Ban plastic bags for animals, environment
By Christopher Thompson
What’s more important? Our community or the convenience of having plastic bags to carry your groceries?
We know that our community is more important. If we ban plastic bags, it would take care of our environment and animals. New Hampshire should ban plastic bags, so House Bill 560 should be passed.
One reason plastic bags should be banned in New Hampshire is that there are so many plastic bags that are polluting our environment, and it is bad for our environment. When I am riding my horse on the side of the road, there is a lot of trash and plastic bags. There are a lot of plastic bags on the side of the road and if the wind moves, the trash bags could easily spook my horse. When we go by the river, we always stop there, but there is so much pollution in the water my horse cannot drink it.
According to environmental research mentioned in The Sentinel, plastic bags can contaminate soil and waterways. The more pollution in the water from plastics, the more harmful to my horse and the environment. By banning plastic bags, there would be less pollution in the water and less chance of my horse getting sick.
Another reason plastic bags should be banned is that animals are eating them and that causes death. Animals eat plastic because it smells like food. According to National Geographic, “single-use plastic is the worst.” The article states that 700 marine animals have been found to have become caught in plastic. The Center For Biological Diversity reports the average person uses 1,500 plastic shopping bags per year. In New Hampshire we have 1,356,000 residents. That would equal 2,034,000,000 bags per year just in our state. By banning plastic bags, we would have fewer animals dying because there would be fewer thing for them to choke on.
Passing House Bill 560 would stop people from littering and contaminating soil and waterways with plastic bags, and it would stop so many animals from eating plastic and dying. Some people might argue that banning plastic bags is a pain, in how they would carry their shopping. However, this plastic-bag problem is more important to the community and animals than the convenience of forgetting your bags in the car. Therefore, House Bill 560 should be passed.