by MIKE BRESLIN
The lightweight, polyethylene shopping bag is a masterpiece of modern engineering.
It’s a cheap, simple solution to carry heavy weights without the danger of breaking from moisture. And, they can be reused in innumerable ways.
The problem is not with the bags themselves, but with careless people who litter the land and water causing ugly vistas and damage to wildlife. Their low weight and aerodynamics blow them into endless trouble. Unfortunately, due to their durability, most single-use bags take forever to decompose.
The ultimate solution, of course, is to recycle the plastic bags which also reduces the consumption of fossil fuels and avoids landfilling or transitioning to biodegradable plastic bags or voluntarily buying and using durable shopping bags. Meanwhile, however, various jurisdictions debate legislation and propose and pass laws by the bushel that confuse consumers and add further red tape to an already too complicated world.
In response to the environmental problems caused by plastic shopping bags, several states, cities and municipalities have banned them, passed laws to dictate their biodegradability, attached fees for their use or have mandated recycling programs. Many laws differ and often cause burdens for bag manufacturers and retailers. And, as each new law passes it usually involves hiring more government workers to implement, monitor and enforce the regulations.
Nationally, experts estimate that 150 to 200 municipalities now have laws regarding plastic shopping bags. Major U.S. cities and counties that have banned single use plastic bags include Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago; all four populated counties of Hawaii and Austin, Texas; Seattle Washington and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Major U.S. cities and counties that charge a fee for plastic bags include Montgomery County, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; Brownsville, Texas; Boulder, Colorado and Portland, Maine.
Take for example the new law in Chicago which went into effect August 1. Essentially, this solution bans lightweight plastic bags and offers customers bigger, thicker plastic bags. Sound crazy? Many think it is.
The law applies to any store with a floor area of more than 10,000 sq.ft. that is part of a chain store organization. Small, independent stores and restaurants are exempt. Consumers are urged to buy and use reusable shopping bags. But subject retailers can offer their customers free, reusable plastic bags that are at least 2.25 millimeters thick, hold up to 22 pounds and be reused up to 125 times.
The law doesn’t affect the free distribution of paper shopping bags. So what will that likely cause?
Many laws have unintended consequences. According to the Carrier Bag Consortium, a group of UK bag suppliers, the Irish Bag Tax is instructive as to what can happen when government starts managing shopping bags.
In 2002, Ireland instituted a tax on plastic bags in which retailers charged their customers 15 Euro cents (about 17 U.S. cents) for every plastic shopping bag purchased. Because customers were driven to use paper bags, it is now common to double or triple-bag to overcome the inferior strength of paper. This meant that at least twice the numbers of paper bags were used than plastic had been used. This led to huge increases in the number and truckloads to transport paper bags.
There is clear evidence that the switch to paper bag substitutes consumed 8 times the raw material, 3 times the energy, created twice the levels of air pollution, and wasted 50 times the water in manufacturing.
Moreover, the Irish bag tax invited more shoplifting. Because plastic bags are normally offered or after payment is received, it provides the most effective visual evidence of payment. When customers bring their own shopping bags into stores, it has made shoplifting easier and is costing every small grocery shop in Ireland an average of 5,400 Euros per annum in stolen and/or abandoned wire baskets and shopping carts.
Lastly, research has shown that since the bag tax was introduced in Ireland, there has been little significant reduction in the tonnage of plastic bags of all types used in that country. There is some evidence in Ireland, however, of plastic bag litter having been reduced somewhat due to the tax. But was the effort, expense and inconvenience worth the result?
To find out what’s happening with plastic bag laws in the U.S. we asked Jennifer Schultz, policy associate at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). NCSL is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation’s 50 states and territories. “In 2015, a total of 37 bills were introduced in 17 states to decrease the use of disposable plastic carryout bags, either through a ban, fee, or to increase recycling. Conversely, bills introduced in five states: Arizona, Georgia, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas sought to prevent localities from imposing bans or fees on plastic bags,” said Schultz.
California, of course, is the national leader in shopping bag legislation with approximately 90 municipalities having some type of law. To add to the confusion, last year California passed a statewide law to prohibit stores from handing out free, single use plastic bags. Opponents, however, secured enough signatures to put the ban in question on a referendum ballot to take place November 2016, so the ban is on-hold until then. There are also several pending amendments to the ban such as providing a free reusable grocery bags to senior citizens and college students and to repeal the entire law.
In Connecticut, two bills failed to pass in 2015. One would have required the phase out of single use plastic and paper carryout bags. The other called for a consumer fee of $0.10 for a single use bag and the use of only recycled, compostable or reusable bags.
Delaware has a bill pending that would require stores to charge $.05 for every single use plastic and paper bag, establishes reporting requirements on bags and expands in-store recycling programs.
A Florida bill failed to authorize certain municipalities to establish programs to regulate or ban disposable plastic bags.
All of Hawaii’s counties have enacted some type of single use bag ban, but there are differences between them. A pending bill asks for further study to iron things out.
While cities like Chicago pass local laws, the State of Illinois has another statewide bill pending. It requires bag makers to support collection and recycling of plastic carryout bags.
Massachusetts has four laws pending. Among the legislation there are prohibitions for stores to distribute plastic bags or use recycled paper bags. Reusable bags, recycled paper bags and compostable plastic bags may be sold for a minimum of $.10 each. Every store would have to pay to the State an excise of $.02 per plastic bag provided to customers during the year. There is also a pending proposal that the State DEP write regulations to prohibit the use of plastic carryout bags by 2019.
Maryland had three failed bills that included bans on disposable bags and fees.
Proposed fees on disposable bags in Maine failed to pass.
Missouri had a bill banning single use bags that failed and another that was vetoed. The vetoed bill would have prevented localities from imposing any ban, fee or tax on the use of either paper or plastic bags.
In New Jersey there are three bills pending. One would impose a $.05 fee for each disposable bag. Another requires retailers to establish in-store recycling. The last provides for a decrease and eventual ban on non-compostable bags at retailers.
New York State has no less than five bag bills pending covering fee schemes, bans and recycling requirements.
Pennsylvania has three bills pending covering fees, bans on fees and recycling studies.
Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia together have a total of six bills that failed that would have imposed fees, bans or recycling requirements for bags.
Vermont has a pending ban on single use carryout bags and a proposed fee that requires stores to charge $.05 for each disposable carryout bag.
Finally, Washington State has a bill pending that bans single use bags and requires stores only to provide compostable plastic, recycled paper or reusable bags.
A recent and refreshing law passed in Arizona and was signed into law by Governor Doug Ducey in June now makes it illegal for any city, town, or county in the state to pass bans on single use plastic bags and makes it illegal for any part of the state to charge a fee to shoppers for paper bags. Those few municipalities that already have bans can keep them. This new law sounds like an exercise in common sense to prevent a hodgepodge of different regulations spreading throughout the state which would have ultimately resulted in higher costs for retailers and higher food costs for everyone.
Arizona has now become the second state, after Florida, to preempt local governments from imposing bans or fees on plastic bags. Efforts to repeal the Florida law have thus far failed.
“In 2015, Georgia, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas also considered bills that would prevent local governments from imposing a ban or fee on the use of either paper or plastic bags,” said Schultz. “The Georgia bill failed, Missouri’s was vetoed, Pennsylvania’s is pending and the Texas bill failed. Most of the bills proposed in states this year are still pending, so I cannot say there is trend for them to fail. I will say though that state legislatures are considering more bills related to plastic bags than ever before.”
One would think that lawmakers would have more pressing matters to attend to than plastic shopping bags, but pressures brought by environmental groups and draft legislation provided by their lawyers is behind many of the laws.
Everyone seems to agree that single-use plastic bags are a problem. They clog machinery at waste recycling facilities and continue to litter our land and waters. Perhaps more effort should be directed to public education on the environmental cost of the problem and establishing more convenient drop-off locations to collect thin-film plastics for recycling rather than rely on more government micromanagement .through local and state wide bans, fees and assorted schemes.
Published in the October 2015 Edition of American Recycler News