Yes, I do. It's really annoying. It's annoying for about a million reasons. I expressed this to her and she agreed. "It's not that paying 10 cents a bag is going to break me," she said, "It's just the principle of it." I completely understood. It's about being forced to eliminate a convenience from our daily routines. It was nice to be able to chat for a few minutes to someone about it, too. It made me feel better that I'm not the only one who thinks banning carry out bags is such a pain in the you know what.
Thinking I would really like to do something about this, I did some research on the ban when I got back from the store. So stores in Sunnyvale are required by law to charge 10 cents per paper bag, to discourage use of carry out bags. This charge will increase to 25 cents in 2014. Retailers are encouraged to make reusable bags available to consumers either for sale or at no charge--these are allowed to be made of plastic. But single use, compostable/biodegradable plastic bags are prohibited at the check out counter. The goal of environmental lobbyists is not to lessen the use of plastic, but to eliminate any kind of carry out bag and force people to use reusable bags, period.
The rules are all here on this website.
It brings up the question, are carry out bags really that bad? That above website will tell you why they are bad. I can understand why Sunnyvale thinks plastic bags are annoying after reading it. But is banning the bags the answer? It seems to me that besides our annoyance at the city for forcing stores and people to do it's bidding and eliminating a little bit more of our freedom, it may cause other problems.
From a lot of the reading I've been doing it's highly likely that the ban on plastic bags will increase waste. I guess it's good the city forces a charge for brown paper bags now, because paper bags use more energy to produce and create more waste than plastic bags, as they don't decompose in landfills and are heavier and bulkier than plastic bags. Plastic bag waste may also increase. Mostly because the bags we used to bring home from the grocery store were often recycled or used over again for another purpose: trash can liner, picking up pet waste, etc. I know I will go buy trash can liners to use for small garbage cans and my paper shredder when my stock of grocery bags runs out. I guess if I can find biodegradable bags that's a plus! But what if I have a "bag" of clothes for a friend? Am I going to pass them along in my needed reusable bag? Or my paper bag that will generate more waste?
Whether banning plastic bags solves one problem and creates another problem, or actually is beneficial to the environment in some way, it's the force of inconvenience that really bugs me. Never mind that retailers should have the right to determine what type of bags they give or do not give away to their customers. Never mind that people should have the right to determine whether or not they want to bring their own bags to be more eco friendly or receive complimentary bags from a store.
While doing more research on the internet I was intrigued by a biodegradable plastics website that offered the following information:
MYTH: According to many websites and environmental groups, plastic bag manufacturing uses a large percentage of the crude oil that is consumed in the US. Some suggest that eliminating plastic bags would reduce our dependence on oil.
TRUTH: American plastic bags are made from natural gas, NOT oil. In the U.S., 85 percent of the raw material used to make plastic bags is produced from natural gas.
Banning or taxing plastic bags will do nothing to curb oil consumption.
MYTH: Most proposed bag bans and taxes use statistics based on an assumption that plastic bags are only used once.
TRUTH: Studies have shown that 80-90% of the population reuse plastic grocery bags at least once. As trash bin liners, for picking up after pets, as lunch sacks, holding wet laundry, etc. Plastic bags are also very easy to recycle, and most grocery stores provide bag recycling bins.
MYTH: Ireland's 2002 tax on plastic grocery bags reduced plastic bag use by 90%.
TRUTH: This is partially true, but doesn't tell the whole story. Use of plastic grocery checkout bags declined, but sales of packaged plastic bags went up by about 400%, resulting in a net gain in plastic bags going to landfills. This shows that most people were reusing their plastic grocery bags for tasks where plastic bags are the best solution - trash can liners, picking up after the dog, wet garbage, etc.
MYTH: In 2008, San Francisco banned plastic bags, which resulted in a huge drop in bag use, and an increase in reusable bags.
TRUTH: Yes, since plastic bags were banned, stores stopped using them. But there was not a huge shift towards reusable bags. Instead, there was a huge increase in paper bag consumption. According to all studies, paper bags are responsible for many times the pollution and oil consumption than plastic bags. Paper is heavier, and not as durable, as plastic and requires far more resources to create, and creates much more air and water pollution. In addition to this, the San Fran Ban also practically eliminated bag recycling programs in the city, and after one year, plastic bag litter (the main reason for the ban) had actually increased.
MYTH: Plastic bags are a major source of litter, and banning or taxing bags will reduce litter.
TRUTH: Plastic bags make up less than one percent of all litter. Cigarette butts, fast food packaging, and food wrappers are much larger contributors. Banning one item that becomes litter does nothing to change the mindset of those that discard trash improperly. Many of the bags that end up as litter blow off of garbage trucks or out of landfills. Landfill operators and garbage haulers should be held accountable for items that escape containment.
Since plastic bags are responsible for less than 1% of all litter, banning or taxing them will have no impact. The solution to litter is public education, recycling programs, and proper disposal.
MYTH: Landfills are overflowing with plastic bags.
TRUTH: Plastic bags are easily recycled, but even if they do end up in a landfill, they take up a small fraction of one percent of landfill space. The average person uses about 326 plastic grocery bags per year, which by weight is about the same as a phone book or two. By comparison, the average person generates nearly one ton (2000 pounds) of garbage each year.
The major contributor to landfills is paper, wood and construction debris. Banning or taxing plastic bags would mean that more paper bags would get used, resulting in more waste going to the landfill.
MYTH: Taxing grocery bags or banning plastic bags will reduce greenhouse gasses and save the planet.
TRUTH: Since bags are a minimal contributor to all the problems associated with them (oil use, litter, landfill volume, etc.), bans and taxes simply won't do anything for the environment. And because the alternatives all require more fuel to create, recycle, and transport, eliminating plastic bags actually increases greenhouse gasses.
MYTH: Taxing grocery bags or banning plastic bags will reduce greenhouse gasses and save the planet.
TRUTH: Since bags are a minimal contributor to all the problems associated with them (oil use, litter, landfill volume, etc.), bans and taxes simply won't do anything for the environment. And because the alternatives all require more fuel to create, recycle, and transport, eliminating plastic bags actually increases greenhouse gasses.
Sources:
http://www.interplas.com/
http://www.apmbags.com/
*Don't know if these are the most reliable sources, but it certainly sparks more interest on the subject.
