The status quo states that the US produced 35.7 million tons of plastic waste in 2018, more than 90 percent of which was either landfilled or burned. This places the US at second in the world for total plastic waste generated per year falling only behind China. However, if measured per capita, the U.S. outspaces China. 50 percent of all this plastic waste is because of single-use plastic: plastic that is used just once and thrown away.

We cannot afford to let this keep happening since this correlates with the environment that humans constantly interact with. 693 species have encountered plastic debris, with 400 involving entanglement and ingestion.

Plastic is constantly contaminating the food that humans survive on through microplastics. Microplastics are very small bits of plastic that animals ingest, which eventually end up in humans since they are the ones that eat the animals.

Banning single-use plastics would benefit marine life, which will save us as well.

There are two reasons why plastic accumulation is so detrimental to the environment:

Firstly, plastic accumulation would cause decreasing biodiversity, as less biodiversity in an area increases the risk of a domino effect of extinctions, where one species' disappearance can cause other species to follow suit. Interactions between species are important for ecosystem stability. Biodiversity loss could cause "run-away extinction cascades."

Secondly, the microplastics that end up in aquatic life's bodies are poisoning what is left of our food supply. Human exposure to microplastics could cause health impacts, including hormonal imbalances, reproductive problems like infertility, and even cancer.

Therefore, the impact of banning single-use plastics is twofold.

First of all, poisoning marine life is poisoning us humans too, as it is one of the biggest food sources in the entire world. Fish and other seafood products provide for more than three billion people and supply an income for 10 to 12 percent of the world's population.

And finally, the rates of cancer would go up via microplastics. 600 thousand people died from cancer in the United States alone in 2023, and these numbers will only rise if we continue to be a bystanders to the growing problem of single-use plastics.

Since it is clear that banning single-use plastics is very obvious that it will do good, why isn't the federal government implementing a ban on single-use plastics? This is because other factors of single-use plastics are beneficial for humankind. 

Take pandemics for example:

Most plastic masks are made out of single-use plastic since they are much more effective than cloth reusable masks, due to the plastic filter material that traps particles more effectively. Single-use face masks were found everywhere back in 2020 when the pandemic hit its peak, as single-use items allow frontline workers to focus on treating the sick and eradicating the virus instead of worrying about the cleanliness of the tools they use.

However, banning single-use plastics would mean that people would not be able to use single-use masks in another pandemic, and the chances of another one following COVID-19 are surprisingly high. The probability of another pandemic occurring is 44 percent within the next couple of decades. This means that in any given year, the chance of another pandemic occurring is over two percent. Although two percent might seem small, this percentage will build up as time goes by, increasing the risk of another pandemic.

This is devastating as the world isn't ready for another pandemic yet. We are still trying to recover the lives lost and the economy that was damaged after COVID-19, and another pandemic would just add to the burden. A future pandemic could potentially kill billions without the use of masks, which is why we must keep single-use plastics for now.

And this is where the world is at right now. Scientists and researchers are still trying to implement a plan that would save the environment while protecting those in need. Maybe the world can find alternatives that are more eco-friendly towards the environment. But we will never know until we know.