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We ought to bag the plastic bag tax
Susan Lee
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TEXT OF COMMENTARY
Kai Ryssdal: In San Francisco this week, plans are afoot among city officials to expand their ban on plastic shopping bags. Three years ago the city outlawed plastic bags in grocery stores and chain drug stores. The talk now is of extending it to all businesses there. Other cities have tried to control what has been called the "urban tumbleweed" by charging for bags at the checkout aisle.
Commentator Susan Lee says that's not the way to go either.
Susan Lee: I live in New York City, which happens to be the plastic-bag center of the universe. According to one estimate, New Yorkers use over 3 billion bags a year.
Most of these bags are reused as liners for garbage buckets or as pooper-scoopers. But a lot of them just blow around -- and get caught in trees where they hang forever.
Well, a total ban seems a bit extreme. So I was interested when Washington D.C. started taxing bags this year. All grocery and convenience stores now charge five cents per bag -- paper or plastic. Lots of people don't want to pay, so stores use about half as many bags as they did before the tax.
Hoo-Ha, I thought. A bag tax produces a trifecta of good things -- less repulsive litter, less environmental damage and less waste in general.
However, it turns out that I was wrong.
Yes, fewer bags do cut down on repulsive litter. But only on the margin. A huge majority of street litter consists of paper and cigarette butts.
As for the environment -- plastic bags may be better than the alternative. Certainly they're better than paper bags. And those durable, poly-bags require more energy to produce. And unlike flimsy plastic bags, they aren't recyclable.
Same goes for waste. Beyond lining wastebaskets or picking up after pets, plastic bags are deployed as lunch boxes or totes for ancient tennis shoes.
Clearly, the need for some sort of bag won't disappear. Instead, other less energy-efficient bags will be purchased.
According to the Tax Foundation, at least 15 states have bag-tax laws in the pipeline.
It makes me very sad to say this, but we probably ought to bag the bag tax.
Ryssdal: Susan Lee is an economist living, as she said, in New York City. Take a second, no matter where you are, and send us your thoughts.
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The author misses an important point here, and that is the impact on wildlife. Plastic bags are consumed by animals particularly in the marine envirnment -- especially sea turtles -- and can be choked to death. Yes the author is correct that there is a lot of other litter out there and yes other bags are more energy-intensive, but single-use plastic bags have a severe impact on marine animals and need to be banned.
This was the most ignorant piece I have ever heard on your show. Her concern for the "environment" is completely limited to bags that hand up in trees. She ignores the huge swath of floating plastic in the Pacific Ocean and the wildlife that is killed every year from either choking or being strangled by plastic bags. She also claims that plastic is better for the environment than paper bags. Perhaps she is unaware that trees can be replanted, whereas used petrochemicals will never be seen again. She also completely overlooks many other alternatives, such as biodegradable plastic-like bags, and composting one's food waste so that lining a trash can would not be necessary. It is unclear why someone so uneducated about an issue would be given a forum to express her misguided beliefs.
What about cloth bags? She doesn't even mention these! Yes, the hip recycled plastic bags are everywhere but the ones I bring to the store are canvas. They are sturdy--most of mine are over 10 years old. Many I purchased used or got free at conferences. They don't fall apart and they certainly don't get caught in tree limbs. They aren't tacky, nor are they likely to be discarded out of laziness or lack of creativity. The environmental cost to produce them has long ago been surpassed by plastic in the landfills. AND at some grocery stores, I get 10 cents off for each bag I bring myself!
Susan Lee, you're simply not thinking outside the bag.
Susan Lee says she is sad about her belief that the bag tax should be bagged, and she should be... she seems to have missed the option of reusable alternatives. I have had the same cloth bags in my car since the mid-90's. I put them through the laundry periodically and they live on, used for groceries, take-out meals, and trips to the mall. The simple fact is that most people mindlessly accept the use of numerous plastic bags from every kind of retailer, and the majority of them end up in landfills, littering our streets, or polluting our oceans. Rather than complain about bag taxes or bans, we should be supporting them while also promoting permanently reusable options that never need discarding. And also, if you're buying just one or two items at the grocery or department store, just tell the checker, "I don't need a bag with that."
The plastic bag ban in San Francisco is a joke. Only Walgreens and big grocery stores are not allowed to used plastic bags. A total bag ban should be implemented. People should learn how to plan ahead and bring their own bag. There are too many trees dying for bags and plastic bags not rotting in landfills. We need to be responsible consumers and earth citizens and plan ahead to reduce waste. If it has to start with a tax rather than a complete ban, that is better than nothing. People care more about paying a 5 cent bag tax than contributing to the growing waste in landfills. We need to wake up and become aware of all the waste we acquire on any given day and reduce this waste as much as we can.
from a scientist (ok, social scientist...) a few more numbers would have been nice. how many plastic bags are needed to substitute for a single reusable poly or tissue bag? my tissue bag may be more expensive to produce but it lasts longer; 2. costs: assuming that the direct costs analysis still support the use of regular bags, then there are the indirect costs on the environment, the great pacific garbage patch and the alikes... is she forgetting about those?
Why must we line trash cans with plastic and dispose of yard waste in plastic and pick up behind pets with plastic and carry things around in these bags that are obscenities to nature? Reusables, canvas, junk mail for pooper-scooping, cardboard, and hard plastic trash cans work just fine. If we smoke cigs, remaking the filters into some other product still leaves us killing ourselves with cigarettes. Get it? Single use plastic is just another addiction!
"Certainly they're better than paper bags."
This seems to be true from my limited research.
"And those durable, poly-bags require more energy to produce."
It's possible they do, but 1 poly-bag replaces more than one plastic bag per trip to the grocery store, and can last for years and years. It would be great if companies measured how much energy it took to make their bags, and advertised how many uses you would need to break even environmentally compared to plastic bags.
"And unlike flimsy plastic bags, they aren't recyclable."
I don't see why bags that are made of recycled PET can't be recycled themselves.
http://www.greenfeet.com/itemmatrix.asp?kw=rePETe-Reusable-Chico-Bag-Mos...
http://www.reuseit.com/store/acme-bags%E2%84%A2-circle-recycled-workhors...
"[Plastic bags can be reused in so many ways]"
So can paper and poly bags. I use paper bags to hold my mixed paper, have used them for book covers, trash, etc.
"poly bags require more energy to produce and....aren't be recyclable." You're not supposed to recycle them, you're supposed to reuse them..duh. And most people already have a canvas bag or twelve just lying around the house, so there's zero waste. I'm sure she's really very "sad" to ask for the repeal of the bag tax. Just like George Will sincerely weeps over all those birds he falsely claims are killed by windmills. If you're going to shill for the petro-industry at least spare us the crocodile tears and ridiculous scenarios.
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