The Usage of Plastic
Although the weather was hot and humid like every summer in Tokyo, there were also many things I enjoyed about it. This summer, I took a vacation on a beautiful island, saw some spectacular fireworks in Saitama, and watched the United States play Greece in the FIBA tournament. Another great thing about this summer was receiving delicious souvenir snacks from my coworkers after their summer vacation. I might have gained a few pounds this summer because of all the sweets I have eaten. The omiyage from different parts of Japan are not only tasty, but aesthetically pleasing to the eye as well. The packaging is very nice and even the sweets are individually wrapped. My favorite snack is probably the Yatsuhashi from Kyoto.
While I was taking the sweets out of the plastic wrappings, I started to wonder about the amount of plastic used in Japan. So I decided to research the facts online. According to Reusablebags.com Japan consumes about 30 billion plastic bags a year, which is equal to about 300 bags per adult. Also, we must not forget about the plastic used in the dress shirt covers from the cleaners, the wrappings that hold the pocket tissues, and, of course, the wrappings of each sweet in an omiyage. Almost everything a person could buy in Tokyo is packaged in plastic. That is a large amount of plastic being used!
And because plastic bags are not biodegradable and are usually used only once and are disposed, they cause many problems in the environment. Marine mammals die from eating it. It contaminates the soil, water, and air. It takes up valuable landfill space.
So what’s the solution to this problem? I like the idea of enforcing a plastic bag levy. Once people have to start paying for plastic bags, usage of it will decrease in an instant. According to this article, the usage of plastic bags in Ireland dropped about 95 percent once the tax was imposed. That’s amazing! I hope people will continue to find better ways to reduce the usage of plastic to decrease the harm being done to the environment.