December 16

Banning single-use plastic

 

Dear, Canadian government

My name is Zoha Fatima , and I am a grade 12 student . I am writing to you in response to the proposal to ban single-use plastic in Canada. I believe that the government should accept the proposal of banning single-use plastics. Single-use plastics are items made from plastic that are   intended to be used only once, items that are single-use plastic are plastic bags, bottles, straws, and other. These items are not good for the environment and have a big impact, today they’re also alternatives that individuals can use like reusable bags and metal straws.

Single-use plastic has a great impact on animals and humans. Every year, one million birds and over 100,000 sea animals worldwide get injured by single-use plastic. These animals often mistake plastic as food and die after they eat it.  ‘Pete’ was a  pelican that  died after he swallowing 17 plastic bags. Plastic greatly impacts endangered animals. The leatherbacks are endangered species of sea turtles they mainly eat jellyfish, however, a plastic bag in water often looks like a jellyfish. There are only about 34,000 and 36,000 nesting leatherback females left worldwide compared to 115,000 in the 1980’s, these turtles often die after eating plastic bags or die after getting trapped in plastic nets. Plastic can take up to 1,000 years to break down, meaning that the  first-ever plastic ever made is still not broken down.  Once an animal dies after eating plastic , that  piece of plastic is not gone it is put back into the environment to carry on killing more wildlife. Science says by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.Plastic does not only harm wild-life it has an impact on humans as well. There are also toxins that leach out of plastic; these toxins are found in the blood of nearly all humans. Humans are also affected when they eat fish. Fish often eat plastic and get toxins in their bloodstream, these fish then get fished and get eaten by humans. Chemicals in plastic block essential hormones in the human body, which has a negative impact on their overall health.

  https://theboar.org/2019/03/number-of-animals-getting-caught-in-plastic-in-warwickshire-rises/

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/what-can-you-do-save-sea-turtles

Plastic has a great impact on our earth. According to scientific studies, there are around 5 trillion plastic pieces floating in the ocean- that’s over 250000 tons of plastic. Plastic has toxic pollutants that harm the environment and end up in the water, air, and land pollution. As someone who lives in Canada, I also see plastic bags, straws, and other garbage on the roads of Canada. I can’t walk or drive 500 meters without seeing a single piece of plastic. 86% of Canadian plastic end up in a landfill, the rest is burned or becomes litter. The plastic that is burned causes more greenhouse gases to enter the atmosphere. These greenhouses have a great impact on the earth, including climate change. Usman Valiante, a Canadian environmental policy analyst said: “Our existing recycling policies have failed and Canada needs a new industrial policy on plastic.” Canadians only recycle 9% of plastic, and that is not acceptable, we need to have laws to include this number. Individuals don’t realize how much plastic they use, they often say it’s only one piece, but they have to know that millions of people saying the same thing. In Canada, up to 15 billion plastic bags are used every year and about 57 million straws are used daily.  That’s almost 400 bags and 730 straws per Canadian each year, and that is insane; people can use reusable bags and straws they don’t need to use plastic. By banning single-use plastic, this would improve the environment that we live in, and teaches us how important it is to take care of our environment so we can be healthy and happy.

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/canadas-battle-against-plastic-pollution-environmental-defence-canadian-environmental-policy-national-strategy/117183

Banning single-use plastic would save money and energy. Cleaning up plastic is expensive, it takes about 17 cents per plastic bags and that only plastic bags. To clean up all the bags that Canadian use per year it would cost $2550,000,000. Banning plastic would reduce 1.8 million tonnes of carbon pollution, generate billions of dollars in revenue, and create about 42,000 jobs. Recently in Alberta, a lot of people have lost their jobs, you probably know individuals that have lost their jobs, so creating more jobs would greatly help them.  Many countries have already banned plastic and have gotten benefits from doing so. Montreal has already banned plastic bags. Canada should join the growing list of countries to ban single-use plastic.   

https://www.clf.org/blog/zero-waste-saves-money/

Banning single-use plastic would greatly impact Canada, it would save the lives of many animals, make the earth more clean and better to in on, and it would save money and create more jobs. Thank you for taking time from your day to read my  letter . If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at zoha@hotmail.com or call me at 403-947-1234.

Sincerely,

Zoha

Zoha. Fatima

 

Sources

https://rco.on.ca/canada-recycles-just-9-per-cent-of-its-plastics/#iLightbox[gallery5103]/0

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/canadas-battle-against-plastic-pollution-environmental-defence-canadian-environmental-policy-national-strategy/117183

https://www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr/index.en.php?id=934

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/ocean_plastics/

https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2019/06/10/canada-ban-harmful-single-use-plastics-and-hold-companies-responsible

https://www.conservationcouncil.ca/en/canadian-organizations-challenge-canada-to-a-zero-plastic-waste-future/

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canadas-single-use-plastics-ban-what-we-know-so-far-and-what-you-can/

 

 

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Posted December 16, 2019 by zohafa in category Sept 2019, Zoha

1 thoughts on “Banning single-use plastic

  1. kadinka

    Dear, Zoha

    I thought your persuasive letter was really well done. I noticed how you thoroughly incorporated Pathos, Ethos, and logos to convince the audience on the ban of plastic. I also feel you can brush up on elaborating more on the significant points that can enhance the effectiveness of the letter. Good Job!

    Sincerely, Kadin

    Reply

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