Skip to main content

Doing the Homework



The County Council is set to vote on proposed legislation about single-use plastic bags tonight. There has been some discussion about this locally and, up until now, I haven’t felt like jumping into the fray. Well, better late than never.

Here are some articles which analyze research on the topic:


Are Plastic Bag Bans Garbage?
April 9, 2019

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/09/711181385/are-plastic-bag-bans-garbage

Why Carryout Bag Fees Are More Effective Than Plastic Bag Bans
January 20, 2017


Do plastic bag taxes or bans curb waste? 400 cities and states tried it out.

August 27, 2019


Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? Not So Fast (June 10, 2016) https://www.wired.com/2016/06/banning-plastic-bags-great-world-right-not-fast/

This quote stood out: The ideal city bag policy would pronounce involve charging for paper and plastic single-use bags, as New York City has decided to do, while giving out recycled-plastic bags to those who need them, especially to low-income communities and seniors. (The crunchy rich should already have more than enough tote bags from PBS and Whole Foods.)

If you want to see a full scale defense of plastic bags, make sure to take in this commercial website: (insert eye-roll here.)

Bag the Ban
The American Plastic Alliance

Here is a story about the proposed legislation in Howard County:


And here is the much touted “Amendment Three” which adds a ban into the mix.


In sum, research on communities who have enacted bag bans or bag fees shows the following:

  • A full out bag ban causes people to buy thicker plastic bags that take longer to break down than the single use ones.
  • A bag ban disproportionately impacts poorer communities.
  • Paper bags may break down faster but it takes more gasoline to move them around so they are equally problematic.
  • Those respectable cotton tote bags? Their production uses a ton of resources that far outweigh the benefits of reusing them.
  • The best reusable bags, environmentally speaking, are the plastic recycled ones.
  • A bag fee is the most effective at both cutting down on waste and changing behavior.

The loud local shouting on this is telling you the opposite. It stands to reason, they tell you, that a ban is a more environmentally sound approach. It isn’t. It stands to reason that charging a fee could mean only one thing: trying to suck more money out of consumers. It’s not.

It only stands to reason if you refuse to do your homework and you simply want to be right without the benefit of actual facts. It’s an emotional response, not an informed one.

I hope the Council will vote in favor of this legislation. If any of my readers want to make a case for or against Amendment 3,  I’m interested.

*****





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

What Kids Are Thinking

  It’s a Monday in February, and if you guessed that a lot of Howard County students have the new cell phone policy on their minds, you’d be right. It will mean big changes and it will be stressful, no matter how much good we hope it will do in the long run. But on this particular Monday cell phones might not be top of mind, as amazing as that seems. Some kids will go to school wondering if they or family members will be seized by ICE. Some will fear that their parents’ employment will be purged by the ongoing rampage of Elon Musk and his cronies through Federal Government. Some fear heightened and renewed racism as programs that supprted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are vilified and destroyed.  Some worry that it soon won’t be safe for them to use the bathroom in school anymore. It goes without saying that some kids fear going to school every day because of the prevalence of school shootings.  And look! Here’s something new to fear. That old hate group, Libs of TikTo...
1 comment
Read more