Ban the plastic bag, says NJ assemblymen
Ok, so everyone and their brother is hawking reusable shopping bags, but are they really catching on? Or is it going to take more than just individuals making individual choices ... will it take, gasp, the government stepping in?
And in case you didn't know, plastic bags have their own lobby and they are screaming. We all know how awful plastic bags are; seven percent are never used a second time, they last for an eternity and are made of oil. And they fly and get caught in trees, look ugly and end up in water ways endangering fish.
This idea is not new, San Francisco has banned the plastic bag and Ireland taxes them. While most people are have good intentions, some may not realize how bad the plastic bag is. So let's just get rid of it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-02-2007 @ 9:26PM
Gerard van Rijswijk said...
Sounds like NJ politicians want to cash in on populist concepts of environmentalism. The plastic shopping bag has been getting bad press now for several years. Ireland atxed them in 2002 because they made up '5% of litter' - when the Irish government's own statistics showed the true litter figure to be 0.75%. Since the tax this has dropped to 0.53% - lots of tax - little result.
No, they don't braek down in landfill - but neither do rocks. The fact that they don't break down means that they do not contribute to leachate and gaseous emissions.
I re-use my shopping bags when walking dog and as bin liners. Another interesting observation from the Irish experience is that bin liners sales increased by over 400%.
Plastic shopping bags are not made from the oil used to make liquid fuel, but from a residue that would otherwise be flared off - so they really are already a re-use of a waste product.
Many are using re-usable shopping bags. they are OK for small purchases, but if you want to use them for the weekly trip to the supermarket you might need a dozen or so to cope.
We are then advised to keep them in the trunk of the car so that they won't be forgotten for the next trip to the store.
Ha anybody worked out how much additional weight we are now colectively transporting with a dozen or so re-usable bags in millions of car trunks?
The naswer would be many thousands of tons - burning more fuel in the process and adding to pollution.
Maybe those NJ politicians should think again.
Gerard, Sydney Australia
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