Different studies say different things, but the point is clear: even though paper bags are much better for the environment in the disposal stage, the rest of the supply chain is riddled with problems. Instagram, Follow us on ETHAN: Plastic bag bans also can negatively affect businesses. And so this was an unintended consequence of the policy. ETHAN: Beyond climate though, crackers cause a lot of issues for surrounding communities. What if they used solar or wind? Its the same you know, it gets rolled into the price of your groceries the same way that youre paying for the cashiers, and the store workers and the age back and all of that you are paying for your plastic bags, but you dont see that what we call marginal cost per plastic bag. Monthly or one-time, donate now when all donations will be matched by a generous group of donors. Come on, why have we not tried this yet? Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? Not So Fast Yeah, that was even rough for my standards. We talked about a whole list of issues in our first segment, and those dont vanish. So I am an environmental economist. Thats one idea that Ive seen floated all over the internet. If they were going to use a slur for white people, why not name it Karen or Wonderbread? One of the most comprehensive research papers on the environmental impact of bags, published in 2007 by an Australian state government agency, found that paper bags have a higher carbon footprint than plastic. Increasingly, environmentalists are pushing for laws that include fees for all single-use bags, and that require paper bags to be made with recycled content, which could lower their carbon footprint. And what I found was the policies were very successful in reducing the amount of plastic carry out bags people used at supermarkets, it goes to zero as you would expect with a ban. Climate change, they say, isnt the only form of environmental degradation to worry about. And even if you use the word fee, sometimes people dont like that as well. You know, thats a bit of sort of the speculation of why these behavioral changes occurred. How Do We Protect Them? Often they need to be reused at least 100, if not more times, to be more environmentally friendly than those thin plastic bags that were so familiar with. You get merch, bonus content, and more. ETHAN: The Sweaty Penguin is presented by Peril and Promise: a public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York, reporting on the issues and solutions around climate change. Better alternatives are available 10. Did you just finish trick or treating? Theres no easy answer, says Eric Goldstein, New York City environment director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, which backed NYCs bag fee. In all seriousness, theres drawbacks here too. What Comes Next for Venezuelas Oil Industry? 2. And then if when those you know are no longer possible, can we recycle them? If someone wants a straw, they can ask and get it, no questions asked. On The Pros and Cons of Banning Plastic Bags by John Stossel Because with any product, its important to think about all those three dimensions, can we as consumers reduce the amount that were using? Maybe call the manager over or fly the CEO in on a helicopter or pull the fire alarm so everyone starts screaming and running. ETHAN: Clips today came from 23 ABC News. So paper and plastic as litter paper, you know, decomposes, it breaks down, its not as harmful to the environment, if it if its litter. You can conceive of the possibility of collecting plastic bags from the ocean, but microplastics are almost impossible to remove from their environments. No, of course not. Cracker? Obviously, a cotton tote does have a much longer life than a plastic or paper bag, but we also have to be honest with ourselves. Plastic bag bans havent fixed the entire problem where theyve been implemented. Two weeks ago, the Massachusetts State Senate passed a measure that would ban plastic bags from being dispensed by many retail businesses and require a charge of 10 cents or more for a recycled paper or reusable bag. Like cigarettes, plastic bags have recently gone from a tolerated nuisance to a widely despised and discouraged vice. Despite the good intentions of these new rules, plastic bag bans are problematic for a few reasons. And just like that, a step towards zero waste is taken, and it feels good. ITS COMPOSTABLE! Whereas the small taxes are very effective. One reason plastic bags should be banned is that they hurt the environment. ETHAN: But first, its time for Plastic Bags 101. These US states have banned plastic bags | World Economic Forum What I found was a net benefit, we were still reducing more plastic than this rebound effect. Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? Not So Fast [wrong buzzer, rewind] Cracker? TAYLOR: Yeah, well, Ill circle back to the three Rs. And when I no longer had access to those carry out bags, it meant I didnt have this quote unquote, free source of garbage bags anymore. As the Australian study noted, a cotton bag has major environmental impacts of its own. But theres also so much nuance to this issue, and its important to consider these consequences of bag bans as we come up with the best possible solutions. I hope at least one of those cracked you up. LASZLO: Am I? In fact, every region of the US has a different energy mix. [wild west sting] Once ethylene is turned into plastic, its not harmful, youre not going to get a disease just by touching a plastic bag, unless its March 2020 when every cashier in America was convinced thats how Covid spreads. Of those 48, 16 had publicly available air pollution data, so I took a look at that group. PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. ITS INSATIABLE! document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Like cigarettes, plastic bags have recently gone from a tolerated nuisance to a widely despised and discouraged vice. NADJA: Will you at least go and talk to it? But sales of garbage bags increased substantially and especially those small garbage bags that you know, are around the same size as the carryout back. Thats where this gets interesting. So Im trained in thinking about how People respond to environmental [00:00:32] policy and particular and the policies that I focused on have been around waste and food. by John Stossel | May 5, 2020. Not easy to recycle 7. [knock on door, door creaks open, then Laszlo starts coughing uncontrollably]. Aw, dammit, I was so close! 12 Reasons for Banning Plastic Bags: Plastic Bags Are Made With Non-Renewable Energy Plastic Bags Use Up Lots Of Energy Plastic Bags End Up In The Ocean Beach Plastic Litter Is On The Rise Plastic Bags Kill Millions Of Animals Every Year Plastic Takes A Long Time To Disintegrate Plastic Is Harming The Ocean's Coral Plastic Bags Contain Toxins Proposition 67, also known as SB270, officially passed in November 2016, prohibits plastic bags . New York's ban will take effect in 2020 but will apply to single-use plastic bags you can get at grocery stores or retailers. Theyre less than five millimeters across and they are everywhere, from the oceans to mountaintops to the Arctic to our food and blood. The reasons for papers higher carbon footprint are complex, but can mostly be understood as stemming from the fact that paper bags are much thicker than plastic bags. In fact, we can take it a step further. Are Plastic Bag Bans a Solution? Like cigarettes, plastic bags have recently gone from a tolerated nuisance to a widely despised and discouraged vice. Our best hope the next time Earth is in the crosshairs? Natasha Mascarenhas. The first time you say your dog ate it, its a funny story, but by the fifth time, youre definitely going to fail first grade. And thats just not true. Or is it a little too nuanced to make that type of assessment? In 2018 though, 68.1 percent of paper consumed in the United States was recovered for recycling, which is a really impressive number, although its worth noting that paper fibers become weaker each time theyre recycled, so there are still limitations to that. Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? Not So Fast ETHAN: That new ban was signed into law on September 30, and the fact that it was in the news goes to show that even with all the other things going on in the world, people are paying attention to this issue. In some cases, people start buying more plastic trash bags now that they cant use their grocery bags to store trash. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Not good places to be adding more polluting facilities. Those are the kinds of topics that I focus on in my research. TAYLOR: Yeah, I think one thing that stands out, when we think about plastic bags, and when we think about sort of packaging, in general, is that theres this perception that its free, that theres no price, and that you can you know, youre not paying for the plastic bags that you use, thats not actually true, you actually do pay for the plastic bags that you use at the supermarket. Not So Fast by Ben Adler The author of the piece Ben Adler agrees that plastic bags have an adverse impact on the environment. They say Hanukkah gets eight nights as if its special, but with Christmas, you get six whole months! On one hand, we are reducing the amount of litter. ETHAN: And youve written several papers on plastic bags, Ill start with your paper that won the Journal of Environmental Economics and Managements Best Paper Prize in 2020, which discussed some of the unintended consequences of plastic bag bans. In fact, eight states have gone so far as to ban single-use plastic bags, and over 200 counties and municipalities have enacted ordinances either imposing a fee on plastic bags or. And the most common substitute, paper bags, may be just as bad or worse, depending on the environmental problem youre most concerned about. So I often tell people, if theyre choosing a bag, you want to choose a bag that you are going to reuse that could be a thin bag, then plastic bag, or it could be a nylon bag, which is technically still plastic, but is a woven plastic thats fairly lightweight, and thus, perhaps not going to have the same environmental impact as a heavier plastic or a cloth bag. And the most common substitute, paper bags, may be just as bad or worse, depending on the environmental problem youre most concerned about. And buy the thinnest reusable bag that you know, youll actually reuse. Yeet that wheat. 2- From a retailer's perspective, the thin plastic bags are the most economical of all. How Can Soy Reduce Its Environmental Impact? Reader support helps sustain our work. There are so very many variables. Thats right, its always the one you most suspect. On the other hand, were using thicker bags, which might be emitting more carbon and pollution into the atmosphere. NADJA: Its perfectly harmless, Laszlo. We use [drumroll] oil and gas! For example, because paper bags take up so much more space, more trucks are needed to ship paper bags to a store than to ship plastic bags. How do we do that? And if not, then maybe totes arent the best alternative. And so my recommendation is to use as few bags as you can reuse the ones that you do purchase and purchase your bags, make it an active decision. A substantial shift to more durable bags would deliver environmental gains through reductions in greenhouse gases, energy and water use, resource depletion and litter, the study concluded. And then sometimes theres these added responses that are unintended. So if its something thats easy to keep in your car, or in your purse or in your backpack that you know youll reuse, then thats going to be the bag for you. Doing either earns you a special shoutout at the end of the show; joining the Patreon gets you merch, bonus content, and a whole lot more. And now theyre using a thicker product with more packaging. Very broadly, carbon footprints are proportional to mass of an object, says Tyler. Donate today to keep our climate news free. So some of my recent research was looking at to what extent do we actually see border shopping occur? So have at least 88 localities in California, including the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, plus cities and towns in more than a dozen other states and more than a dozen other countries. Its the type of giving that allows us to plan for future projects and provides us with the consistent funding we need to continue bringing you the climate news that you rely on. Paper does have its own environmental consequences in terms of how much energy it takes to generate, acknowledges Emily Norton, director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club. If your chief concern is climate change, things get even muddier. How many plastic bags are replaced by one cotton tote bag? I mean, throw some Dijon on there and youve got lunch! I collected data from supermarkets, on the types of bags people were using at checkout, both before and after the policy went into effect. Course Hero, a tutoring business last valued by investors at $3.6 billion, has cut 15% of staff, or 42 people its first round of layoffs . Then, that ethylene can be sent to a new plant where theyll add a catalyst which initiates a chemical reaction and forms our high-density polyethylene. But if communicated to the public well, I think its an interesting idea, and Id be curious to see if a similar approach could work with bags. Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? Not So Fast For more than 250 years, mathematicians have wondered if the Euler equations might sometimes fail to describe a fluids flow. ETHAN: Today we are talking about bags: a word that simultaneously means a container with an open top used for carrying things, a lot of money, and any goal youve ever had in your life. The remaining 21 percent, of course, came from the Kardashians. But not just anywhere. And just a few weeks ago, California took it one step further, banning not just single-use plastic bags at checkout, but those smaller produce bags as well. What a deal! I guess the name does make sense. The past and future are tightly linked in conventional quantum mechanics. Whos building these things, Triscuit? Heres Dr. Taylor discussing some of her research on that front. Last month, the New York City Council passed a 5-cent-per-bag fee on single-use bags handed out by most retailers. NADJA: After much deliberation, Nandor and I have invited a new resident into the house. Recently, many politicians were in such a hurry to ban plastic bags. In fact, the only place they havent been is Dave and Busters. California and Hawaii already have . Major funding forPeril and Promiseis provided byDr. P. Roy Vagelos and Diana T. Vageloswith additional funding from Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III,and the Estate of Worthington Mayo-Smith. Christmas: no, were not going to stop. Waste in particular, plastic packaging, how it is used, how it gets discarded. Take two minutes, help out the show, and get a shoutout at the end of the show by leaving a five star rating and a review on Apple or Podcast Addict OR join our Patreon at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin. I took a look at a 2017 Congressional Report which found the petrochemical industry was, at the time, pursuing 48 new plastics-related projects in the Houston area. Bags made out of woven plastic like polypropylene can be reused over and over, meaning even though there are consequences to producing plastic, you dont have to manufacture as many bags. Not So Fast' by Ben Adler & 'Choking the oceans with plastic' by Charles J. Moore. If you want to take two minutes to help out The Sweaty Penguin, you can either leave us a five star rating and review or join our Patreon at patreon.com/thesweatypenguin. Even then, the question remains as to whether single-use bags are necessarily always worse than reusable ones. ETHAN: So where do we go from here? Not only are there these human health concerns, but crackers and other petrochemical facilities are not located very fairly. Again, Im not referring to carbon emissions, Im talking nitrous oxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, smog, Sagittariuses, really bad stuff. The Australian study concluded that the best option appears to be a reusable bag, but one made from recycled plastic. But advocates of these laws and journalists who cover the issue often neglect to ask what will replace plastic bags and what the environmental impact of that replacement will be. Two weeks ago, the Massachusetts State Senate passed a measure that would ban plastic bags from being dispensed by many retail businesses and require a charge of 10 cents or more for a recycled paper or reusable bag. If a plastic bag is reused in the home as the garbage bag in a bathroom waste bin, does that reduce its footprint by eliminating the need for another small plastic garbage bag? [booo] Yeah, that was even rough for my standards. But are bans on plastic bags or reusable alternatives like tote or canvas bags viable solutions to the worlds plastic problem? Youre being ridiculous. What if instead of making the plastic from fossil fuels, we made it out of plants? This is often called border shopping. A single mom, or someone working two jobs, is more likely to have to do her shopping in a rush on the way home from work than to go out specifically with a tote bag in hand. Now, there are a few challenges to implementing a monetary policy like this. Capacitors. Australia has had a plastic bag ban since 2018. Hopefully its not laced with xylene! [deep echoey filter] ITS INSATIABLE! WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. ETHAN: After we drill and frack and insert other PG13 sounding term here, we have to actually turn our fossil fuels into polyethylene. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Lets start with paper: the only kind of bag that is, in the most literal tense, tearible. The 13 Best Electric Bikes for Every Kind of Ride, The Best Barefoot Shoes for Walking or Running. Wonder why you hear about legislation concerning plastic bags? The adverse impacts of plastic bags are undeniable: When theyre not piling up in landfills, theyre blocking storm drains, littering streets, getting stuck in trees, and contaminating oceans, where fish, seabirds, and other marine animals eat them or get tangled up in them. Twitter, Follow us on But for UPROSE, that concern is outweighed by the negative impacts of plastic bags on disadvantaged communities. Thats leading to a split in the anti-bag movement. There are eight states that ban single-use plastic bags, and these are Oregon, Vermont, California, Hawaii, Delaware, New York, Maine, and Connecticut. YouTube, Follow us on The Massachusetts proposal may not become law this year, but it's the latest sign that the plastic bag industry is losing this war. Plastic bags not only destroy the physical infrastructure, she says, referring to the way they clog up storm drains and other systems, they contribute to emissions. And she points out that marine plastic pollution is a threat to low-income people who fish for their dinner: So many frontline communities depend on food coming from the ocean. Thats why her group supported New York Citys bag fee even though its more of a burden on lower-income citizens. To help combat this waste, several American states have enacted bans on plastic grocery bags. Now, Im not sure how far along plant plastic or CO2 plastic are in the development process, but certainly very exciting possibilities if they could scale up. ETHAN: Hopefully ethylene makes its What We Do In The Shadows debut in season five. Not So Fast Advocates for plastic bag bans often neglect to ask what will replace plastic bags and what the environmental impact of that replacement will be. Again. Plastic Bags Take Up To 1,000 Years to Decompose. The Pros and Cons of Plastic Bag Bans | Dumpsters.com And thats not purchasing garbage bags. Scientists are getting closer to understanding the neurology behind the memory problems and cognitive fuzziness that an infection can trigger. LASZLO: Oh, alright, if itll shut you up. Its like when your boss bans YouTube at work, so everyone jumps to Discord. Donate today tohelp keep Grists site and newsletters free. Do local governments get to say how these products are regulated? If you melt a plastic bag down, you can absolutely recycle that polyethylene, and in fact, recycled high-density polyethylene has about a third of the carbon footprint of virgin high-density polyethylene. A lot of the waste ends up in our communities, says Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of UPROSE, an environmental and social justice-oriented community organization in Brooklyn. Definitely not the intention. As compared to plastic bags, paper bags also require significantly more energy and water to manufacture, and more energy to transport since theyre heavier. Put all that together, and National Geographic estimates that a paper bag would need to be used anywhere from 3 to 43 times in order to neutralize its environmental impact as compared to plastic. You can order the T-shirt plastic bags in wholesale from Bags . Banning Plastic Bags Is Great For The World, Right Not So Fast Three reasons why banning plastic bags is problematic - The Conversation But on the other hand, paper has a much higher carbon footprint than plastic, its much more water intensive, its much more energy intensive to produce. (The crunchy rich should already have more than enough tote bags from PBS and Whole Foods.). Thats primarily because more energy is required to produce and transport paper bags. Both authors of these essays specifically speak about how the use of plastic can be harmful for the mother-nature, and have introduced ways to compensate this loss. ETHAN: But first, its time for Plastic Bags 101. Its right up there with Taylor Swifts jet, Beyond Burgers, and figuring out which soup is best for throwing at artwork. And in particular, stores start offering thicker plastic bags and sticker paper bags for free.
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