Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
Nat Brown's piece at National Review just made my day. I hate the peer pressure of hauling around reusable bags for grocery shopping. I'm sorry, I just don't want to clean meat juice out of a
cloth bag that looks like a tacky Hawaiian shirt every time I come home with groceries.
Here at our good ol' Marine base Commissary, no one cares, but back in Ann Arbor I felt like an outcast at Trader Joe's, burbling out fake excuses to the cashier as she bagged by items with a smile that said, "don't worry, you'll understand once you stop hurting the world and all the animals."
Brown argues that the banning or taxing of plastic bags causes more problems than it solves. Starting in Ireland, the fad has caught on in San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Oregon. The result of a plastic grocery bag ban? People just buy more of other plastic bags to fill the need:
Unfortunately, study after study has shown that most of the supposed “benefits” of these bans and taxes have a negligible effect on the environment at best, and can actually have unintended consequences that cause greater environmental harm.
Take Ireland, for example. When the New York Times reported the 94 percent decrease, it neglected to specify that it was referring only to plastic grocery-bag use. Sales of non-grocery plastic bags (garbage bags, etc.) rose an astonishing 400 percent, amounting to a net increase of 10 percent in total plastic-bag consumption
Similar results were found in San Francisco, where, as Gleason notes, “not only was there no change in [the amount of] total litter, but plastic bags comprised a greater share of the litter after the ban.”
Plastic bags are less than 3% of litter (less than 1% in SF). Thirteen percent of bags were recycled last year, and with encouragement, this number could rise. But bans have led to grocery stores shutting down their plastic bag recycling programs. The bans also effect American jobs:
Unlike Ireland, which had imported most of its bags from China, the U.S. has vibrant plastic manufacturing, recycling, and secondary industries, all of which would be hurt greatly were bans and taxes to increase. For example, Rozenski notes that most composite-lumber companies use recycled bag content when manufacturing their product. “You’re looking at 4,000, maybe 5,000 [recycling] jobs that are created, and it’s a growing industry. With composite lumbers, it puts the number getting near 10,000 direct and indirect jobs through plastic-bag recycling.”
To top it off, reusable bags are problematic, even unhealthy(!).
Most of those used in the U.S. were manufactured in China, and numerous studies have documented unsafe levels of lead in the bags, far in excess of the allowable limits, a problem that prompted a statement by Sen. Chuck Schumer on the issue. Additionally, studies have found high levels of e. coli bacteria present in many reusable bags unless they are washed after every use, sparking additional concerns over public health.
Could this mean that finally, we regular folks can bag our groceries in peace? Can keep a stash of plastic bags tucked under our sink without regret?
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Sep '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
No matter what is banned, if people want to use something, they will find a way.
Unintended consequences, borne from economic truths, abide.
Nov '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
My advice, Lauren? Don't burble out fake excuses. Be proud, be bold, be tough. Kinda like a Marine.
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
I remember being in grammar school when the enviro-types were insisting that we stop using paper bags which was killing trees, in favor of the new tree-friendly plastic bags.
Yup - plastic bags were their baby. And I recall how smug they were about it.
Feb '11
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
You're so right. You've got to be proud and bold, especially in Ann Arbor.
Jun '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
When grocery shopping in Ireland I always forgot that I was expected to bring my own bags. It was as if I had asked to be carried out on the shoulders of the cashiers when I requested bags. The whole operation was halted as they had to search for the hidden stash.
I do think, however, that we use too many plastic bags. I hate buying a small item, like a box of nails at Home Depot, and the cashier insisting I take them home in a bag so I don't look as if I am shoplifting. The amount of waste we produce is quite astounding. The garbage dumps in areas of Hudson and Bergen Counties in New Jersey have grown so high that the NYC skyline view is blocked. There has to be a better way --- but expecting govenment mandates to stimulate the creativity needed to find one is futile.
Jan '11
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
I like the reusable bags because they can hold so much and not break/tear. As noted by StickerShock, I think the stores use too many of the plastic bags. Perhaps they are getting kick backs?
Feb '11
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
I agree, and I failed to make the bigger point that government bans just aren't the answer. And while I joke about peer pressure, I regard peer pressure as sort of a lost social sentiment. If something is right to do, peer pressure among citizens is a better answer than government policies, which require citizens to do no thinking themselves. If reusable bags are a serious answer, then I'd rather my neighbor and the cashier show dismay at my ignorance than a city ban.
May '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
Lauren Fink, Ed.
You're so right. You've got to be proud and bold, especially in Ann Arbor. · Mar 30 at 8:21am
Exactly. Don't be like those jerks who slap a maple leaf on their backpacks and pretend to be Canadian. Then again, if someone's complaining about somebody smoking in a bar or restaurant, I start smoking too, just to show em. And I'm not even a smoker.
Nov '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
I use my plastic grocery bags to hold the stuff I remove from my cat’s box. They’re ideal for that because the handles make handy ties to seal it up and throw it in the trash. I’ve seen dog owners walking their dogs with those bags for picking up after them. The bags I keep clean are handy for packing underwear into a motorcycle saddlebag for an overnight trip and keeping it all dry in a rainstorm. For all those uses you need a lot of bags because they have holes in them which requires at least three bags to be used together. I bet most people find secondary uses and that very few of these bags are thrown out by themselves. That’s recycling isn’t it?
May '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
Tommy De Seno: I remember being in grammar school when the enviro-types were insisting that we stop using paper bags which was killing trees, in favor of the new tree-friendly plastic bags.
Yup - plastic bags were their baby. And I recall how smug they were about it. · Mar 30 at 8:10am
Kinda like how they fought to replace lard with trans-fats. And are now trying to ban those.
Sep '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
If only there were some kind of natural, renewable, biodegradable, recyclable material out there we could use for bags.
Oh well, just a dream I guess. [looks longingly out window, stares at trees...]
Jun '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
Tommy De Seno: I remember being in grammar school when the enviro-types were insisting that we stop using paper bags which was killing trees, in favor of the new tree-friendly plastic bags.
Yup - plastic bags were their baby. And I recall how smug they were about it. · Mar 30 at 8:10am
Yes, absolutely. I scolded a guy who came to my door looking for signatures for the plastic bag ban. He admitted that they got it wrong on that one. I very politely said that I think he's wrong this time and would kindly refuse to support the next ill-conceived pipe dream.
My mom is sympathetic to many left-leaning policies, but she blew a gasket over the plastic bag ban. Never mess with a senior citizen's right to horde bags.
Jan '11
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
And did they ever decide which was healthier: butter or margarine?
BTW, I use the reusable bags because a) they hold more stuff, and b) I got tired of having a giant pile of plastic bags always hanging around. I still have a small trash can full of the things which I don't want to either throw away or take to the store to recycle because I know that within a week of me doing so I'll find a use for the damned things. So there they sit in a trash can on my counter top, waiting for the day they might possibly become useful.
P.S.: Don't ask me why the can's sitting on the counter.
May '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
Ajax Telamônios
P.S.: Don't ask me why the can's sitting on the counter. · Mar 30 at 9:08am
Ajax, you're not married, are you?
Dec '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
Dave Molinari
My mom is sympathetic to many left-leaning policies, but she blew a gasket over the plastic bag ban. Never mess with a senior citizen's right to horde bags. · Mar 30 at 9:07am
Three cheers for Mama Molinari! My wife has the back of the SUV (oh no!) stacked with the cloth reusable bags, but I refuse to stand in the pouring rain to retrieve one when I'm heading into the grocery store. And - as Dave I'm sure is well aware - there aren't many times recently when it isn't pouring rain here in Oregon.
Jan '11
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
Gee golly, how'd you guess?
Jun '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
I'm enough of a dork to make a point of my anti-environmentalism.Although I'd prefer not to make a point of it, as I feel civility bound not to press my opinions on others. Still, when others insist on pressing theirs on me, I always (and I do mean always) push back. The latest incident occurred at a book store I haunt. The clerk informed me of a new store environmental policy. To limit the use of plastic bags they would charge me five-cents for every bag. I replied that I did not support environmentalism of any sort and that she had a clear choice before her. She could charge me for the bag I needed and lose a thirty dollar sale or not charge me the extra five cents and gain thirty dollars. She, of course, chose to gain thirty dollars retail at the expense of the new corporate environmental policy.
Nov '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
I love this sentence.
Jun '10
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
I've written about this before at Ricochet, so it you've read an earlier version I apologize. One time a Starbucks clerk while passing me my coffee gleefully added, "Happy Earth Day." To which I replied, "Double cup that please." He incredulously looked at me and asked, "Why." I replied in honour of Earth Day I wanted my order double cupped. He again asked, "Why." After which I explained that I didn't believe in any sort of environmentalism. As I type this, I can happily report that looks do not kill, even dark glowers of the type reserved for mass-murderers of puppies. So, buck up Lauren, this rebel-without-an-environmental-cause is probably the most fun you can have with your clothes on. So go with it!
Feb '11
Re: Plastic Bags Aren't Evil
As someone who has worked in the printing industry for 25 years, 99.9999 percent of all the paper we run on our presses is recycled. So this whole business about saving trees and using plastic bags is a crock as well. As far as I am concerned give me the old fashioned brown bags and double them up.........