The Impact of Plastic on the Environment

This is a study, which will analyse the significance of advanced technology in reducing the use of plastic bag.  The consumption of plastic bags and other products have increased significantly. This is having a profound impact on the environment as these bags and plastic products are non-renewable in nature (Khoiruman & Haryanto, 2017). Thus, these materials are the main sources of marine debris and land based litters, which reduces the efficiency of the automated recycle systems. Thus, the government has been taking measures to prevent this degradation of the environment and the study will analyse the significance of technology in plastic waste management.

The uses of plastic have increased significantly in the recent years and it is having an adverse effect on the sustainability of the environment. Technology has advanced significantly but the reduction in the use has not diminished. Thus, the study will address this problem to identify suitable strategies and measures for improving environmental sustainability.

The study will identify the significant impact of advanced technology on reduction of plastic bag usage. The research will analyze the problems faced by the US government in controlling the use of plastic bags. Moreover, the perspectives of the general consumers are taken in to account so that the study can provide a different dimension.

The plastic manufacturing industry grew considerably due to the benefits attached to it. The cost of producing plastic products is low; plastics have high durability and low weight (Mutungi, Imathiu & Affognon, 2016). Thus, this material type has been preferred over any other materials and this can be identified by the exponential growth in the plastics industry (Green et al., 2015). Moreover, 50% of the plastics products that are developed belong to the category such as disposable items for consumers, packaging and agricultural films (Fred Dufour, 2017). The consumption of plastic products has kept on increasing and even though the government has taken measures to mitigate the use of plastic products, a lot of improvements are required to reduce pollution in the environmental conditions. Various statistics suggest that most of the plastic wastes are managed by using conventional methods such as land filling (Rhyner et al., 2017). The major drawback of using this method is none of the materials is recovered and it leads to increase in the shortage of the land filling areas. Incineration is another method, which is being used by the government to reduce the need of land filling and can be used to recover some amount of energy. However, the use of incineration leads to concerns in releasing of hazardous materials into the atmosphere. Thus, there are many drawbacks of using these methods, down gauging and recycling of products are the measures, which have been able to reduce the production and consumption of the materials effectively (Plastic bag bans, 2017).

Traditional Waste Management

However, the uses of these processes in most of the countries have been minimal and the use of plastic bags has increased the imbalance in the ecosystem significantly (Romer & Tamminen, 2014). Thus, use of innovation is one of the ways of managing waste materials in a better way. There is need for constantly improving the processes of managing plastic waste and so numerous ways have been developed to manage plastic waste in a better way. The study conducted by EPA shows that 79% of the plastic waste materials are accumulating in landfills and only 9% of the total plastic have been recycled (Xanthos & Walker, 2017). Moreover, it is predicted that if proper measures are not taken into account and the present trend keeps on continuing, 12 billion metric ton of plastic waste will be accumulated in landfills and there will be more amount of plastic waste in the oceans that the living organisms (Romer & Tamminen, 2014). Thus, immediate measures are necessary for preserving the environment and technology is one of the major factors in this context. The innovative procedures have been implemented in the field of sorting where there have been improvements in the productivity of the automated sorting procedures.  The use of recycled polymers in closed loop processes to provide high value is another innovative method that has been implemented. However, there is scope of improvement in the overall recycling procedures and thus modern technologies will have to be identified and implemented to make changes (Poortinga, Whitmarsh & Suffolk, 2013).  

Thus, the study investigated modern technologies that have been developed or are being developed to increase the sustainability of the environment. However, there are instances which suggest that the use of paper bags are much more harmful than the plastic bags as the level of carbon footprint is higher in the manufacturing of paper bags (Rivers, Shenstone-Harris & Young, 2017). Thus, the paper bags will have more impact on the climate change. This issue is a complicated one and various authors have different opinion about this matter which will be discussed in detail in the literature review. Therefore, the solution to this matter is complex and new advancement is required in the field of technology to improve the sustainability. This study analyzed the latest technological methods that should be used to reduce the usage of plastic bag.

The purpose of the study is to identify and evaluate the impact of advanced technology in reduction of plastic waste. In this current research, the perception of the general population will be taken into consideration to identify the sufficiency of the methods implemented by the United States government.

Modern Technology for Managing Waste

H₀– Advanced technology does not have significant impact in reduction of plastic waste

H₁– Advanced technology does have significant impact in reduction of plastic waste

• To evaluate the impact of advanced technology in reduction of plastic waste
• To evaluate the significance of advanced technology in reduction of plastics waste
• To evaluate the problems faced due to over usage of plastic materials
• To evaluate the challenges faced in using technology to mitigate the over usage of plastic bags
• To recommend suitable strategies to reduce the use of plastic materials

• What is the impact of advanced technology in reduction in use of plastic waste?
• What is the significance of advanced technology in reduction in use of plastic materials?
• What are the challenges faced by the U.S.A government in managing plastic waste?
• What are the measures taken by the U.S.A government to mitigate the issue?

The research has used primary data analysis and a single research design for analysing the problem statement. However, this research is specific to United States and may not be applicable to other countries. As quantitative analysis is the basis of evaluation, the data cannot be compared with other relevant data to provide a different dimension to the study.

These limitations can be mitigated by conducting similar experiments in different settings to identify the reliability of the methods used in the study. Secondly, by using multiple design in research, the study can overcome the shortcoming of using a single design.

Disposal of plastic is one of the serious global environmental concerns and there are various methods, which are being used by the government of different countries to mitigate this issue. Wagner (2017) found out that incineration and land filling are two most commonly used methods that are globally accepted. However, as stated by Ten Brink et al., (2017), there are drawbacks to these methods; so many of the non-government organizations are opposed to these methods. There is a problem of finding a suitable land for filling in many countries and the design of the incineration system has been designed in such a way as it not feasible for mass usage. This is due to the fact incineration leads to emission of harmful gases in to the atmosphere, which will influence the long-term sustainability of the corresponding environment. Thus, this section of the study will evaluate the perspective of different researchers and analyse the modern technologies that are being used to manage plastic waste management system in a better way.

These modern technologies that are being used by various government are plasma pyrolysis technology, liquid fuel, polymer blended bitumen roads and co-processing of cement kiln (Rhyner et al., 2017).  Shukla and Gottschalk (2013) observed that it is a method of using plastic materials to lay roads and have been successfully used in various countries. Bitumen film is frequently peeled off the totals due to the entrance of water, which brings about pothole arrangement. As stated by Bisschops, Schofield and Grace, (2017), Plastic waste produced from various urban communities and towns is a piece of civil strong waste. It involves worry that transfer of plastic waste is causing numerous issues for example, filtering sway ashore and ground water, stifling of channels, making land fruitless, unpredictable consuming causing natural risks and so on. Plastics squander being non biodegradable is littered in most of the urban communities/towns and their-by giving a revolting appearance. The stack checking result uncovered that discharge esteems are found underneath the standard set for Common Unsafe Waste Incinerators (Ta & Bones, 2017).

Research Purpose and Hypothesis

According to Uson et al., (2013), single used carrier bags made of plastics are used for carrying various goods from shopping malls and supermarkets, and most of these bags are provided without extra charges. These bags are generally used for that single trip only and rarely they are used for some other purposes. Moreover, their reusing capabilities are low and the organizations that charge for providing with plastic bags are the ones with better quality of materials and can be used multiple times. However, most of these bags are not reused even though they governments in various countries have mace efforts to improve the life span of the plastic products (Sinclair et al., 2016). This shows that the life cycle of the plastic carry bags is very short which is the main cause of the increase in impact on the corresponding environment and society.

In the USA, neighbourhood governments have the essential duty to oversee municipal solid waste An especially risky waste for neighbourhood governments is the single-utilized plastic sack. In 2014, in the USA, 103.465 billion single-utilize plastic shopping sacks were used. (Green et al., 2015). They likewise decrease the adequacy of robotized reusing frameworks. Accordingly, local governments progressively have received an assortment of measures particularly proposed to decrease the store-level utilization of single-utilize shopping packs in noteworthy classifications: bans, burden of charges and assessments, building up least item outline of sacks, requiring buyer training, and ordering retailer reclaim programs. As of September 2017, there were 271 neighbourhood governments in the USA with plastic pack statutes covering 9.7% of the country’s populace. The greater part (95%) of the laws is a prohibition on single-utilize plastic packs; 56.9% of these bans additionally incorporate a compulsory expense on paper as well as reusable sacks (Foster, 2013). For the charge based mandates, the mode is $0.10 per pack; each assessment/expense statute enables retailers to hold a few or all the gathered expense. As governments in United States keep on increasing their activities on plastic sacks, 11 states have authorized laws to deny local governments from managing single-utilized plastic packs. Because the accomplishment with single-utilized sacks, local governments are likewise establishing comparative mandates on single-utilized extended polystyrene customer items and other single-utilized plastic items.

Majority of the data made publicly accessible by the   US ecological security organization (US EPA). As stated by the US EPA, plastic waste need dramatically expanded in the United States since 1960 “when plastics were less one percent of the waste stream”. It may be evaluated that 8% about worldwide raw petroleum has been prepared from   transform plastics (Ertz et al., 2017).

Limitations of the Study

In each step along that waste administration stream, spillage What’s more passing from claiming plastics happens. As a result. Utilization is expanding exponentially same time waste management framework advancement is stagnant, new answers for plastic waste oversaw economy need aid essential. Significantly for. Those estimates from claiming recently 0.1% for yearly plastic waste escaping the waste oversaw economy system (Soni, Patil & Argade, 2016). These many tons for plastic contamination have significant impact on the corresponding environment.

Most of the peer reviewed literature on plastic pollution focuses on understanding and measuring the environmental and public health issues associated with plastic debris, both on land and in the ocean. Much attention has focused on plastic pollution in the marine pollution in the marine environment have increased over time (Chatsiwa, Mujere & Maiyana, 2016). The Marine Debris Working Group of the National Centre for Ecological Analysis concluded that plastic pollution poses a threat to public health when persistent bio accumulative and toxic substances (PBTs) adsorb to small plastic pieces and microplastics in the ocean. While not all chemicals that adsorb on to plastics will bio accumulate, some are potentially capable of expanding to the food chain, such as organic compounds and heavy metals that are harmful to humans. Plastics in the ocean often break into smaller pieces (microplastics) and these particles can get caught in the gills of fish or ingested by marine life, resulting in suffocation or starvation of the organism. Crossing all environmental scales, plastic pollution poses a threat, locally and globally, to marine and wildlife ranging from microorganisms to marine megafauna (Thorneloe & Kaplan, 2016). Parallel to the marine environmental damages, the terrestrial impacts are often related to wildlife interactions-ingestion and entanglement. It is important to note that there is very little peer reviewed literature specifically highlighting the environmental and public health impacts of plastic pollution on land. The focus on marine plastic pollution comes from the likelihood that the plastic pollution will eventually travel downstream to the ocean. The United Nations Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution found that 80% of marine debris (not just plastic pollution) originates from land-based sources (UNEP and Greenpeace, 2014). In addition to posing a navigational hazard, copious amounts of plastic pollution in waterways, in storm water drains, and on roadways can interfere with industries such as shipping, trucking, fishing, and tourism. Economic interference is the number one driver for the creation of legislation regulating plastic pollution in the US (Cremiato et al. 2017).

Modern Technologies for Managing Plastic Waste

Diminishments in the age of new plastic are probably going to give the greatest ecological effect since clean-up isn’t productive, regarding time and cash. With a 4% yearly increment in worldwide plastic creation during the most recent 3 years, worldwide plastic waste age is relied upon to increment at a comparable rate. The utilization of plastic things does not really imply that those things will wind up in the seas or the earthbound condition; nonetheless, devouring more plastic expands the likelihood of expanded plastic contamination (Pandey et al., 2016). In this unique situation, the objective of this undertaking is to feature positive business rehearses concentrated on decreasing plastic utilization in two business areas: lodgings and eateries. Plastic diminishment activities are frequently gone for the individual purchaser. In any case, scaling up from the individual can accomplish much more prominent decreases. The UNEP and the Global Partnership on Marine 9 Litter contend that unveiling plastic utilize and the cost of plastic use in the buyer products industry “can open beforehand unrecognized advantages. Such advantages are frequently useful for business, for instance, sparing information costs and recuperating an incentive from squander; client dependability, for example, favoured items and upgraded mark esteem; representative engagement; group fulfilment, and enhanced access to capital”. It is workable for the same to remain constant for organizations in benefit enterprises that expend plastic in the administration of their clients (Khoshnevisan et al., 2017). Distinguishing, uncovering, and esteeming plastic utilize makes open doors for advancement and diminishment. Marked as the most essential of the three R’s, diminishment is the initial phase in strong waste administration, trailed by reuse and reusing. Since decrease occurs before the purpose of utilization, diminishment is the best waste administration strategy. Along these lines, the objective of our contextual investigations is to concentrate on diminishment rehearses, albeit other strong waste administration strategies identified with reusing and reusing plastics are featured. Reusing productivity is near 9% in the United States, by a few evaluations, so even though reusing is frequently touted on supportability sites, more activities are required (Nakano & Shibahara, 2017).

Literature gap

Even though, the study has been able to take all the factors in to consideration, this research will evaluate and validate the existing theories. This study will not be able to develops new theories or generalizations and the findings of the study is based on the perspective of the population sample taken in to account. Thus, the study has been narrowed down to a specific country and broader aspect cannot be approached.

The Short Lifespan of Plastic Carry Bags

Conclusion

Thus, the review of literature states shows that various author has suggested the fact various methods have been taken by the governments and organizations to mitigate these problems. However, technological advancement is one of the major factors in managing reduction of usage of single plastic bags but there are other significant, which have contributed immensely in maintaining the sustainability of the environment.

In this current field of study, the development of knowledge can be profound but there are generally four types of philosophy, which are used in business or academic research. These philosophies are positivism, realism, post positivism and interpretivism (Flick, 2015). The research philosophy selected for the study is positivism as it will observe the phenomenon and based on these factors the objectives of the study are classified. Moreover, the hidden truths and facts in the study will be highlighted with the assistance from the positivism philosophy. Moreover, positivism will help in the improvement of the observational scope of the research.

In this current field of study, positivism has been used as the philosophy of research as actual truth will be extracted from the different observations in the study. Moreover, the formulation and testing of the hypothesis will be facilitated by the positivism philosophy of research. Thus, the scope of observation of the study has been increased and descriptive statistics can be implemented in the study. Moreover, the hypothesis in the study can be tested due to the implementation of the positivism research philosophy.

The study will consist of quantitative analysis of data as the positivism has been chosen as the research philosophy. The quantitative analysis will consist of close-ended questionnaire addressed to selected population sample and statistical tools such as descriptive statistics and regression analysis will be used for validating the existing theories.

 The research strategy used in the study is deductive approach, as quantitative analysis will be used for analyzing the data. The deductive approach will improve the scope of the study as the formulated hypothesis and exiting theories can be validated.

The data collection method that is being in the study is the primary collection method. Quantitative and qualitative data collection is the two methods that can be used in this collection method. Quantitative data collection will consist of mathematical calculations and will use surveys and questions to collect the data. The survey will consist of close-ended questionnaires, which will be asked to the public who have limited knowledge about the research topic. The qualitative analysis will consist of the open-ended questionnaires, which will be asked to the individuals who have knowledge regarding the research topic (Csikszentmihalyi & Larson 2014). However, in this study, mono method will be used for the analysis of the data and will comprise of only quantitative analysis of data. Thus, in this study quantitative analysis will be used for data collection and will consist of the statistical analysis of data.

Measures Taken by the US Government for Plastic Bag Waste

The identification of the patterns in the interviews will be analysed with the qualitative analysis of data. However, in this quantitative analysis will be used and will comprise of evaluation of the data with descriptive statistics. The data that has been collected will be analysed and linked to the objective of the study to validate the existing theories (Bryman 2015). The statistical tools and techniques will consist of regression analysis, which will establish the relationship between the dependent and the independent variables. The data that has been collected will be represented in forms of charts and graphs and each of the questions will be analysed through to identify the hidden facts and establish the relationship.

In this study, simple random sampling has been used where the population is selected randomly which provides the population with the equal opportunity of being selected. The population sample that has been selected for the study is 50 as it will be easier to calculate and infer from small population sample.  

The ability of drawing similar conclusion from the study can be defined as the reliability of the study. According to Silverman, (2016), high degree of reliability ensures that there is positive outcome in the study. When all the needs of the framework in research are fulfilled then it is known as the validity. As stated by Sekaran and Bougie, (2016), validity is one of the essential requirements of conducting a good research.  Validity can be considered measurement, appropriate collection and understanding of the collected data. The validity and reliability of the data is high in this particu8lar study.

Ethical ground must be maintained in academic and business research and has a significant importance. In this study, the confidentiality of the data that has been collected has been maintained. The privacy and interest of the respondents have been protected by keeping the data confidential (Padgett, 2016). Moreover, none of the data has been taken from other journals and articles of similar type. None of the respondents has been forced to take part in the survey and they have participated on their own free will.

Gender of Participants

Row labels	No of response	Percentage of response	Total respondents
Male	28	56%	50
Female	22	44%	50

In this study, 56% of the respondents are male and 44% are female. Thus, the study will be able to gain knowledge about the perspective of the both type of respondents.

Age of Participants

Age	No of response	Percentage of response	Total respondents
less than 25	13	26%	50
25-30	25	50%	50
31-40	6	12%	50
41 and above	6	12%	50

In this study, 12% of the respondents were above the age of 40 and 12% were between the age group of 31-40 years. On the contrary, 76% of the respondents are below the age group of 30. Thus, the majority of the respondents are between the age group of 25-30 a Thus, the data that has been obtained is expected a to offer significant result.

1. How much do you agree that innovation is required in the advancement of technology?

Row labels	No of response	Percentage of response	Total respondents
Strongly Agree	26	52%	50
Agree	16	32%	50
Indifferent	1	2%	50
Disagree	4	8%	50
Strongly disagree	3	6%	50

Conclusion

This question will highlight whether innovation in technology is significant in the advancement of technology. The findings of the study suggest that 52% and 32% agree to the fact that innovation will have significant impact on the advancement of technology. On the contrary, 8% and 6% of the employees are not in agreement with the majority of the respondents. Thus, the findings are indicating that innovation may be significantly important factor for advancement in the field of technology. Continuous innovation is required in the field of technology so new technologies can be developed which may improve the efficiency of the procedures used for management of plastic waste reduction.

1. How much do you agree that focus on research and development is needed to make advancement in the field of technology?

Row labels	No of response	Percentage of response	Total respondents
Strongly Agree	21	42%	50
Agree	19	38%	50
Indifferent	0	0%	50
Disagree	3	6%	50
Strongly disagree	7	14%	50

This question will highlight the significance of research and development in the advancement of technology. The findings show that 45% and 39% of the respondents are in agreement with the research question. However, 7% and 6% are not in agreement with the majority of the respondents. Thus, according to the sample population the majority of the population sample infers that research and development of technology may be crucial in upcoming years in maintaining the sustainability of the environment. Thus, this shows that large amount of capital will have to be spent on research and development so that there is continuous improvement in technology and harmless substitute products can be developed.

1. How much do you agree that current technological methods are sufficient to manage recycling of plastics products?

Row labels	No of response	Percentage of response	Total respondents
Strongly Agree	23	46%	50
Agree	19	38%	50
Indifferent	0	0%	50
Disagree	3	6%	50
Strongly disagree	5	10%	50

This question will aim to identify the sufficiency of current technology in reduction of the plastic waste materials. The majority of the respondents think that technology available is sufficient to mitigate the current problems in the environment. However, there are respondents who are in disagreement of the fact that new technological innovation is required. Thus, the findings suggest that technology has made immense progress and it is possible to reduce the use of plastic materials with the current technology. Thus, this indicates that even though the government has access to advance technology there are other factors, which are causing hindrance.

1. How much do you agree that the government is facing challenges in reduction in usage of plastic materials?

Row labels	No of response	Percentage of response	Total respondents
Strongly Agree	24	48%	50
Agree	17	34%	50
Indifferent	0	0%	50
Disagree	4	8%	50
Strongly disagree	5	10%	50

This question of the study will highlight whether the government is facing issues in managing the use of plastic. The study shows that 48% of the respondents are in strongly in agreement with the fact that government is facing issues managing the reduction in plastic usage. Moreover, 34% of the respondents have agreed with majority, which clearly indicates that there are issues, which has to be mitigated in order to maintain the sustainability of the environment. on the contrary, 8% and 4% of are in complete disagreement with the question. Thus, government will take reforms so that manage the environment in a better way.

Row labels	No of response	Percentage of response	Total respondents
Strongly Agree	21	42%	50
Agree	20	40%	50
Indifferent	1	2%	50
Disagree	2	4%	50
Strongly disagree	6	12%	50

 This question is aimed at identifying the scope of improvement in plastic material usage procedures. The findings of the study suggest that 42% and 40% of the respondents are in strong agreement with the fact that there is a scope of improvement in the procedure of plastic waste management. However, 4% and 12% are in disagreement with the fact there is a scope of improvement. Thus, there is scope of improvement in the technological methods, which contradicts the fact that the respondents think that the present technologies are sufficient for the managing of the plastics materials. Thus, this complexity cannot be determined just by analyzing the perspective of the respondents and statistical tools will provide a better understanding of this factor in the study.

1. How much do you agree that advanced technology has significant impact in reduction of plastic waste materials?

Row labels	No of response	Percentage of response	Total respondents
Strongly Agree	26	52%	50
Agree	16	32%	50
Indifferent	0	0%	50
Disagree	4	8%	50
Strongly disagree	4	8%	50

 This question will address the fact that advancement of technology will have significant impact in reduction of plastic waste. The findings of the study suggest that 52% and 32% of the respondents are in agreement with the fact that advancement of technology will have significant impact on reduction in usage of plastic waste materials. On the contrary, 16% of the respondents are in strong disagreement with the question. However, no concrete conclusion can be derived from these tables and graphs, and so statistical tools such as regression and hypothesis, which will be able to establish a relationship between the independent and dependent variable.

Regression analysis is used to establish the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. Regression analysis will identify the type of degree of relation among both the variables. Moreover, r square will identify the extent to which the independent variable is able to explain the dependent variable. The normality plot shows that the sample population is normally distributed which will identify the goodness of fit of the data that has been collected.

 The findings of the study show that the f value is 0.654334291 which means the value is greater than 0.5. Moreover, the p value for the study will be more than .05, which means that null hypothesis cannot be rejected and alternative hypothesis cannot be accepted. Regression analysis will establish the relation among the dependent variable and the independent variable. The multiplier R describes the correlation between both the variables. The value of the multiplier is 0.064896, which means that there is positive correlation between the variables. R² is the coefficient of determination, which identifies the number of variables that will line with the line of regression. However, the implication of R² is the ability of the independent variable to explain the dependent variable. In this study, the value of R² is very low that only 1% of the dependent variable can be explained by the independent variable. This shows that there are other variables, which will be able to explain the dependent variable in a better way. Thus, the regression analysis shows that there is significance impact of the advancement in technology on reduction in usage of the plastic waste materials. The normality probability plot suggests that the data used in this study is almost close to being normally distributed. This means that even though the data is following normality there is no significant influence of one variable on the other variable.

Two sample T- Test

t-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances
	Variable 1	Variable 2
Mean	1.973333333	1.966666667
Variance	0.466394558	0.704081633
Observations	50	50
Pooled Variance	0.585238095
Hypothesized Mean Difference	0
df	98
t Stat	0.043572497
P(T<=t) one-tail	0.482666916
t Critical one-tail	1.660551218
P(T<=t) two-tail	0.965333832
t Critical two-tail	1.984467404

Findings

The hypothesis testing of the study shows that means are almost equal in the study.  The t value in the study is 0.0436 which states that means are almost equal. Thus, the null hypothesis can be rejected and the alternative hypothesis can be accepted. The difference in analysis of both the study and this is due to the fact that regression will take all the variables i9n tom account where as hypot5hei9sis testing will take only one variable in to consideration. Thus, from the hypothesis testing it can be said, that advancement of technology will have impact on the reduction in the usage of the plastic waste.

Final analysis

Thus, from the study, it can be seen that there is significant difference in results in regression and hypothesis testing. This is due to the fact there are other assumptions that are made by t test, which may lead to the production of different results. Thus, it is important to identify the suitable testing procedure for executing a study. The study shows that advancement in the field of technology will have impact on reduction in the use of the plastic materials. However, the regression analysis of the data shows that there is no significant impact of advanced technology on reduction in usage of the plastic bags. This shows that there are other significant factors, which have more impact on the dependent variable. Thus, from the findings of the study it can be stated that independent variable will have an impact on the dependent variable but the relation between both the variable is low.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded from the study that there is impact of advancement of technology on reduction of usage of plastic bags. However, the independent variable is bale to explain only 1% of the dependent variable so there are other factors which are more important than in management of plastic bags usage. Thus, linking with the objective of the study, it can be said that there are lot issues still which cannot be mitigated by the use of technology and so measures have to be taken in order to reduce the consumption of single use plastic bags. Moreover, it has been seen that US have made stringent laws regarding the use of plastic bags which will facilitate in better management of solid waste.

 It is recommended from the study that the government will have to keep on using research and development so that they can create substitute product for plastic. Moreover, the quality of bio degradable plastic materials will have to improved so that this issue can be completely solved. Therefore, the US government will have to use innovation in research and development to improve the processes in a better way. Moreover, the government will have to organize awareness programs to increase the awareness of the general population. Environment can only be made sustainable by making the use of the products sustainable.  The government will have to invest in improvement of technology. The study shows that technology is having appositive impact on reducing the consumption of single usage plastic bags so investing on research and development is a sustainable way of protecting the environment. Moreover, disposal of waste can be executed more efficiently to reduce the harmful effect. The United States government will have to develop long term goals and based on these goals they will take short actions to reach the target they have set. The majority of the plastic that is polluting the environment is microplastic and they are difficult to filter as they easily get dissolve in facewash. The cosmetic products used are major contributors of microplastic pollution and it can be reduced by educating people about its adverse effect. Moreover, the reuse of same plastic bags is a feasible option as it does not degenerate easily and can be used several times to reduce the consumption.

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Nakano, K., & Shibahara, N. (2017). Bio-drying has been proved to be a promising method for treatment of MSW (municipal solid waste) and sewage sludge due to its high energy efficiency and low operating cost. In this study, bio-drying was adopted to treat kitchen waste, which has quite unique features from MSW and sewage sludge. The main operating factors of bio-drying, including sludge inoculation, initial moisture content, and… Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, 19(1), 496-504.

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Sinclair, R. G., Gerba, C. P., Sifuentes, L. Y., Tsai, M., & Abd-Elmaksoud, S. (2016). Efficacy of Treatment of Reusable Grocery Bags with Antimicrobial Silver to Reduce Enteric Bacteria. Food Protection Trends, 36(6), 458-464.

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