New York is soon to become the second US state to ban single-use plastic bags. Passed a part of the states 2020 budget deal, the ban is going to be set next March. Democratic state Sen. Todd Kaminsky told CNN that this plastic bag controversy has been going on for a long time. He said the average plastic bag use is about 12 minutes, and this quick, efficient, single use item has added up. California was the first state to certify this ban. As well as states like Hawaii, who have statewide laws prohibiting bags, and are soon going to ban the use of plastics at restaurants. According to press, individual states/cities/ towns could include programs that would implement a 5-cent fee on paper bags. These fees would be used to environmental protection funds and other reusable bag programs. WCBS noted there would be exemptions to the ban; notably plastic carryout bags, dry cleaning; and plastic grocery bags. Residents in New York have had mixed reactions to these new changes.
This article created by Dakin Andone, CNN, was published the day that New York had the meetings regarding implementing this ban. This article has mixed reactions, some agree with what people are saying against single use bags, while others will argue towards not changing anything about the bags people use. In entirety, no one side will be happy with the ban. This article reminds me of Great Pacific Garbage patch, and how it came to be discovered in 1997. Marine researcher Charles Moore got a sample of water with debris from the area, and therefore created the name for the awful occurrence. The single use plastics could be dumped or migrated to the patch, where it is already killing marine life and destroying the earth. The patch includes plastics that are non-biodegradable, so they will never dissolve into the water. The audience is most definitely the people living in New York. This ban is a very difficult change for some people, they have to completely change their ways leaving bags that the once could use. It also is giving information to New Yorkers on when the ban will be put into effect, how it will be introduced, and by whom it was pushed by. The purpose and importance of this article is that in this time and age our climate, resources, and living organisms are suffering. By banning single use plastic, we are eliminating more trash in landfills, and potential trash in polluting the collections of water around the world. These plastics are degrading our societies. They are non-biodegradable materials and contain killable chemicals and compounds. The article is giving notice to the change that some large, populated states are taking in order to conserve our planet for the next generation.
this is very interesting to hear
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