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Thursday, September 18th, 2014

California Just Banned Free Plastic Bags. Hold the Rejoicing.

Author:     KATIE ROSE QUANDT
Source:     Mother Jones
Publication Date:     Mon Sep. 15, 2014 5:45 AM EDT
 Link: California Just Banned Free Plastic Bags. Hold the Rejoicing.
Stephan:   I found this report a real eye-opener. Perhaps you will too. Personally, I live with a bag lady, who always has a dozen cloth bags in the car, so I use neither paper nor plastic. But, this article suggests, even that is not as good as we thought, as you will read. Still we do use the bags over and over, so hopefully it is an improvement. It is a tough problem, but plastic is never an ideal solution in situations such as family groceries and the like.
Washed-up plastic bags along the Los Angeles River Josh Morgan/AP

Washed-up plastic bags along the Los Angeles River Josh Morgan/AP

Last month, California became the first state to pass a bill banning the ubiquitous disposable plastic bag. If signed into law, the measure will prohibit grocery and retail stores from providing single-use plastic bags and require them to charge at least 10 cents for paper bags, compostable bags, and reusable plastic bags. The bill, introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles), will also provide funding for California-based plastic bag companies to develop sturdier, reusable options.

Worldwide, consumers use an estimated 1 trillion plastic bags each year-nearly 2 million a minute-with the use time of a typical bag just 12 minutes. Californians alone throw away 14 billion a year, creating 123,000 tons of waste and untold amounts of litter.

There is evidence that bag bans and taxes can cut down on some of this waste: Ireland’s 2002 tax cut bag usage between 75 and 90 percent. An analysis of bag use in Australia found that 72 percent of customers accepted […]

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