Kuff's World

A reader blog about politics and current events with Charles Kuffner

Tyson Sowell: The Problem of Single-Use Bags



On Wednesday, June 20, Houston City Council approved a budget amendment to

“address littering by plastic bags or phasing out plastic bags city-wide. This proposal will be taken to the appropriate committee for proper vetting, consideration and input from businesses, residents and environmental advocates.”

Tyson Sowell

Texas Campaign for the Environment supports the phasing out of single-use bags and advocates for reusable bags. Brownsville was the first city in Texas to address the pollution impacts of single-use bags. After a year of study, the City of Brownsville decided to limit both paper and plastic bags, even though they were home to a major paper bag manufacturer. Soon after, South Padre Island and Fort Stockton, in West Texas, passed local ordinances limiting single-use bags and, most recently, (after an extensive study) Austin too found limiting single-use bags makes economic and environmental sense.

Plastic pollution in the US has increased by 165% since 1969 making plastic pollution the third most abundant pollution type. It is estimated that Houstonians consume 1.9 million plastic bags per day or more than 693 million plastic bags per year.

So, why not just recycle them?

Nationwide recycling rates for single-use bags are very poor – 60% to 90% of paper bags and 95% of plastic bags are NOT recycled. Additionally, voluntary recycling programs for plastic bags have been unsuccessful in keeping them out of landfills, waterways, trees, and storm drains. For example, Austin’s plastic bag recycling pilot program, at its best after distributing 900,000 reusable bags, was only able to achieve a 27% recycling rate. If the City of Houston followed this route, assuming they could achieve this same level of success, 1.4 million bags per day, would still be free to roam our streets and swim in our waterways.

As Houston grows, its waste problem grows with it and phasing out single-use bags is a step in the right direction to reduce our waste and keep our city beautiful. Buffalo Bayou is heavily polluted with plastic waste and continuing to ignore this problem will not make it go away but will make it worse. Even though paper bags biodegrade, they use more energy to manufacture and transport and are not any better for the environment overall.

Houston is the only city of the ten largest cities in Texas that does not provide curbside recycling for all of its residents. The recent budget crunch has been blamed time and time again for the City’s inability to expand this service. Phasing out plastic bags would save the City about $2 million per year which could be used to expand recycling and get Houston on the path to a green, clean future.

It’s time for Houston to get serious about its growing waste future. It’s time to bag the bags.

Tyson Sowell is the Houston Program Director for Texas Campaign for the Environment – a statewide, grassroots, environmental policy advocacy organization. You can learn more at texasenvironment.org, at facebook.com/texasenvironment and follow on twitter at twitter.com/txenvironment.

Charles Kuffner

2 Responses

  1. Tiffany M. says:

    I agree with phasing out plastic bags. In Hawaii, some stores have a small charge if you ask for a plastic bag, but most stores use reusable small bags. I wish our society was more environmentally friendly. It’s very logical and easy. I’m about to share your link!

  2. agnerd says:

    So we should punish everyone because some people pollute? Why not just enforce existing littering laws? Should we ban alcohol and cars because some peopler DWI or should we enforce existing laws. If Austin provided 900k reusable bags to residents and Houston is 10 times the size, is the city going to provide 9 million bags considering their budget issues? I guess a wall will also be built around city limits to prevent bags from Harris County from blowing in. Better set up checkpoints too at all city roads that cross the border to make sure residents don’t shop in the county and bring the bags back into Houston.

    And why do most of your stats only mention plastics that aren’t recycled, but don’t bother making the distinction between plastic BAGS and all other plastics. Why ban plastic bags but not plastic food conatiners or any other disposable plastic item? By this logic, we should ban vodka because it is one of the items that leads to DWI.