Sack the plastic shopping bag
"PAPER OR plastic?" Faced with the choice in the grocery line, we've all been guilty of choosing the plastic bag, which is often simpler, easier to carry, and easier to dispose of.
But as convenient as they are, these bags are terrible for the environment. Of the 380 billion disposable plastic bags used each year in the United States, only 1 percent are recycled. The rest go to landfills, where they take ages to decompose.
Other communities in the United States and around the world have begun to wean themselves from plastic bags. Massachusetts can do the same.
That could become clear next week. The Commonwealth has designated Wednesday as "Reusable Bag Day." Retailers across the state will encourage customers to consider bringing in their own bags or purchasing a reuseable bag.
The event is modeled after Hong Kong's "No Plastic Bag Day" and Singapore's "Bring Your Own Bag Day," which resulted in drastic drops in the consumption of one-time bag use. In Hong Kong, participating retailers saw a 40 percent drop in plastic bags. In Singapore, it was estimated that more than 100,000 plastic bags were conserved and over 20,000 reusable bags were sold in just one day.
Households all over the country have made enormous steps such as using low-energy light bulbs and driving hybrid cars in order to cut oil consumption, but such efforts are devalued if two or three plastic bags are used to carry home every purchase. These bags consume a limited resource and exacerbate the United States' dependence on oil.
Under perfect conditions a bag takes a thousand years to biodegrade, and in a landfill, plastic bags decompose even slower. If buried, they block the natural flow of oxygen and water through the soil. If burned, they release dangerous toxins and carcinogens into the air. The damage is even more severe when the bags end up in the ocean, where thousands of sea turtles and other marine life die each year after mistaking plastic bags for food.
To some degree, paper bags are a better option, because they are made from a renewable resource and biodegrade faster. But they take trees out of the environment, and take energy and resources to produce. The only perfect solution is to use a reusable bag. Reusable bags are often made from canvas and can last for years. One reusable bag can replace nearly 1,000 plastic bags over its lifetime.
Awareness of the damage plastic bags wreak on the environment has grown dramatically in the past year. Plastic bag bans are currently being considered in Baltimore; Oakland and Santa Monica, Calif.; and New Haven - not to mention Boston. Also this year, San Francisco became the first US city to enact a ban on plastic bags. As awareness continues to grow, so will government action to curb the use of plastic bags.
Because of the environmental hazards posed by plastic bags, I have filed legislation that aims to persuade consumers gently not to choose the "plastic" option by introducing a small fee on plastic bags at the checkout of large retail stores. Customers would be exempt from the fee if they brought their own reusable bag, didn't use a bag, requested a paper bag, used a compostable bag provided by the store, or reused a plastic bag.
This fee is similar to the "PlasTax" instituted in Ireland in 2002 - a fee on plastic bags that led to a 90 percent drop in their consumption in just one year. (For what it's worth, there's been no harm to grocery stores there.) The fee would gradually increase each year, beginning at $0.02 in 2008 and reaching $0.15 per bag in 2014. My bill is intended to give people a financial motivation to protect the environment - in addition to the obvious moral and ecological motivations.
In a similar vein, "Reuseable Bag Day" - an initiative in conjunction with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the Massachusetts Food Association - will help reduce needless consumption of plastic bags and educate the public about the environmental hazards associated with plastic and paper bags.
So next Wednesday, when you find yourself before a cashier who asks you "paper or plastic?" I hope you'll answer "neither."
Brian A. Joyce, a Milton Democrat, represents the Norfolk, Bristol, and Plymouth District in the Massachusetts Senate.
