And now theyre using a thicker product with more packaging. 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 Okay, maybe Im going overboard, but honestly, if it were a small ordeal to get a single-use bag, I could see the inconvenience of that motivating people to bring their reusable bags to the store a whole lot more than a five or ten cent tax. Improperly discarded bags have polluted waterways, clogged sewers, and been found in oceans, affecting the ecosystem of marine creatures. But if communicated to the public well, I think its an interesting idea, and Id be curious to see if a similar approach could work with bags. 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. Design and build by Upstatement. Fees have a smaller, but still significant, effect. Those are the kinds of topics that I focus on in my research. The shift from one single-use bag to another single-use bag may improve one environmental outcome, but be offset by another environmental impact.. To help combat this waste, several American states have enacted bans on plastic grocery bags. ETHAN: That new ban was signed into law on September 30, and the fact that it was in the news goes to show that even with all the other things going on in the world, people are paying attention to this issue. Grist is powered by WordPress VIP. A lot of the waste ends up in our communities, says Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of UPROSE, an environmental and social justice-oriented community organization in Brooklyn. How do we do that? Paper bags do have some pros over plastic theyre biodegradable, recyclable, compostable, reusable, all the fun -ables. The New York State Plastic Bag Task Force, convened by Governor Andrew Cuomo in March 2017, found that a hybrid ban on plastic bags along with a fee on alternatives is more effective than a simple ban. Like cigarettes, plastic bags have recently gone from a tolerated nuisance to a widely despised and discouraged vice. Banning Plastic Bags Is Great For the World Right Questions 1-5.docx The court has given itself a deadline extension until late Friday night to decide whether mifepristone should remain legal. Was Implementation the Right Theme for COP27? out of class essay 1 - OUT OF CLASS ESSAY Banning plastic bags is great With respect to the bonuses we talked about. 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. What Comes Next for Venezuelas Oil Industry? 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. The 13 Best Electric Bikes for Every Kind of Ride, The Best Barefoot Shoes for Walking or Running. Cracker? In addition to being my celebrity couple name with a girl named Polly, polyethylene is a string of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Scientists are working on that, and according to a 2021 thesis study from LUT University in Finland, if that process were powered by clean energy, plastic bags made from carbon dioxide could actually be carbon negative. ETHAN: And youve written several papers on plastic bags, Ill start with your paper that won the Journal of Environmental Economics and Managements Best Paper Prize in 2020, which discussed some of the unintended consequences of plastic bag bans. Banning Plastic Bags Is Great For The World, Right Not So Fast Banning plastic bags is great for the world, right? | Grist Whats more? Plastic bags are made from non-renewable sources and on this account, highly contribute to climate change. Cotton tote bags dont fare well either. So if its something thats easy to keep in your car, or in your purse or in your backpack that you know youll reuse, then thats going to be the bag for you. Better alternatives are available 10. Yes, this was a paper that was interested in how sometimes we dont always think about how people respond to policies, theyre sort of the obvious response. 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. But theres also so much nuance to this issue, and its important to consider these consequences of bag bans as we come up with the best possible solutions. Nakuru, Kenya In the open-air Wakulima Market thin plastic shopping bags have disappeared, banished by Kenya's national bag ban. New clinical trials could more effectively reach solutions. [wild west sting] 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. Anything thats not zero gets, you know a pretty big impact. ETHAN: Obviously, this is a ridiculously nuanced issue, and while it might not be the most pressing concern of our generation, its absolutely worth discussing, especially given how popular the topic has been. Reader support helps sustain our work. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. People still need bags to bring home their groceries. 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.