HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0064.027 2010-2012 Page 1 of 1
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Murashige, Laura
From: Izzy Loney [zzizzy7 @gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 28, 2011 10:00 AM { i
To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us
Testimony for Bill # 17 ( Plastic Bag Reduction)
Honu Tea Akau- Nguyen, Emma Blake, Isabella Loney
Age: Honu Tea- 12, Emma Blake- 12, Isabella Loney- 13
Mailing address: Hounu Tea- 73 -989B Ahulani St. Kailua Kona HI 96740 , Emma Blake- 73-
4369 Old Govt.Road Kailua Kona HI 96740,
Isabella Loney- 77 -171 Kakai Kailua Kona HI PI 96740
Email:Honu Tea- wildaboutpie @gmail.com, Emma- emmablake11 @gmail.com, Isabella -
zzizzy7 a�gmail.com
You are sitting down underneath a tree at the park, just hanging out with you friends. There's a
strong gust of wind and you hear an unfamiliar sound. You look up and there it is: a plastic bag.
Plastic bags are something we see and use everyday. However, they are slowly destroying our
ecosystems. I bet you didn't know that one billion birds and sea animals die each year due to plastic
bags. This happens because they are often mistaken for food or get tangled around the animal's body,
which leads to suffocation or starvation.
The main product used to make a plastic bag is oil. Five hundred billion plastic bags are made
each year and this uses up the Earth's oil supply. Also, only one percent of bags are recycled. This is
because it costs more to recycle a plastic bag then to make a new one. Americans alone throw away
380 billion plastic bags per year.
So if we aren't recycling plastic bags, where do they go? The answer is: landfills. Once in
landfills plastic bags take around 1,000 years to break down, and as they do this they leach toxic
substances into the ground. But, since plastic bags are very light, not all of them stay in the landfills.
The wind carries some of these bags into rivers, lakes, forests, oceans, and other wildlife habitats.
What is the solution to this mayhem? If we can't use plastic bags then what do we use? The
solution is to buy reusable shopping bags and use them over and over again.
Why should we use reusable shopping bags? Well, for one they can be made out of recycled
material and last up to 4 -6 years. They can also hold about as much weight as plastic bags can. Now
the final reason is that each reusable bag is usually only about 75 cents more then each plastic bag,
and you only have to buy a couple reusable bags instead of buying a lot of plastic bags.
So we finally conclude that we should use reusable shopping bags. Go to any store near you
and buy one now so you can start reducing the amount of bags we use. Reusable bags last a long
time. So will our world if you stop using plastic shopping bags.
Comm. N27
Ref. To:
Ref. Dore FEB 1 2atl
1/31/2011