Ban on Plastic Straws in Canada

Plastic straws should be banned in Canada as it a non-biodegradable and a non-recyclable material which when disposed causes environmental effects including land pollution, water pollution and air pollution.

 Body paragraph 1: Effects of Plastic Straws on the Environment

Plastic straws being the most unnecessary plastic materials are discarded more often than any other materials. When discarded inappropriately, it litters the environment and makes the land ugly

Plastic materials when dumped in landfills usually mix with water to form chemicals which are hazardous to the environment. When the same chemicals sip down the soil, it toxifies the soil content and when it mixes with underground water it degrades its quality (“No Straw Please”, 2018).

Plastic straws also can get stuck on trees, electric or telephone poles, fences and traffic fences and domestic animals might ingest them leading to death. Moreover, when plastic straws waste is inappropriately disposed of, they can end up in the soil and disintegrate into very small particles which when it breaks down further can ether the food chain (”Environmental Impact of Plastic Straws (2018 Facts & Statistics)”, 2018).

It is therefore feasible that Canada bans plastic straws in order to create a policy that helps reduce and eradicate the effects of plastic wastes on the land environment.

2. Body paragraph 2: The Effect of Plastic Straws on Water Environment and Aquatic Life

Since plastic materials are made out of toxic chemicals, disposing of into water bodies is very harmful to aquatic plants and animals

Plastic materials which are being disposed into oceans in a million everyday day have the effect of physically displacing water animals such as fish and ducks if not poisoning them. In other instances, aquatic animals such as fish and ducks are eating plastic thinking it is food (Parker, 2017).

Since plastics have the ability to disintegrate into very small pieces that is enough to pass through the stomach and flesh of fish, human beings and other animals that feed on fish also end up eating the same plastics which they have thrown into the sea (Suzuki, 2018).

Because of its effects on water and aquatic life, plastic straws should be gotten rid of in Canada.

3.  Body Paragraph 3: Plastic Straws Are Non-Biodegradable and Can’t Be Easily Recycled

Another major reason why plastic straws should be banned in Canada is non-biodegradability. Plastic Straws are made from type 5 polypropylene, a material which is not accepted by most recycling plants (”Environmental Impact of Plastic Straws (2018 Facts & Statistics)”, 2018). Because they are not recycled they end up in landfills or water bodies.

Counterargument

Although the arguments for banning plastic straws are feasible, there should also be a second thought to the ban policy.

Research has shown that close to 300 million tonnes of plastic materials are made each year and yet straws are just a fraction of this. Advocates that are against this ban argue that the ban may not be a feasible way of eradicating plastic wastes but instead, the law should be made to consider broader changes including the way in which plastics are produced, used and disposed of (Chung, 2018).

Nevertheless, the ban on plastic straws is one of the ways of reducing plastic use. Canada should, therefore, monitor the effects of the policy on plastic straw bans beforehand to avoid enforcing a regulation that is not effective.

The consideration of whether to get rid of plastic straws should, therefore, be given a clean bill and made a law in Canada.

4. Concluding Paragraph

To sum up it is evident that there are a number of environmental effects that are created by the presence of plastic straws in Canada a fact which necessitates the ban.

As discussed above, plastic straws are unrecyclable, non-biodegradable and have the effect of causing land, air pollution and water pollution.

Because of this reasons, Canada should consider effecting the ban and look for the most appropriate way to handle the issues of plastic use including formulating a policy that in calculates broader changes including how plastics should be produced, used and disposed of

References

Chung, E. (2018). ’We need to rethink the entire plastics industry’: Why banning plastic straws isn’t enough | CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/banning-plastic-straws-1.4628160

Environmental Impact of Plastic Straws (2018 Facts & Statistics). (2018). Retrieved from https://get-green-now.com/environmental-impact-plastic-straws/

No Straw Please. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/no-straw-please

Parker, L. (2017). Straw Wars: The Fight to Rid the Oceans of Discarded Plastic. Retrieved from https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/04/plastic-straws-ocean-trash-environment/

Suzuki, D. (2018). Plastic straws suck - David Suzuki Foundation. Retrieved from https://davidsuzuki.org/story/plastic-straws-suck/?nabe=4625222413320192:0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Why Are Straws Bad For The Environment? | 1 Million Women. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.1millionwomen.com.au/blog/straws-why-they-seriously-suck/