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John Tierney joins Brian Anderson to discuss the campaign to ban the use of plastic products and the flawed logic behind the recycling movement—the subjects of Tierney’s story, “The Perverse Panic over Plastic,” from the Winter 2020 Issue of City Journal.
Hundreds of cities and eight states have outlawed or regulated single-use plastic bags. But according to Tierney, the plastic panic doesn’t make sense. Plastic bags are the best environmental choice at the supermarket, not the worst, and cities that built expensive recycling programs—in the hopes of turning a profit on recycled products—have instead paid extra to get rid of their plastic waste, mostly by shipping it to Asian countries with low labor costs. However, the bans will likely continue as political leaders and private companies seek a renewed sense of moral superiority.
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Terrific debunking of the hysteria over plastic bags and recycling, and in less than 20 minutes.
It serves as an introduction to Tierney’s magisterial article in City Journal, linked above, which you will want to read.
Agree with @taras. I always find the CJ podcasts very informative and cover a lot in 20 minutes or so. Again it amazes me how much time, effort, and money the ‘climate’ people are spending on things which actually harm the environment!