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Reducing plastic packaging
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TODAY after school I dropped by at home to grab the 20 plastic bottles I collected over the weeks, then hurried to the supermarket. I threw the plastic bottles into the machine by the door and waited impatiently. A 10-yuan coupon slipped out. I grabbed it excitedly and used it to exchange for a pencil case. You might wonder what I’m talking about. This is the idea I have to reduce the number of plastic bottles. This essay will explain what exactly the idea is, along with other possible solutions in reducing plastic bottles and bags.
Plastic is very useful during our daily lives. A plastic bottle is much lighter and convenient than a metal bottle. However, plastic contaminates the environment greatly. Evidence shows that plastic needs 500 to 1,000 years to completely decompose, and that is 5 to 10 times a human’s life! If we keep on buying products with plastic packaging, can you imagine how much that harms the environment? Therefore, we should limit and reduce the amount of plastic packaging in the world.
A solution for reducing plastic bottles is creating machines which allow people to throw in used plastic bottles. For example, if a person throws 10 plastic bottles into the machine, they can exchange for a popsicle, 20 plastic bottles can exchange a 10-yuan coupon, 30 can exchange a box of tissues, 40 can exchange a cloth bag, etc. Moreover, residential areas can compete to see which can throw in more plastic bottles. The one who wins can get a pingpong table, or a treadmill. Wouldn’t people like to have the opportunity to own a healthier body? This can encourage people to recycle plastic bottles, however, we should think of certain rules to prevent people from buying more plastic just to win a competition.
Another way for reducing plastic bottles is substituting them with cans. Studies show that a tin can needs only 50 years to decompose, which takes up only 1/10 or 1/20 of the years needed for plastic to decompose. If we follow these three solutions, then approximately 1.3 million plastic bottles can be saved in the whole world each day. Then 474.5 million plastic bottles can be saved every year in the whole world!
Then how about plastic bags? Governments could ban plastic bags, and shoppers can substitute the plastic bags with cloth bags and bring their own bags while shopping. We should start taking action for the regretful, reckless and ruthless actions that we made that have contaminated the Earth. Surely any caring person would want to protect the planet that we live on? My solutions are banning plastic bags and creating machines and competitions to encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic packaging.
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