Palm Desert City to Discuss the Banning of Plastic Bags

Posted on December 30, 2011 by DrRossH in Plastic Limiting Regulations

PWS was surprised at most of the comments entered on this article.  It is very short sighted thinking of many people.   Plastic bags are an item that have a life time of just a few minutes and then discarded.  In a landfill they will last for hundreds of years.  They are light weight and prone to blow around if they get loose.  Most of the plastic in the ocean comes from plastic that started on land and as become blown or washed out to sea.  Once in the ocean it causes all sorts of havoc with wildlife.  Similar on land.  Do these people not care about preserving wildlife.  Are they so short sighted that anything beyond their life is inconsequential?  We would hope not.

People say they reuse them then discard then, but that is a minor factor.  The bags still go to a landfill after a very short time.  People should be using landfill biodegradable bags for their trash.  These are bags that will biodegrade in a landfill.   There are several claims of biodegradable out there and it is confusing, yes.  But look for ASTM D5511 certification on plastic to show it will biodegrade in a landfill.  If it does not have that then it will not biodegrade and the biodegradable claim is more than likely being made by green washing manufacturers.

Some people say they shouldn’t have to pay for them.   Why is that?  Nothing is for free, why do they expect free bags?  They used to be free at the store yes, but that is what has made this plastic waste problem we all have now.  San Francisco pay about 17 cents per plastic bag to clean them up.  That is the citizen’s money so no they are not free and never have been.  We see people getting take away coffees all the time yet are ready to complain they can’t afford 10 cents a plastic bag.  They can afford it but they are just not used to paying for something that to them was free but to us all it has a cost.  Ireland plastic bag usage dropped 95% in a few months after a small fee per bag was introduced.  The people quickly got used to it and didn’t complain about it anymore.  How hard is it to take a few reusable cotton bags into a store and use those?  It means you have to spend 30 seconds organising yourself but let’s be real.

The world uses a trillion of these bags a year.  It would be a lot better off if we did not use them at all.   They are a blight on the planet.   Congratulations to the people of Palm Desert for having the courage to take these steps that will lead us into a cleaner future for our descendents.