Paper Vs. Plastic

552 Words3 Pages
I. Intro II. Background A. The first plastic sandwich bag was made in 1957 B. In 1966 between 25 and 30 percent of packaging for bread is plastic C. Retail giants Sears and J.C. Penny switch to plastic shopping bags D. Super markets began to say, “paper or plastic?’ E. In 1994 Denmark creates first plastic bag tax F. In 1996 over 80 percent of all bags used is plastic G. In 2002 Ireland introduces the worlds first consumer paid plastic bag tax III. Plastic bag pollution A. Plastic bags that are littered end up choking and killing thousands of birds and marine life a. Almost 267 species have been scientifically documented to be adversely affected by plastic marine debris. b. Plastic bags that enter into the marine environment break down into small pieces, which are mistaken as food by the animals c. Once littered, plastic bags essentially never biodegrade. Instead the sun breaks them into small pieces that choke and kill sensitive marine species such as turtles and birds B. People today use too many plastic bags as it is a. Californians use 14 million plastic bags a year which is almost 400 bags per second. b. Every year around 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. 500,000,000,000 c. 100 billion are consumed in the United States alone. IV. Production of plastic A. Materials a. There are two types of plastics, thermoplastics and thermosetting polymers. b. Most plastic bags are made of either high or low density polyethelene c. In its smallest form it is a polymer, a large molecule chain of repeating structural units. Most of these molecules in the chain are familiar to you already, for example, carbon and oxygen. When these chains are linked together they form
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