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Plastic waste is one of the main sources of microplastic pollution in water, soil, and food. According to NowThisEarth (2019), there are more microplastic particles in the oceans than there are stars in the galaxy. The primary source of such pollution comes from single-use plastics, which come in the form of packages, bottles, cups, and similar containers. According to Lavelle-Hill et al. (2020), the majority of consumers who utilize these plastics tend to be from the middle-class and upper-middle class, who have more money to spare on food, clothes, and shopping. At the same time, plastics are widely used in the fast-food industry in the form of straws and lids, among others (Lavelle-Hill et al., 2020). Efforts are being made to stop or curb the potential pollution from plastics. One of them is the Bag Waste Reduction Law passed in New York City in March 2020 (NYSDEC, 2020). It specifies the types of bags that could be used as well as those exempt from the law.
Despite the popularity of ecologic subjects in the media, the majority of the population is not concerned about reducing their waste. Lavelle-Hill et al. (2020) report that exposure to environmentalist messages has little to no effect on how much single-use plastic was being purchased by customers. The reason for such findings could be that the emphasis of responsibility was targeted at the wrong individuals. Both the plastic bag law and the actions exhibited in the video by NowThisEarth propose individual solutions to systemic problems, seeking to discourage people from using plastic. Instead, they should focus on the producers that flood the markets in an effort to make their goods cheaper. A physical ban on the production of single-use plastics would help save the environment more than individual decisions to not use them for a month.
References
Lavelle-Hill, R., Goulding, J., Smith, G., Clarke, D. D., & Bibby, P. A. (2020). Psychological and demographic predictors of plastic bag consumption in transaction data. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 72, 101473. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101473
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). (2020). Bag waste reduction law.
NowThisEarth. (2020). 30 days without single-use plastics | One small step | NowThis [Video]. Youtube.
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