Throwing This Out Here: Plastic Bags Are Amazing and You Should Appreciate Them More, Trash Is Ugly, But Recycling Is Downright Beautiful. So I usually recommend considering a bag tax first. Lets start with paper: the only kind of bag that is, in the most literal tense, tearible. [booo] Yeah, that was even rough for my standards. I know it sounds silly, but it would make a difference. Not a fan of arcade games, I guess. "Exactly what happens to a plastic bag when it is littered depends very much on where it enters the environment and the mechanisms that cause it . Last month, the New York City Council passed a 5-cent-per-bag fee on single-use bags handed out by most retailers. But what if reusable bags arent good either? Nakuru, Kenya In the open-air Wakulima Market thin plastic shopping bags have disappeared, banished by Kenya's national bag ban. What if they used solar or wind? 1. Thats one idea that Ive seen floated all over the internet. Microsoft quietly supported legislation to make it easier to fix devices. Shortly after, the Massachusetts State Senate passed a measure that would ban plastic bags from being dispensed by many retail businesses and require a charge of 10 cents or more for a. Cause of environmental pollution 2. In fact, we can take it a step further. I happen to have a peer-reviewed study that suggests otherwise. And to be fair, it is an issue. Then Oregon, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont passed laws against them. Not easy to recycle 7. Not So Fast." And so this is a really tense issue around. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Thats leading to a split in the anti-bag movement. Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? Not So Fast Often, the problem shifts. First off, I had a lot of cracker jokes, but more importantly being a heat intensive process, the production of plastic bags requires a good amount of energy, and it should come as no surprise that these petrochemical facilities typically use natural gas for their electricity source. Every so often, our star fires off a plasma bomb in a random direction. Cities and states across the country are banning plastic bags, but those bans may be having unintended consequences. Three reasons why banning plastic bags is problematic - The Conversation All donations matched! They are not the largest sources of plastic pollution Plastic waste is indeed a. People look at [paper] and say its degradable, therefore its much better for the environment, but its not in terms of climate change impact, says David Tyler, a professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon who has examined the research on the environmental impact of bag use. Often they need to be reused at least 100, if not more times, to be more environmentally friendly than those thin plastic bags that were so familiar with. And cotton, unlike paper, is not currently recycled in most places. (Cindy) Works Cited. Unlike reusable fabric bags, plastic bags can take lifetimes to biodegrade.Over that time, their light weight allows them to be carried long distances, causing environmental havoc along the way. ETHAN: Plastic bag bans also can negatively affect businesses. Thats right, its always the one you most suspect. Not So Fast. They were reusing their carry out bags as garbage bags. That's why any good plastic bag ban attempts to avoid a surge in paper bag use by also implementing a paper bag fee, ideally nudging shoppers to bring bags from home instead. These US states have banned plastic bags | World Economic Forum Bag bans seem to be all the rage, but its not the only option. In fact, eight states have gone so far as to ban single-use plastic bags, and over 200 counties and municipalities have enacted ordinances either imposing a fee on plastic bags or banning them. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. TAYLOR: Its a great question, I would say its a bit nuanced, because that was just respect with respect to the plastic bags. What do they think this is, a Ritz quick scheme? A Canadian Gas Field Is Polluting First Nation Communities, How Climate Change, Poverty, and Social Stigma Affect Menstrual Hygiene. I asked Dr. Taylor how we can account for the cost of alternatives when we create policies to address plastic bags. I guess the name does make sense. Studies of bags environmental impacts over their life cycle have reached widely varying conclusions. But what if reusable bags arent good either? Last month, the New York City Council passed a 5-cent-per-bag fee on single-use bags handed out by most retailers. Why Is Banning Plastic Bags So Important? NatureCode Eat one less meat dish a week thats what will have a real impact on the environment, says Tyler. But advocates of these laws and journalists who cover the issue often neglect to ask what will replace plastic bags and what the environmental impact of that replacement will be. Put all that together, and National Geographic estimates that a paper bag would need to be used anywhere from 3 to 43 times in order to neutralize its environmental impact as compared to plastic. Plastic bags not only destroy the physical infrastructure, she says, referring to the way they clog up storm drains and other systems, they contribute to emissions. And she points out that marine plastic pollution is a threat to low-income people who fish for their dinner: So many frontline communities depend on food coming from the ocean. Thats why her group supported New York Citys bag fee even though its more of a burden on lower-income citizens. ETHAN: And that wraps up episode 106 of The Sweaty Penguin. There was a 72 percent drop in grocery bag litter in the state just one year after it was fully implemented. Problematic degradation 4. 12 Reasons for Banning Plastic Bags: Plastic Bags Are Made With Non-Renewable Energy Plastic Bags Use Up Lots Of Energy Plastic Bags End Up In The Ocean Beach Plastic Litter Is On The Rise Plastic Bags Kill Millions Of Animals Every Year Plastic Takes A Long Time To Disintegrate Plastic Is Harming The Ocean's Coral Plastic Bags Contain Toxins And the most common substitute, paper bags, may be just as bad or worse, depending on the environmental problem youre most concerned about. Whether its paper, whether its plastic, can we reuse it, you know, extend its life? Plastic bags could also be more sustainable from the production side. Do Plastic Bag Bans Work? - NRDC There are eight states that ban single-use plastic bags, and these are Oregon, Vermont, California, Hawaii, Delaware, New York, Maine, and Connecticut. Or is it a little too nuanced to make that type of assessment? What do they think this is, a Ritz quick scheme? ETHAN: I think this paper that you did goes to a larger conversation about plastic because we do often zero in on specific products, will complain about straws or about bags or about bottles. For example, I talked in our plastic straws episode about something called default choice modification. [slam the wrong buzz several times, then rewind], Okay, okay cracker? If a plastic bag is reused in the home as the garbage bag in a bathroom waste bin, does that reduce its footprint by eliminating the need for another small plastic garbage bag? As far as I know, nobody has done the definitive analysis, which would necessarily need to have a large number of caveats and qualifications. Plastic is a toxin that stays in the environment, marine animals ingest it, and it enters their bodies and then ours.. If they were going to use a slur for white people, why not name it Karen or Wonderbread? Two weeks ago, the Massachusetts State Senate passed a measure that would ban plastic bags from being dispensed by many retail businesses and require a charge of 10 cents or more for a. You start growing weird pimples at 10, youre crying five times a week at 15, and by 20, someone has to carry you into a therapists office, throw you on the couch, and say its broken, fix it. For plastic though, 20 years is much less time than most other single-use plastic products. Two weeks ago, the Massachusetts State Senate passed a measure that would ban plastic bags from being dispensed by many retail businesses and require a charge of 10 cents or more for a recycled paper or reusable bag. So is there anything you would suggest to policymakers as they tried to address the issue? In a queer vacation hot spot on Cape Cod, an ad hoc community proved that Americans can stifle large outbreaksif they want to. Still, many environmentalists argue that plastic is worse than paper. Ironic.plastic is still better than cloth, but it just has to be more than single-use. Already in Massachusetts, 32 towns and cities have passed bag bans or fees. debut in season five. Killing wildlife 5. If you melt a plastic bag down, you can absolutely recycle that polyethylene, and in fact, recycled high-density polyethylene has about a third of the carbon footprint of virgin high-density polyethylene. In fact, the only place they havent been is Dave and Busters. ITS INSATIABLE! Not so fast. Adler, Ben. In all seriousness, theres drawbacks here too. The 13 Best Electric Bikes for Every Kind of Ride, The Best Barefoot Shoes for Walking or Running. Paper does have its own environmental consequences in terms of how much energy it takes to generate, acknowledges Emily Norton, director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club. New York's ban will take effect in 2020 but will apply to single-use plastic bags you can get at grocery stores or retailers. In the case of using a tax, the government is also then able to raise some money, which can be used to either lower taxes elsewhere or go toward environmental cleanup efforts or most importantly, turning Niagara Falls into a waterslide. Others, like in New York City, treat all single-use bags equally. The measure now under consideration in Massachusetts, for example, would mandate that single-use paper bags contain at least 40 percent recycled fiber. Very broadly, carbon footprints are proportional to mass of an object, says Tyler. And you even have some states, at least 17 in the US who have actually banned bag bans, banned regulating bags in general. I mean, I know it loves to hang at the cracker plants and all but wouldnt it have more fun hanging out with other creatures of the night? Christmas: no, were not going to stop. Nielson & Associates Manhasset, NY : Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? "Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? So what was this paper about and what were your findings? Nearly one year after New York became the second state in the nation to pass a ban on grocery store plastic bags the law is going into effect on Sunday. Now, a new law hopes to take things a step further by banning these: single-use plastic pre-checkout bags that are not recyclable and can contaminate compost facilities. If they were going to use a slur for white people, why not name it Karen or Wonderbread? But in terms of plastic, you are correct. So that means fewer animals getting entangled over time which is good, but unfortunately, it also means plastic bags take a lot less time to become microplastics. The Massachusetts proposal may not become law this year, but its the latest sign that the plastic bag industry is losing this war.

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