There's been a flurry of news about plastic bag bans this week, including news that China will ban some bags (I imagine that will be a very difficult law to enforce), and Australia may do the same.
On top of that, today the New York City Council voted not to ban bags, but to require many retailers to recycle them. (Check out the flurry of comments at that link, a couple of dozen in just a few hours!)
The New York Times weighs in on the issue here, with a quick opinion piece encouraging readers not to use plastic bags at all:
Plastic bags now represent an estimated three percent of the waste stream — and that percentage is rising. It can, however, be reduced through effective recycling.Some municipalities already have such programs, but none is as sweeping as the measure passed today by the New York City Council. It would require plastic bag recycling for stores of at least 5,000 square feet or stores belonging to chains with more than five locations in the city.
Considering the size of the New York market, where about one billion plastic bags are used every year, the mandate is enormous. The law could go into effect by early summer.
What will become of these bags? They can find new life pressed into durable composite lumber, like that used in decks and boardwalks. Or they could be made into more plastic bags, and presumably re-recycled indefinitely.
Better still, the new law might just encourage people to forego the plastic and carry their own reusable bag for shopping and chores.
After all, from an environmental perspective, the best answer to the ubiquitous question “Paper or plastic?” is “Neither.”
The Associated Press has a fairly good laundry list of bag bans, taxes and other laws around the globe, although this seems to be a list that changes almost daily.
How is the plastics industry reacting? In the United States, the big news is that the Progressive Bag Alliance has been replaced by the Progressive Bag Affiliates, part of the American Chemistry Council, which will take on a larger role in dealing with bag issues.
Comments (1)
India is a huge country with 28 states and a few thousand local bodies in charge of waste management to service billion plus population with over 200 million perhaps who have not been school educated.We in India have been working with the central government for almost two decades on the nuisance of littered polybags.After holding several meetings over years getting data & understanding how societal habit change could be possible we saw genuine interst in a few dozen municipalities only.to bring the change and see the fruits of our efforts. With a very senior UNDP Social Communication expert, now back in India, who shared his global experience ,captains of our 30000 plus plastic units associations and a sincere Chairman of our Central Pollution Board & some enlightened NGOs it was agreed that AWARENESS- LEGISLATION- FACILITATION OF BIN CULTURE & STRICT ENFORCEMENT WITH COMMITMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY & ACTIVE RECYCLING GROUPS change could help us if Segregation of Household Waste was implemented ( as in Germany, Japan etc). We realised leaving out even one of the key elements would result in failures.It is noted where strict enforcement of the 20 micron rules were done in some municipalities with cooperation of NGOs and trade alongwith sustained awareness campaigns for the citizens success has been seen since 5 years ( not 100% but definitely above 75%).The need is to get it to become a people's movement against litter and waste so that all demand it and realise all the costs.
A word of caution for those government's rushing to ban thin bags thinking it will cut litter of all other light weight packagings which could be five times the polybag quantum.Without tackling the infrastructure & ensuring new systems of dry waste disposal I feel the next attack would be satchets,pouches etc perhaps causing much more waste than eco savings. For every polybag used one carries at least 4 to 5 thin polypacks of produce/ savouries/ snacks/ foods home from super markets or grocery stores. With the Retail Chains expanding at galloping rates in all cities ( we in Asia have 30% growth in this annually)unless the state puts in place a comprehensive system for consumers to pass on the basic packaging waste of retail packs for recycling millions of tons of pouches, laminates, films it will allow the menace to continue. Politicians and the people will have to understand bans on polybags will not solve the basic poor waste disposal practices but involving all stake holders to see things holistically could help save the situation.
Posted by Vijay Merchant | January 12, 2008 1:47 AM
Posted on January 12, 2008 01:47