[Summit] Plastic Bags

[Aaron Smuts]

I'm predisposed to push back when people talk about banning things and
passing laws that restrict my behavior.  Either way, is this issue so clear
cut?  I've seen a few things suggesting that the environmental impact of
plastic bags is likely less than most kinds of reusable totes, especially
cotton bags, when you look at how people use them.

Here's an older article on the issue:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/09/to-tote-or-note-to-tote/498557/

There was a Danish study that came out a month or so ago. I can't find a
link to it right now. . . .

A lot of people re-use the cheap plastic bags.  I use them for cat littler.
People who have an incorrect preference for dogs use to pick up piles of
hot steaming dog poo.  Others line small trash cans with them. Virtuous
homeless people use them as toilets.    . . .

And cotton bags don't just grow from cotton plants fully formed.  The
cotton has to be grown, harvested, cleaned, made in to fabric, sewed,
printed with your favorite corporate logo or virtue signal, shipped, etc.

I mainly use the re-usable bags that Whole Foods sells for a dollar.  But
I'm probably going to stop and just use their paper bags.  I don't like the
idea of bag that might get contaminated and then continue to spread
salmonella, etc.  I'm not sure that you can wash the WF bags.  I'll look
into it. But groceries aren't always clean. The bags will eventually get
contaminated, increasing the chances of making a poor sweet little child
sick.  Please, think of the little children.

In any case, this doesn't seem all that cut and dry.

Aaron



On Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 9:03 AM, Anne Holland <aholland at gmail.com> wrote:

> Michael, thanks for the question. I am absolutely in favor of banning
> single-use plastic bags. (I’m also fervently against plastic straws.)
> However, having lived in communities where income is tight and folks don’t
> have the easy ability to get to low cost grocery stores or savings to buy
> knapsacks, I recognize for some every single dime must go toward food.
> Those dimes matter.
>
> My opinion doesn’t matter though - the opinions that do matter are the
> people who are most affected by having to pay for bags.
>
> Anne Holland
> ~ pls forgive typos, this is my iPad
>
> On Mar 27, 2018, at 8:42 PM, Michael McGlynn <mmcglynn at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> To be clear, Anne, are you arguing that plastic bags not be banned, or is
> there a circumstance that you could see occurring that would end their use?
>
> On Tue, Mar 27, 2018 at 7:52 PM, Anne Holland <aholland at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> He’s absolutely right. The ten cent fee per bag was egregious
>>
>> - apologies for typos, sent from my phone
>>
>> On Mar 27, 2018, at 7:45 PM, Michael McGlynn <mmcglynn at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> "Saying that it would inordinately affect low-income families, Providence
>> Mayor Jorge O. Elorza on Monday vetoed a city ordinance amendment that
>> would reduce the use of single-use plastic bags in the city that would
>> require stores to charge customers no less than 10 cents per bag."
>>
>> https://pbn.com/elorza-vetoes-single-use-plastic-bag-ban-for
>> -now-requests-more-community-engagement/
>>
>> --
>> Thank You,
>> Michael McGlynn
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Thank You,
> Michael McGlynn
>
>
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>
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