Plastic-Bag Ban: Friend or Faux Pas?
Photo by Sam Rae, under a Creative Commons license
Is San Francisco’s ban on plastic bags merely a band-aid solution to a deeper environmental issue? Anna of Bring Your Own makes a convincing argument:
Replacing plastic bags with paper and compostable does little to address the root of the issue: our disposable mentality. Yes, its potentially preventing plastic bags from winding up in the ocean, to be chomped by poor unwitting sea turtles…..but at the end of the day, a tremendous opportunity to educate is missed. We gotta start valuing our resources! Bring your own damn bag, use it over an over, take some responsibility for your crap!
She cites Ireland’s tax of 15 cents per plastic bag as a more effective solution. “People no longer looked at the nasty little suckers as expendable, valueless items, to be tossed unthinkingly,” Anna writes in her blog. “We HATE having to pay for things we think should be free…..and when we have to PAY, even a paltry sum of 10-15 cents, we immediately attach some value.”
It’s an indisputable fact that plastic bags are a scourge on our planet—each takes 1,000 years to break down into microscopic particles that wind up polluting our soil and waterways, not to mention enter our food chain through accidental ingestion by animals. (Thousands of marine animals die each year after mistaking plastic bags for food.) In the case of the endangered leatherback turtle, plastic bags masquerading as delectable jellyfish—its primary food source—are far too tempting to pass up.
San Francisco’s solution: Replace all petroleum-based plastic bags with bags made from recycled paper—which returns to the earth in about a month—or compostable ones made from plant starches. Corn plastics, such as the patented PLA, only decompose into carbon dioxide and water under industrial composting conditions, in special facilities that can subject compost to high temperatures—we’re talking about something like 140 degrees Fahrenheit—for long spans of time. That rules out utilizing your backyard compost pile or tumbler. PLA also poses a problem for conventional recycling facilities that aren’t equipped to handle this newfangled plastic. Unlike polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which can be broken down into pellets and fabricated into new products such as carpeting or fiberfill, PLA currently has few applications, largely because of its low melting point. In fact, recyclers see PLA as a contaminant if it’s mixed in with your PET recyclables—they have to fork out cash to get the PLA sorted out and disposed of. (This does not make them happy campers, as you can imagine.)
Paper bags are no better, and in fact could be far worse than their plastic counterparts. According to the EPA, paper bags generate 70 percent more air pollutants and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags do. Four times as much energy is expended in the production of a paper bag. Plus, it takes 91 percent less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle the equivalent in paper. (And, regardless of the medium, there will always be antisocial yahoos who litter and don’t recycle. This is where educational programs need to come into play.)
So paper, plastic, or corn starch? If our society is ever to break from its throwaway, narcissistic mentality, the right, most ecologically beneficial answer would be “none of the above, I’ve brought my own.”
References:
1. Royte, Elizabeth. “Corn Plastic to the Rescue.” Smithsonian August (2006)
lea said,
April 25, 2007 at 2:19 pm
My home state is looking to implement a 15 cents per bag tax which I thought was very progressive - even though it’ll never pass.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AK_BAG_FEE_AKOL-?SITE=AKFAI&SECTION=HOME
Last week I was talking to my mom (who is a staunch republican who drives a big truck) and she actually said she didn’t like plastic bags and wanted an alternative. She went to reusablebags.com and found herself some recycled bags all by herself! I’m so proud of her :-)
Anne said,
April 25, 2007 at 2:43 pm
For novices at sustainable living or for anyone who hasn’t taken their old plastic bags to recycling yet, crochet (or have a crafty friend crochet) your own reusable plastic bag.
http://www.geocities.com/quibblerscribbler/Recycled_plastic_bag.html
Make this pattern less cutesy and avoid the flower. I’m sure with some more Google-ing one could discover other patters to her or his liking. A plastic bag plastic bag - it’s like a never ending mirror, but useful.
Maeve said,
April 26, 2007 at 6:05 am
From Ireland - After watching a plastic bag high in a tree outside my window for several years ( turning progressivly greyer over time) I was delighted when our government introduced a tax on plastic bags. Granted I would still buy them occasionaly if caught out without my reusables. I am happy to report that the tax does work here - if only we could introduce some kind of tax for drinks cans and bottles like in the US. Unfortunately we Irish are unenvironmentally and litter concious - until it hits our pockets.
Jenna said,
April 26, 2007 at 6:48 am
Bandaid solution? Yeah. But while it won’t fix the problem, it IS a start. The simple fact is that having everyone on the planet decide tomorrow that they are going to start living completly green…. isn’t gonna happen. We didn’t get to this point overnight, and we’re not gonna fix it overnight. Each little step is a step in the right direction. We run the risk of people becoming completly overwhelmed and, deciding we’re doomed anyway, they might as well fiddle as Rome burns.
Jasmin said,
April 26, 2007 at 9:42 am
Jenna, a better solution might have been to tax the bags, rather than ban them outright.
nrLois said,
April 26, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I agree that taxing plastic bags is a much better solution. Aldi supermarkets in the midwest CHARGE you for paper OR plastic grocery bags, and the number of people re-using theirs and using fabric bags is astounding! They also employ a quarter rental mechanism on their carts, thereby forcing most consumers to return their carts to the storefront to retrieve their quarters!
Good samaritans can give a quarter or their cart to another shopper to just be nice. That’s what I call a good investment - 25-cents to have someone smile and thank me for my generosity!
Trader Joe’s stores also registers shoppers who bring their own bags for a grocery give-away. I have never won the prize, but I love telling people why I got to participate in the drawing.
Finally, I’m no expert here, but I bought a removable basket for my grocery-getter bicycle. It holds LOTS of library books, lots of groceries, etc. I don’t buy milk, but it’s a suitable size to hold two gallons of milk. The basket was about $30, but it’s been a fantastic investment!!
hallaren said,
April 26, 2007 at 4:17 pm
I just found your blog at Keri Smith’s blog. Bravo!
Last night we watched SUPERSIZE ME on MSNBC–we were aware of the dangers of McDonald’s but were tersely reminded of the horrid health dangers as we watched Morgan Spurlock’s mental and physical health deteriorate over just the first 12 days of his every-day for 30 days McD’s diet.
Thank you for the reminders and hints, which I see are so prescient, that you post each day.
I am a new fan and will tell others.
CoCo said,
April 27, 2007 at 6:52 am
Hi there, I also got the link from Keri Smith’s blog. Am writing from Ireland where yes, unfortunately we have to pay taxes in order to make people become a little greener, but it is working. Plastic bags were once handed out for small individual items, now people bring their own reusable bags or simply put the item in their pocket, rather than pay 15 cent - this is across the board for people of all ages. Other advantage is that the money raised goes to a recycling fund rather than general tax fund and so can be used for other green initiatives.
While I have no problem with taxing things like plastic bags, there are now talks of a similar tax on chewing gum, which is a scourge to remove from footpaths (sidewalks), etc. However, as someone who chews gum but never throws it on the ground I wonder if I should be taxed…..? I realise the same could be said for plastic bags, but there was no right way to dispose of them and they were being handed out too liberally. The tax was used as a disincentive to use plastic bags, whereas the chewing gum companies won’t want people to stop chewing! Some of the larger stores in Ireland began to offer free bags (ie took on the cost themselves) which may happen with gum companies. Another problem that has arisen here is that many stores now give paper bags which don’t have a tax….I suppose they can be recycled more easily but use a lot of energy in production. They also burst when it’s raining over here!!
I think San Fran is going the right way in identifying that there is a problem, but possibly there are more advantages in a tax as people see the value of items that would have been disgarded otherwise.
Hilde said,
April 28, 2007 at 1:16 am
From Germany: Here, you get free plastic bags only when you buy clothes, books etc. They are sturdy and reusable, at least as binliners. For plastic grocery bags, you pay between 20 and 30 cents. Many shops also sell fabric bags for 1 Euro (1.30 Dollar). But most people actually bring their own bags or baskets.
C said,
May 1, 2007 at 4:31 pm
I agree, plastic bags are a pain, especially when they’re misused, but I must confess that I take every one I can get. I use them for disposing of used kitty litter. And yes, I reuse every single bag I get once, but then it’s off to the landfill. I even steal some from my mom when I’m running low. I keep thinking that there HAS to be a better solution, any advice oh wise WW and Chekhov?
I know I could switch litters (I still use the horrid clay clumping stuff. Yes, I know. But all this added expense for the green stuff adds up, ya know?) to a flushable one, but I’m not so sure that flushing it ends up being better. Then there are the biodegradable bags, but I’ve read those don’t degrade under landfill conditions (no O2). Then there is the pet poop composting option. Ew. And I live in the city, with a tiny yard, somehow I think the neighbors might complain. Recently I saw a cat crap version of the diaper genie, which would mean one bag a week or so instead of seven. Is there a better way?
The Worsted Witch » Neither Paper Nor Plastic: An Ecological Intervention said,
May 2, 2007 at 7:42 pm
[...] Related article: 1. Plastic Bag Ban: Friend or Faux Pas [...]
Quinqube said,
May 4, 2007 at 5:41 am
Brand-New Bag
Melting down used plastic to make the next hipster tote.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.05/posts_bag.html
The Worsted Witch » To Market, To Market said,
July 23, 2007 at 9:16 am
[...] Related posts: 1. Big Brown Bags 2. Neither Paper Nor Plastic: An Ecological Intervention 3. Plastic Bag Ban: Friend or Faux Pas? [...]