingly, plastic bags have been one of the most lethal inventions of mankind. Facts
taken from National Geography, every plastic bag that was created still exist, plastic bags that
are thrown ends up floating in whats called the Great Pacific garbage patch and estimates of
size Texas. Plastic bag is the number one trash found in seas worldwide. They have a major
negative impact on humanity, animals, and our environment. We only have one world to live
in, so more precautions should be enforced in taking care of it.
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Theres no denying of the countless benefits of plastic bags but its time to open our
eyes and mind to really realise of its harmful effects to our world. Majority of people dont
really think twice about it because plastic bags are used all the time. Change is not easy,
especially for a human being but we have to change for the better future of our world and we
could do it by taking one step a day at a time. For example, instead of using plastic bags to
carry goods from the supermarket, we switch to paper bags. According to Denise (2014), we
dont feel the consequences that plastics bags have brought to our world, but if we continue to
sit around and act like nothing is happening, the next generations are the ones who are going
to suffer and they will blame us, the current generation for our ignorance to address this issue.
Plastic bags have become a huge part of our life however, the damage is done and theres still
something we can do about it, the time has come for us to replace plastic bags with other
viable choices such as paper bags or canvas bags. So, lets wise up and start taking care of our
one and only EARTH. When all is said and done nonetheless, the initiative to be the change
that our world requires, dawns upon YOU!

References

AndreaD. (2012). Plastic Bags Will Be the Death of Us, Teenink [Online], Available:
http://www.teenink.com/hot_topics/environment/article/242153/Plastic-Bags-Will-Bethe-Death-of-Us/ [15 April 2012].

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Angel S. (2006). Facts about Plastic Bags, eHow [Online], Available:

http://www.ehow.com/facts_4965819_facts-plastic-bags.html [27 November 2006].
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http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/disadvantages-of-plastic-bags-5207.html [10
Nov 2014].
Denise R. & Shauna T. (2014). California's Plastic Bag Ban: Myths and Facts, The Wall
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