{"id":1832,"date":"2012-06-19T22:01:04","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T22:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/?p=1832"},"modified":"2012-07-08T01:18:10","modified_gmt":"2012-07-08T01:18:10","slug":"bag-bans-is-that-really-the-big-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/?p=1832","title":{"rendered":"Bag Bans – Is That Really The Big Issue?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently read a short, but insightful, article surrounding the issues of bag bans.\u00a0 The bag industry claims that banning bags will result in job loss, negative effects to local economies, hidden taxes, and lower environmental impact compared to paper, etc. \u00a0These are important issues to consider, but they really don\u2019t address the real issue of lightweight plastic bags – litter.\u00a0 The crux of the bag bans are associated with littering of bags whether intentional or not.\u00a0 I think we have all seen these bags floating in the streets, in bushes and trees, and worse, marine environments. The bag littler looks ugly and in worse case scenarios it kills wildlife!<\/p>\n

I think the real issue with bag bans is that we are not identifying the main problem, litter.<\/p>\n

Yes, it is true that plastic bags are more environmentally friendly when comparing the carbon footprint, but in the whole scheme of things, should we really be pushing lightweight plastic bags over alternative bag solutions like reusable bags or heavy gauge plastics bags?\u00a0 When is the last time you’ve seen a cotton reusable bag hanging in a tree?\u00a0 You don\u2019t!\u00a0 They are much too heavy and they would end up going to the landfill, just like most of the other plastic packaging that comes with products we purchase.<\/p>\n

Who is to blame for this problem? Can we change human behavior?\u00a0 What can be done to improve processes so that bags are not the problem?\u00a0 If there was a value to bags, like aluminum cans, would this result in a different outcome?\u00a0 A recent study titled: \u201cPlastic Film and Bag Recycling Collection: National Reach Study\u201d found that over 91% of U.S. residents have access to bag recycling facilities, but consumers are not utilizing them.\u00a0 Is bag recycling just too inconvenient?\u00a0 Not profitable enough for the recyclers? \u00a0\u00a0These are all questions we have asked to try to solve this problem, but perhaps there is a bigger question that we should be asking ourselves:\u00a0 Are there applications that we should not utilize plastic in?<\/p>\n

If we zoom out of the minutia and look at the overall problem, human behavior is at the cause of all of these issues.\u00a0 But, maybe we can\u2019t change human behavior. Maybe there are some plastic applications, such as bags, that we as humans should say, \u201clet\u2019s just get rid of them, because we aren\u2019t able to solve the problem -other than to ban them\u201d?<\/p>\n

This blog is not going to solve the problem or answer the question \u201cto ban or not to ban\u201d, but to bring up the questions that we should be asking ourselves. Maybe we should be ok with banning certain applications of plastics, if they are resulting in damage to our environment. \u00a0But, that doesn\u2019t mean that we need to get rid of all plastics!\u00a0 After all, plastics do have a lower carbon footprint than the alternatives -and it is the material that 25 years ago the environmentalists wanted choose instead of paper.\u00a0 Who knows the absolute right answer?\u00a0 If we do now walk away from plastic bags, it would not be the first time our US society has come full circle in their overall opinion\u2026<\/p>\n

\"See<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently read a short, but insightful, article surrounding the issues of bag bans.\u00a0 The bag industry claims that banning bags will result in job loss, negative effects to local economies, hidden taxes, and lower environmental impact compared to paper, etc. \u00a0These are important issues to consider, but they really don\u2019t address the real issue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[736,743],"tags":[436,1359,1357,1358,437],"class_list":["post-1832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-news","category-thought-provoking","tag-biodegradable-bags","tag-litter","tag-plastic-bag-bans","tag-plastic-ban","tag-single-use-plastic-bags"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1832"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1872,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832\/revisions\/1872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ensoplastics.com\/theblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}