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Chicago plastic bag ban will do more harm than good
Topic Started: Aug 8 2015, 11:54 AM (405 Views)
Copper
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More friends of Barry unable to think more than 3 minutes into the future.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/zorn/ct-plastic-bag-ban-bad-perspec-zorn-0625-20150626-column.html

Quote:
 

Chicago plastic bag ban will do more harm than good

When environmentalists agree with the plastics industry that a particular anti-litter law is bad, you know it's a stinker.

And here we find just such a telltale accord. Bring Your Bag Chicago, an advocacy organization dedicated to encouraging shoppers to carry home their merchandise in reusable totes, is more or less on the same page as the American Progressive Bag Alliance, a trade group of plastic-bag manufacturers, in opposing Chicago's upcoming effort to cut distribution of single-use plastic bags.

In the end, both sides say, the regulations scheduled to go into effect Aug. 1 are likely to have a perverse effect, increasing costs to consumers and negative impacts to the environment.

The law will prohibit most retailers from offering those familiar flimsy plastic bags at checkout. But it will allow retailers to offer or sell paper or reusable bags.

And, as my colleague Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz reported earlier this week, some local stores have, at no extra charge, already started packing merchandise into plastic shopping bags that are nearly five times the thickness of the old bags.

The thicker, slightly larger bags are technically "reusable" under the new law, but do shoppers actually bring them back to the store?

Not that often. The plastics industry says surveys show customers reuse the somewhat sturdier shopping bags three times on average, even when stores impose a modest fee for the bags. And that the manufacturing and distribution costs are closer to five times greater than for the thinner bags (which also have secondary uses, as all dog owners know).

So under the new law, Chicago is likely to spend more money consuming more energy and putting more plastic into the waste stream.

It will be "a lose-lose for the environment and consumers," said Jordan Parker, founder and director of Bring Your Bag Chicago. "This ordinance will create a worse environmental problem, and the kicker is that Chicagoans will literally be paying for it."

Phil Rozenski, policy chair of the American Progressive Bag Alliance, added, "The Chicago ordinance is a perfect example of what happens when well-intentioned lawmakers rush into what looks like an easy environmental win only to find it full of unintended consequences."

These traditional combatants also agree that paper bags are not necessarily an improvement over plastic. After industry cuts down the trees and uses the vast quantities of water and energy to create, transport and occasionally recycle them, paper bags don't look particularly green. Any bag law that targets plastic and leaves paper alone, as Chicago's law does, is environmentally ignorant.

What to do with this lousy idea?

The activists and plastic peddlers part company at this juncture, as you might expect.


The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
An outright 'ban' is the wrong way; it's negative and just puts peoples' backs up. Encourgaing the use of reusable bags makes more sense, and it works. It took probably a year for most of us where I live, to get it. Everybody had their reusable bags, but often left them in vehicles, at home. Plastic bags were always available, but you were always asked, which made you slap your forehead and vow to remember next time. But it worked, and now grabbing a bag before you head to the store is just part of the routine. The big grocery stores gave you a small credit for every cloth bag you brought (that's gone now, but it worked during the transition period). Some places had paper bags as an option for a while, but I don't see many these days at all. I think (speaking for myself at least) that those are a step backwards in convenience, so also worked to get people to bring their own carrier type bags.
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George K
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Fine and good.

But, practically speaking, how many of your reusable bags will you bring with you when you go for a major shopping adventure:

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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
6-8
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kluurs
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Fulla-Carp
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I bring Ikea bags.
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Copper
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Trolley bags for people who talk funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obtaoUr7Ql0


The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
George K
Aug 8 2015, 02:33 PM
Fine and good.

But, practically speaking, how many of your reusable bags will you bring with you when you go for a major shopping adventure:

Posted Image
Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's Wholesale ... none of them provide plastic bad; they just put out a bunch of used boxes and you help yourself with those.
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Copper
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You get what you pay for.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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Nunatax
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Middle Aged Carp
Same here in many supermarkets. We usually take about tree reusable bags with us. Works perfectly! Not a lousy idea at all, people just don't like to change.
You seem somewhat familiar. Have I threatened you before?
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AndyD
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Senior Carp
In about 8 weeks time there will be a 5p charge for plastic carrier bags in England. Good for the environment and no big deal. It only took me a few weeks to get into the swing of taking reusable bags. They have much better handles and protect your purchases too. My favourite design:

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jon-nyc
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Cheers
Make sure you throw those cloth bags in the wash frequently. They collect bacteria quite rapidly.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Riley
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HOLY CARP!!!
Here, pretty much everywhere but Walmart charges $0.05 for plastic bags.
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Jolly
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Geaux Tigers!
I'm a box guy.

Boxes pack better and handle easier.
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
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Copper
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Our local grocery stores recycle the plastic bags.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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