Opinion Writing

Take
Debate
Directions: Read the article. Study the facts.
A Side Decide what you think. Write an opinion essay.

Plastic Bags:
Convenient or Cruel?
They make carrying your groceriesand picking up
dog pooso easy. But are they worth it? By Lauren Magaziner

P
lastic bags are on the loose! Theyre plastic bags dont even stay in landfillsthey
everywherefloating through often escape and get washed out to sea.
oceans, tumbling across deserts, and Thats where plastic bag pollution causes the
rolling down city streets. most trouble. Marine animals munch on these
Worldwide, humans use an drifting bags, thinking theyre tasty treats. But
estimated 1 trillion plastic bags each year. one nibble can be deadly. Plastic bags can block
Thats about 10 times the number of stars in the the digestive tract, causing a very slow, painful
Milky Way galaxy! death for many animals. Other animals are
Sure, plastic bags are useful, but experts say strangled when bags wrap around their bodies.
theyre wreaking havoc on the environment. All in all, thousands of marine animals die each
Already, cities like Washington, D.C., and San year because of plastic bags, including sea turtles,
Francisco have started to ban plastic bags. seals, dolphins, whales, sharks, and seabirds.
So is it time for all of us to bag plastic bags? Marine animals arent the only ones eating
plastic. When the harmful chemicals in plastic
Poisonous Plastic seep into the ground or get digested by land
When you throw out garbage,
it is taken to a landfill, where
Plastic bags
trash is dumped and covered threaten
with soil. Many things you throw thousands
of marine
awaylike food or paperare animals.
biodegradable. That is, they can
slowly break down into tiny pieces
that are reabsorbed by the earth.
Shutterstock. ILLUSTRATION BY Lance Lekander

But plastica material made

by humansdoesnt biodegrade
like natural products. In fact, it
takes 10 to 20 years for plastic Plastic
bags to break down, and even bags hurt
when they do, tiny pieces of them dolphins
will never really go away. Many like me!

26 s t o ry w o r k s
 or sea creatures, they become part of our food
chain. That means you have unknowingly taken
a bite of plastic-bag chemicals too. Yuck!
But if these bags are so terrible, how did they
end up in every store?
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
In 1977, when plastic bags were first
introduced to shoppers, they seemed like a huge
improvement over paper. They were cheaper to
produce and less prone to breakage.
Plastic bags are also more sanitary than
reusable cotton or canvas bags, which can
harbor harmful germs from raw meat and
produce. In fact, a recent study showed that
about 1 in every 10 reusable grocery bags has
bacteria that can make humans sick.
Rather than banning plastic bags, some
people want to limit their use. Charging a fee
per bag at the checkout counter, for instance,
might lead shoppers to pause before using
them. Stores could also offer bags made of
more Earth-friendly materials, such as corn.
And why ban plastic bags when we can
just reuse them? Ninety percent
The average
of Americans already reuse their American uses
plastic bags at home. 500 plastic
bags a year.
Perhaps someday scientists
will bag a new idea, but for now
we have to decide whether we
want to live with plasticor
without it. n

What Should plastic bags be banned?

Do You? Go back to the article and find information to support
Think each side. Write the information on the lines below.

YES Think about the

environment! NO Theyre so
convenient!
1 1

2 2

3 3
Stephen Stickler/Photographers Choice/Getty Images

Study the points on both sides of the argumentand think about your
own opinion. State your opinion in one sentence below. It can become the thesis Find an
activity
statement for an opinion essay on this topic. sheet
online!

s c h o l a s t i c . c o m / s t o r y w o r k s A P RIL / MAY 2 0 1 4 27