Lately I’ve been thinking about how to live a less environmentally impact-full life. Part of what has driven this is that I’ve been reading Jared Diamond’s Collapse, which is about how societies choose to either fail or succeed through the decisions they collectively make on how to manage their use of the environment. (Here he is outlining the premises of the book in a lecture: Jared Diamond Speaking for the LongNow.org)
Anyhow, so when my wife brought to my attention this article published in the New York Times about NYC’s attempt to curb plastic bag use I was hopeful. New York City uses some 1 billion plastic bags a year that each take nearly 500 years to deteriorate. When you add it up, that’s a lot of plastic bags hanging around for dozens of generations to come. And I’ve commented many times since living here on the sheer number of plastic bags one can accumulate throughout a day. So it was with some enthusiasm that I read that the New York City Council had a plan for all those bags! That enthusiasm quickly turned to frustration however. Here’s why:
The Plan
The plan is to have all plastic bags given to consumers (in stores with either 5,000 sq feet or at least 5 stores in NYC) printed with a paragraph urging the user to recycle. Then the stores (again, ones with either 5,000 sq feet or at least 5 locations) will have to collect the bags at their stores in “easily accessible bins”. The stores will then be responsible for recording, weighing, transporting and reporting to the Sanitation Department their activities. Non-compliers will face steep fines, something like $2,000 a day.
Why It Won’t Work
First off, in my short span of time here there is a consistent theme I stumble across daily. Most problems I encounter here are ones of volume. It’s not that people are not trying their hardest (some aren’t, no more less than anywhere else), it’s more just a factor of there being so many people here, any little problem or inefficiency or chink in the armor gets magnified many fold because of the sheer number of people streaming through. So why create a scenario which requires A) the creation and management of an entirely new bureaucracy B) which is going to require MORE on the part of already taxed institutions?
The Solution
It seems pretty simple to me. Tax plastic bag usage. Tax it as heavily as you need to stem it’s usage. Make the price of a plastic bag the same as a reusable bag. The one thing the city council’s plan has right is that they are going to require these stores to sell reusable bags. I applaud this move. But in the highest populated city in the nation to try to create an entire program to manage, collect, and police the use of plastic bags (at a considerable cost to tax payers) seems asinine. Why not just MAKE some money and charge the users of plastic bags. Have the store owners just keep track of how much money they made “selling” plastic bags instead of going through the whole process of collecting, weighing and recycling bags. Not to mention the cost in energy to process and recycle them. In numerous countries throughout the world it has been demonstrated time and time again that all it takes to change people’s behavior is sometimes just a few cents. Some argue that people don’t want to have to haul around a reusable bag with them all the time. Ok, don’t, then just pay the tax that will go to the recycling program. But I’ve been carrying around several reusable bags for months and it is not a problem. One collapses down to easily fit in my pocket. Frustrating times. We need to be using less energy and resources, especially in this mega-opolis called New York City. I wish the New York City Council would wake up.
Real Life,
Real Time,
Real People,
Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Hans at Next2Friends dot com
March 19th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Moran
March 21st, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Thanks for highlighting this issue! I think your solution is on the money.
The weak solution in NY is due to lobbying pressure and the thread of legal action from the industry front group, the “Progressive” Bag Alliance (Now known as the Progressive Bag Affiliates).
Read up on them here.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/123038/page/1
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Progressive_Bag_Alliance
March 25th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
MSNBC recently launched an excellent interactive piece called Battle of the Plastic Bags: Paper or Plastic http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23358591. The conclusion, which you’ve reached along with me and millions of other people (set up a Google Alert for Plastic Bags and see what’s happening on the international scene)is that reusable bags are the only real solution. Paper weighs too much and costs too much to create, destroying forests, causing erosion and pollution, etc. Plastic is just bad, for different reasons.
And to the folks who say, “but I reuse plastic bags for dog poop and lining my waste baskets,” I say “find another product.” What they’re saying is that they don’t want to pay for them, even though they already are — in both the short and long term.
I’m a recent convert to reusable bags. I went to work for Ecobags.com earlier this year after years of working as a consultant for the founder, Sharon Rowe. We sell reusable bags but the company’s all about taking a sane look at “going green,” avoiding the traps of guilt and finding ways to simply use less.
As a result of working there my whole family has begun to re-evaluate what we use, how much we consume, etc. So it’s as much about awareness (as a precursor to action) of our impacts on the community and then the world that create the impetus for action.
I’m frustrated by New York’s approach, too, although it’s a start. I can’t condemn any government entity that’s seriously considering and weighing the impacts of these legislative initiatives. The bottom line is that the conversation has started and people like Sharon Roweand the folks at Co-op America were right all along! Now Americans have to break the habit.