No Plastic No Problem

Don't Refuse to Reuse

| iEngage Summer Civics Institute

blogs.baylor.edu

In Waco, most everyone goes shopping and uses plastic bags. We are trying to provide an incentive for the people of waco to use more environmentally friendly reusable bags, by convincing stores to charge for plastic bags and increasing awareness, we believe that we can reduce the amount of plastic bags in city. Nine billion tons of litter ends up in our ocean each year, and the United States has spent, on average $11.5 billion per year to clean it up. Around the city there are multiple organizations trying to help cleanup the river, lake, and parks. If us citizens could use less items such as plastic and styrofoam and exchange it for reusable bags and items like paper and cardboard, we could drastically decrease the amount of trash produced in waco, because remember, "Don't Refuse to Reuse."

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There Is Too Much Trash Produced

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Too Many Plastic Bags

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Good Reusable Bags

Take Action

What you can do:

- You can try not to use plastic bags, because it would really help our cause.

-You could also try to persuade grocery stores to stop using plastic bags.

-You can use reusable bags.

-You can even go to the city council to request a ban on plastic bags.

All of these things will greatly decrease the number of plastic grocery bags in a landfill and in the environment, impacting the future of the Earth.

No plastic, no problem!

What We Learned

Cole: I learned that plastic bags take up to 1000 years to decompose and our landfills are filling up with them.

Kaylee: I learned that littering affects everything on Earth, and if we stop one of the main sources, like plastic bags, we can help everyone.

Hannah: I learned how important recycling really is. I didn't know how much litter was in my own community, now I understand, and what to do to on my part to help the issue.

Ty: I learned that I can make a difference in my community.

Jason: I learned that when trees get pulled up, tons of dirt gets loose.

Josh: I learned that every year 1.9 billion tons of trash end up in the ocean.

Jed: People have tried to fix littering before, but it didn't work.

Ezra: I learned that there are 1.9 billion tons of garbage in the ocean.

Jonathan: There are 1.9 tons of garbage in the ocean.