Ban Styrofoam and Stop Using Plastic!
Ban Styrofoam and Stop Using Plastic!
The Issue
Styrofoam:
Styrofoam takes more than 500 years to decompose in the soil. Even though styrofoam is only 1% of our waste, it makes up 10-40% of the trash on rivers and streams, and it affects the wildlife. Styrofoam contains toxic materials. Styrofoam is bad for the environment and the ecosystem. Many cities and countries have banned styrofoam.
Places where styrofoam has been banned:
New York, NY, Takoma Park, MD, Seattle, WA, Washington DC, Miami Beach, FL, Freeport, ME, Portland, ME, Nantucket (City and county), MA, Minneapolis, MN, Portland, OR, Baltimore, MD, San Francisco, CA
Source:
STYROFOAM – Children's Environmental Health Network.
Styrofoam can also be bad for the environment because it is very lightweight, and can easily be blown into bodies of water. When styrofoam breaks down into small pieces, animals can eat it, which causes the ecosystem to slow down and eventually die. For example, in the ocean, a small piece of styrofoam is eaten by a small animal, which a bigger animal eats and eventually dies. Styrofoam gets produced very fast and people make a very high amount of it, but styrofoam takes hundreds of years to break down, so we are making styrofoam faster than it degrades.
Plastic Packaging:
Plastic packaging is wasteful and hurtful to the environment because plastic can end up clogging an animal's digestive system. After all, if the animal mistakes a piece of plastic for food it can cause serious damage, and it is very harmful to animals.
6-pack rings are a key part of plastic packaging because many people like to drink soda/beer. Stopping this is what we should try to do.
6-pack rings are a harmful way to use plastic. This plastic can end up harming an animal badly. This turtle has been caught in a 6-pack ring and it is unable to grow. Luckily people found her and they got it removed. Since she got stuck in one she had to spend the rest of her life in human care. This turtle got lucky but many others have died because of this issue. 1 percent of turtles survive this fate.
Many people think that if they cut the 6-pack rings animals won't get hurt because even if they do it the small pieces can still cause a lot of damage
Edible 6-pack rings that are made of barley are being used in Canada, The United States, Mexico, Cayman Islands, Argentina, Iceland, Scotland, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
If everyone joins in we can stop the pollution of the plastic 6-pack rings and use the edible version instead.
One step by a time we can heal the earth
Don't stop trying. Don't stay quiet. Come in front and protect the environment and all the animals in it
For too long we have been using Plastic 6-pack rings and styrofoam. Please help the Earth. We need a law to ban plastic 6-pack rings and styrofoam.
Requested by 8 passionate 4th and 5th graders at Laurel Mountain Elementary, Austin, TX.
763
The Issue
Styrofoam:
Styrofoam takes more than 500 years to decompose in the soil. Even though styrofoam is only 1% of our waste, it makes up 10-40% of the trash on rivers and streams, and it affects the wildlife. Styrofoam contains toxic materials. Styrofoam is bad for the environment and the ecosystem. Many cities and countries have banned styrofoam.
Places where styrofoam has been banned:
New York, NY, Takoma Park, MD, Seattle, WA, Washington DC, Miami Beach, FL, Freeport, ME, Portland, ME, Nantucket (City and county), MA, Minneapolis, MN, Portland, OR, Baltimore, MD, San Francisco, CA
Source:
STYROFOAM – Children's Environmental Health Network.
Styrofoam can also be bad for the environment because it is very lightweight, and can easily be blown into bodies of water. When styrofoam breaks down into small pieces, animals can eat it, which causes the ecosystem to slow down and eventually die. For example, in the ocean, a small piece of styrofoam is eaten by a small animal, which a bigger animal eats and eventually dies. Styrofoam gets produced very fast and people make a very high amount of it, but styrofoam takes hundreds of years to break down, so we are making styrofoam faster than it degrades.
Plastic Packaging:
Plastic packaging is wasteful and hurtful to the environment because plastic can end up clogging an animal's digestive system. After all, if the animal mistakes a piece of plastic for food it can cause serious damage, and it is very harmful to animals.
6-pack rings are a key part of plastic packaging because many people like to drink soda/beer. Stopping this is what we should try to do.
6-pack rings are a harmful way to use plastic. This plastic can end up harming an animal badly. This turtle has been caught in a 6-pack ring and it is unable to grow. Luckily people found her and they got it removed. Since she got stuck in one she had to spend the rest of her life in human care. This turtle got lucky but many others have died because of this issue. 1 percent of turtles survive this fate.
Many people think that if they cut the 6-pack rings animals won't get hurt because even if they do it the small pieces can still cause a lot of damage
Edible 6-pack rings that are made of barley are being used in Canada, The United States, Mexico, Cayman Islands, Argentina, Iceland, Scotland, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
If everyone joins in we can stop the pollution of the plastic 6-pack rings and use the edible version instead.
One step by a time we can heal the earth
Don't stop trying. Don't stay quiet. Come in front and protect the environment and all the animals in it
For too long we have been using Plastic 6-pack rings and styrofoam. Please help the Earth. We need a law to ban plastic 6-pack rings and styrofoam.
Requested by 8 passionate 4th and 5th graders at Laurel Mountain Elementary, Austin, TX.
763
The Decision Makers
Petition created on January 29, 2022