The shift from one single-use bag to another single-use bag may improve one environmental outcome, but be offset by another environmental impact.. There are other options though. Come with external costs 9. So I often tell people, if theyre choosing a bag, you want to choose a bag that you are going to reuse that could be a thin bag, then plastic bag, or it could be a nylon bag, which is technically still plastic, but is a woven plastic thats fairly lightweight, and thus, perhaps not going to have the same environmental impact as a heavier plastic or a cloth bag. And so in terms of ranking those, that would be my order, taxes, hybrid bands, and then least preferred standalone bands. Quick Navigation for Reasons Why Plastic Shopping Bags Should Be Banned REASONS 1. We use. Microplastics can be ingested by anyone from seabirds to fish to even humans through our food and water, and can cause health issues, reduce appetites, and even increase the risk of mortality. TAYLOR: Thanks. Grist is the only award-winning newsroom focused on exploring equitable solutions to climate change. But that tiny switch makes it so people dont feel different or left out if they dont have a straw. [slam the wrong buzz several times, then rewind], Okay, okay cracker? Saying go to your room doesnt actually solve anything, but hey, its easier than having an intelligent conversation with a six-year-old. [booo] Oil and natural gas are also made of carbon and hydrogen, so in addition to using them for energy, we process them into plastic. Plastic is a toxin that stays in the environment, marine animals ingest it, and it enters their bodies and then ours.. I personally dont care much what kind of bag my groceries are in, Id even take a Hello Kitty bag if it meant my eggs got home without breaking, but Im sure some people really love their plastic bags, and for those that do, this is certainly an intriguing possibility. Despite the good intentions of these new rules, plastic bag bans are problematic for a few reasons. Not So Fast. Now thats just one set of data, but I hope my point is clear: the production of our plastic bags causes harmful air pollution, and that pollution disproportionately hits low income and minority communities. Thicker, reusable bags are still available for purchase for 10 cents. Were finding that hybrid bands can be as you know, as successful as the taxes, just standalone taxes. Now, there are a few challenges to implementing a monetary policy like this. I also looked at paper bags as well. Cracker? Many supermarkets have experimented with bag bonuses trying to get people to reuse their either bags by giving them five cents, and they havent found them to be particularly effective. Advocates for plastic bag bans often neglect to ask what will replace plastic bags and what the environmental impact of that replacement will be. People still need bags to bring home their groceries. Its been more than five years since single-use plastic bags like these were banned from grocery stores, a ban advocates say made strides for the environment. Still, many environmentalists argue that plastic is worse than paper. Again. Eat one less meat dish a week thats what will have a real impact on the environment, says Tyler. There are so very many variables. Thats right, nothing like getting high on your own supply. 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. the more right . Will we use our cotton tote hundreds or thousands of times? A substantial shift to more durable bags would deliver environmental gains through reductions in greenhouse gases, energy and water use, resource depletion and litter, the study concluded. Every year, around 500 billion plastic grocery bags are used worldwide. Im your host, Ethan Brown. The big difference is that paper does biodegrade eventually. Our world faces increasingly severe hurricanes, wildfires, floods, heat waves, and more, but grocery bags have somehow become one of the hottest environmental topics. Never mind, that was underwhelming. If we do that, well see less polluted oceans, improved public health, and maybe, for the first time in history, Polly wont want a cracker. Americans consume more than 10 billion paper bags annually, which is equivalent to 14 million trees. In a queer vacation hot spot on Cape Cod, an ad hoc community proved that Americans can stifle large outbreaksif they want to. If so, awesome, although we should probably talk about why youre that obsessed with your tote bag. The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our livesfrom culture to business, science to design. [string music, inspired by What We Do In The Shadows]. In fact, every region of the US has a different energy mix. Have a listen. In the last couple weeks, I believe around five of our team members got sick, so weve been struggling a little bit! So have at least 88 localities in California, including the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, plus cities and towns in more than a dozen other states and more than a dozen other countries. Doing either earns you a special shoutout at the end of the show; joining the Patreon gets you merch, bonus content, and a whole lot more. ITS PAPER. Maybe call the manager over or fly the CEO in on a helicopter or pull the fire alarm so everyone starts screaming and running. The Permian Basin Hosts the Highest Emitting Oil and Gas Project in North America. You can order the T-shirt plastic bags in wholesale from Bags . And thats definitely a behavioral effect that we find. And so when we think about these policies, were balancing these different environmental objectives. But studies conducted in Australia or Europe have limited applicability in the US, particularly when youre considering climate impact, because every country has a different energy mix. And sort of the bottom line, what I found with in terms of like the amount of plastic, was about a third of the plastic that was eliminated by the carry out bag ban came back in the form of garbage bags, which do tend to be a bit thicker than the carry out bags. Now a hybrid ban, where you ban a particular thin plastic or film plastic, as long as theres also consideration for the other types of bags such as paper bags, and reusable bags, and requiring stores to charge for those other bags. ETHAN: Seven of those 16 projects were related to ethylene or polyethylene, including the five highest polluters of the group. A Canadian Gas Field Is Polluting First Nation Communities, How Climate Change, Poverty, and Social Stigma Affect Menstrual Hygiene. Thats where this gets interesting. Listen Up America: You Need to Learn How to Recycle. Thats right, go get that bag. Adler, Ben. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. And so its the sort of carrots versus sticks story, the sticks of the taxes seem to be much more effective than the carrots of the bonuses. Over Half of the Worlds Penguin Species Are Threatened, A New Natural Gas Project in Mozambique Gives Locals All of the Costs and None of the Benefits. TAYLOR: Yeah, I would love to see the conversation, sort of move more. If you want to take two minutes to help out The Sweaty Penguin, you can either leave us a five star rating and review or join our Patreon at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin. ETHAN: When something causes as many issues as plastic bags, it may seem tempting to ban it. No, of course not. Yeet that wheat. ETHAN: Obviously, bags are the only policy option like we talked about theres fees theres more voluntary approaches You know, with straws, something that intrigued me was default choice modification. And cotton, unlike paper, is not currently recycled in most places. Then, that ethylene can be sent to a new plant where theyll add a catalyst which initiates a chemical reaction and forms our high-density polyethylene. [knock on door, door creaks open, then Laszlo starts coughing uncontrollably]. Even then, the question remains as to whether single-use bags are necessarily always worse than reusable ones. Ironic.plastic is still better than cloth, but it just has to be more than single-use. 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. Its right up there with Taylor Swifts jet, Beyond Burgers, and figuring out which soup is best for throwing at artwork. How many plastic bags are replaced by one cotton tote bag? Because we do see such a strong response of having to pay for your bag, when you have to pay for your bag, it makes it an active decision, instead of just default, getting a whole bunch of bags that you dont really think about, we find that bag taxes are actually as effective as bag bans, and getting people to change their behavior, potentially without some of the unintended consequences of completely eliminating an option making people switch to other bags, which might actually be more harmful for the environment. Hopefully its not laced with xylene! Plastic bags could also be more sustainable from the production side. Increasingly, environmentalists are pushing for laws that include fees for all single-use bags, and that require paper bags to be made with recycled content, which could lower their carbon footprint. Bag bans seem to be all the rage, but its not the only option. A lovely tote made from single use plastic bags. AD READER: This episode of The Sweaty Penguin is brought to you by Christmas. Monthly or one-time, donate now when all donations will be matched by a generous group of donors. Once ethylene is turned into plastic, its not harmful, youre not going to get a disease just by touching a plastic bag, unless its March 2020 when every cashier in America was convinced thats how Covid spreads. Already in Massachusetts, 32 towns and cities have passed bag bans or fees. by John Stossel | May 5, 2020. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. ETHAN: Like, come on, we dont need more toxic chemicals in one spot! In other words, rather than emitting carbon, they would take carbon out of the atmosphere. Maybe call the manager over or fly the CEO in on a helicopter or pull the fire alarm so everyone starts screaming and running. Thats leading to a split in the anti-bag movement. And so I was interested in understanding to what degree does a patchwork of policies actually lead customers to switch where theyre shopping. And when I no longer had access to those carry out bags, it meant I didnt have this quote unquote, free source of garbage bags anymore. 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. [bell ring] Like blueberries or trips to the bathroom, not all plastics are created equal, and single-use plastic bags are typically made from a material called high-density polyethylene. 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. 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. Yeah, that was even rough for my standards. 1. The Ike Dike is the Army Corps of Engineers largest project ever. Plastic Bags Are a Problem. Also, this question is something like asking, Would you prefer to get a parking ticket or a tax assessment? It depends on the specifics, but its better to avoid both wherever possible. Goldstein is confident that if people switch to reusable bags, even cotton ones, and use them consistently, that will ultimately be better for the environment. The larger takeaway is that no bag is free of environmental impact, whether thats contributing to climate change, ocean pollution, water scarcity, or pesticide use. And beyond that, ethylene itself is a dangerous pollutant. However, it cannot be argued that they are the only components that contribute to Earth's many environmental problems. And so because of that bands have been more popular. I asked Dr. Taylor how we can account for the cost of alternatives when we create policies to address plastic bags. Fees have a smaller, but still significant, effect. However, when you just have a ban, and you dont consider the substitutes, thats when we see the largest unintended consequences. The Supreme Court Has Delayed Its Abortion Pill Decision. [wrong buzz] Aw, dammit, I was so close! In a rational model. Theyre less than five millimeters across and they are everywhere, from the oceans to mountaintops to the Arctic to our food and blood. Seeing how nuanced this issue is, I asked Dr. Taylor what the next steps could look like. Washington, DCs government estimates that its 5-cent bag tax has led to a 60 percent reduction in the number of these bags being used, although that figure is contested by other sources. It may not be big enough. As compared to plastic bags, paper bags also require significantly more energy and water to manufacture, and more energy to transport since theyre heavier. And behavioral economics really explores a lot of that. Only 2.4 percent of the worlds cropland is planted with cotton, yet it accounts for 24 percent of the global market for insecticides and 11 percent for pesticides, the World Wildlife Fund reports. Theyre just not very effective. Some people still keep streaks, I think! One reason plastic bags should be banned is that they hurt the environment. Donate today to keep our climate news free. India followed the UK with a . And thats not purchasing garbage bags. Not So Fast" by Ben Adler and the essay "Choking The Oceans With Plastic" by Charles J. Moore they both pose a connection and an area of disagreement. High costs for cleanup 8. This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Different studies say different things, but the point is clear: even though paper bags are much better for the environment in the disposal stage, the rest of the supply chain is riddled with problems. For example, I talked in our plastic straws episode about something called default choice modification. And these different dimensions? 'Banning plastic bags is great for the world, Right? 500 billion plastic grocery bags are used worldwide. Do local governments get to say how these products are regulated? 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. You would think five cents to reuse a bag would have a state similar behavioral response is five cents to not use a bag to have to pay for than plastic bag. As the Australian study noted, a cotton bag has major environmental impacts of its own. So I wont rehash it all today, but if you listen to our episodes on fracking or the Permian Basin or the Haynesville Shale, youll learn a little bit about the villain origin story of plastic bags, and some of the many issues to which they contribute. Some are funded by plastic industry groups, like the ironically named American Progressive Bag Alliance. There are eight states that ban single-use plastic bags, and these are Oregon, Vermont, California, Hawaii, Delaware, New York, Maine, and Connecticut.
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