Bill approved to ban plastic bags statewide in California (Banning: stores, deal)

[wrcousert]

Why can't they make bags out of the same biodegradable plastic they use to make some water bottles? It won't matter if people toss them on the side of the road. They'll just decompose into plant food.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by ZhugeLiang

... LMAO at people who think the environment is so fragile that plastic bags can bring it down. The earth will exist just fine long after we're gone...

Please tell me who thinks "the environment is so fragile that plastic bags can bring it down". I haven't read any post here that says or even infers such. What is being said by supporters of the ban is that this is a good, healthy opportunity for consumers to be respectful toward one another and the living environment that suffer unnecessarily by our selfish wastefulness. Objecting to the methodology for practical reasons is a valid point of discussion. Simply ridiculing the very concept is disrespectful of social and environmental responsibility.

This isn't a question of the earth being fine after we're gone. It is an issue of how we live.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by wrcousert

Why can't they make bags out of the same biodegradable plastic they use to make some water bottles? It won't matter if people toss them on the side of the road. They'll just decompose into plant food.

"They" do make biodegradable bags ... corn based ... I have a couple boxes on hand ... they are considerably more expensive, and not as tough ... but they work for many purposes.

[ZhugeLiang]

Originally Posted by nullgeo

Please tell me who thinks "the environment is so fragile that plastic bags can bring it down". I haven't read any post here that says or even infers such. What is being said by supporters of the ban is that this is a good, healthy opportunity for consumers to be respectful toward one another and the living environment that suffer unnecessarily by our selfish wastefulness. Objecting to the methodology for practical reasons is a valid point of discussion. Simply ridiculing the very concept is disrespectful of social and environmental responsibility.

This isn't a question of the earth being fine after we're gone. It is an issue of how we live.

Oh please. You're making broad generalizations. People can reuse those plastic bags for many reasons, not that throwing those away is really any different from the crap that we're already tossing in the trash bin (toxic waste excluded of course). Costing people jobs in the name of, "This might help the environment, ugh.......we think" is just plain foolishness. I support RATIONAL environmentalism. This isn't it.

Take a look around man, the last thing we need in CA is another blow to private industry.

[TNEC_Dad]

How does rubber biodegrade in comparison to plastic?

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by ZhugeLiang

LMAO at people who think the environment is so fragile that plastic bags can bring it down. The earth will exist just fine long after we're gone.
.

It's not the environment as a whole but more specifically the biological ecosystem that can't take it. You're right though, the earth will be fine, the ecosystem will not.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by TNEC_Dad

How does rubber biodegrade in comparison to plastic?

Depends on what chemicals are used in it. Rubber itself comes from a tree but most rubber contains lots of additives.

[TNEC_Dad]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Depends on what chemicals are used in it. Rubber itself comes from a tree but most rubber contains lots of additives.

I guess I am mostly wondering about tires and how fast they biodegrade.

[nullgeo]

Originally Posted by TNEC_Dad

I guess I am mostly wondering about tires and how fast they biodegrade.

But you are not really wondering, are you.

Of course tires do not get eaten by marine mammals, being one of the differences between tires and plastic bags. And they don't blow around in the wind. Nor do they break down into leeching compounds. But that is not to say that the waste of tires is not a problem. It is an eyesore at the very least. Though they can be put to some use in recycling, it is a very limited answer. A great conundrum -- a huge opportunity for whomever comes up with a real answer.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Pac12Fan

Bill to ban single use plastic bags, tax paper bags in California

I already live with such a ban in Santa Monica. I always forget my bags when I shop after work, but don't really mind the 10 cent fee. I love the ban and hope it passes. How do you guys feel?

San Francisco has such a ban. Most grocery stores ignore it. I can't see that it's achieved anything. :-/