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But unfortunately, those banned grocery bags are a minuscule percent of our waste. It was all about a feel good law that accomplished nothing.
Think about this. When you go grocery shopping you might use 15 - 25 plastic bags to hold your fruits and veggies and chicken,, etc. Then check out and use 3 to take them home. So they banned the three at checkout but not the 15 - 25 or so that are used to hold your stuff.
Bag ban laws were only to make politicians look good.
I actually don't disagree with your last paragraph, there is certainly a great deal of political posturing with these regulations. You also bring up legitimate loopholes in the laws (such as people using the little produce bags).
But I'm not sure I'd agree these regulations are totally useless at getting us to use less plastic bags.
It’s hard to measure the impact of pre-existing plastic bag bans, but some initial findings look promising. A plastic bag tax levied in Ireland in 2002 has reportedly led to a 95 percent reduction in plastic bag litter there. And a study by San Jose, California found that a 2011 ban instituted there has led to plastic litter reduction of “approximately 89 percent in the storm drain system, 60 percent in the creeks and rivers, and 59 percent in City streets and neighborhoods.”
MARTIN: So Michael Bolinder, you focus on the Anacostia River here in D.C. Can you just give us an idea of why environmentalists consider shopping bags a problem nationally and what you've seen here locally?
BOLINDER: Sure. The Anacostia River is an eight-and-a-half-mile long tributary to the Potomac River. It's one of the dirtiest rivers in the United States. As part of our approach to clean up the river, we, actually using money generated from the bag fees, we put some traps in a couple of the streams that are tributaries to the rivers and we capture trash. We take all that trash out, we measure it, we characterize it, and we've noticed that a big percentage of that trash is bags.
MARTIN: And now, since the city imposed the five cent bag tax back in 2010, what have you seen?
BOLINDER: We've seen a pretty huge reduction in bags. We can measure that two ways. One we can look at consumer use. It was about 22 and a half million bags per month in 2009. In January 2010, that dropped to three million.
MARTIN: Mm-hmm.
BOLINDER: And then the actual characterization of the trash that we capture in our traps, it used to be that the traps were roughly 50 percent bags, now we almost never find a bag.
MARTIN: Really? OK. And there's a continuing revenue stream from the bag tax, right?
BOLINDER: Yeah. We've - since we've started the bag tax, you know, I like to call it a bag fee, not a back tax.
But, it is complicated. You rightly mention that paper bags can actually require more energy to make than plastic bags (more energy, which if made with fossil fuel sources isn't good for anyone). But plastic bags last much longer on the planet and contribute to litter (bad for many reasons). You also might need to consider if the bags are made from recycled materials or not (and if those sources are local/non-local)...even if reusuable bags their own issues, I think they're by far the best option. This is actually why I agree with a tax on all single-use bags, not just plastic ones. Anything that gets people to bring their own bags is good by me. I'd support the opposite kind of plan that incentivizes people to bring their own bags by giving them a credit at the register, but I think this would be less effective than a tax.
Bag usage is probably not the biggest thing we need to worry about in regards to litter/pollution, but I can't say I'm against having our species use less of them.
And most people reuse these bags for lunch bags, dog poo bags, etc.
The environmental impact is negligible.
Meanwhile, paper bags use more energy to produce and distribute and are less reusable.
I care about the environment: I have solar panels, foam insulation in the house, and a solar water heater. I also drive a hybrid vehicle. These measures make sense to me and are good to my pocket.
I reuse those plastic bags. I put my grandson's soiled diapers in them and I use them to pick up dog poop.
Penalizing plastic bag use is not as good as rewarding those who bring reusable grocery bags. People respond better when you reward them. Offer a discount/coupon maybe?
Recycling is garbage! It's a hoax that has been debunked decades ago.
just like the ethanol hoax. It actually takes more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than you get when you burn it. It was done only for the farm vote and it raised the price of all corn products.
just like the ethanol hoax. It actually takes more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than you get when you burn it. It as done only for the farm vote and it raised the price of all corn products.
I care about the environment: I have solar panels, foam insulation in the house, and a solar water heater. I also drive a hybrid vehicle. These measures make sense to me and are good to my pocket.
I reuse those plastic bags. I put my grandson's soiled diapers in them and I use them to pick up dog poop.
No offense, if you truly cared you wouldn't have a hybrid car...
Hybrid batteries are horribly toxic... whether nickel cadmium or lithium ion...
At least traditional lead acid is easily recycled...
Foam insulation is the cats meow though... I had an R rating of 40 in my house which was literally a quarter the thickness of R40 fiberglass insulation.
Cost of solar plus the fact I'd get snow... solar was negligible
Plastic bags end up damaging the environment and wildlife, especially damaging to turtles and other forms that consume them thinking they are jelly fish. Pure laziness and convenience for the most part and many municipalities are moving ahead with the ban. Plastics are ending up in the food chain and water supply and that will be damaging.
It made it's way to the Texas Supreme Court, what a shocker.
just like the ethanol hoax. It actually takes more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than you get when you burn it. It was done only for the farm vote and it raised the price of all corn products.
Ohhh but ethanol is great because racetruck. effectively 110 octane for 1.25 per gallon as of this morning. Advanced timing = more power.
My 14 Z71 has custom tunes, headers to x pipe to 2 and a half inch chrome tips under the rear bumper.
No cats no mufflers. Upload the E85 flash omg.... keeps you glued in the seat and embarrasses 5.0 mustangs...
I would throw a blower or hairdryer on it just for E85 hello 800+hp.
If the 16 duramax had a better fuel system I'd just filter old cooking oil and blend it with a little kerosene
Plastic bags end up damaging the environment and wildlife, especially damaging to turtles and other forms that consume them thinking they are jelly fish. Pure laziness and convenience for the most part and many municipalities are moving ahead with the ban. Plastics are ending up in the food chain and water supply and that will be damaging.
It made it's way to the Texas Supreme Court, what a shocker.
Only if you throw them in the rivers and lakes etc.
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effectively 110 octane for 1.25 per gallon as of this morning. Advanced timing = more power.
hello 800+hp.
