Bans on Plastic Bags Left Hanging.

To the handful of loyal readers (thanks, family and friends!) I apologize for the delay in posting anything new, but life has, as usual, gotten in the way, and I’ve been forced to reprioritize for a while to figure out how to handle everything that comes up in a typical day with a growing baby.I’ve been meaning to write a quick note on something interesting which has already been shot down in Virginia: a ban on plastic bags.

They’re ubiquitous: the ones you get in spades when you go to the grocery store to pick up bagels and cheese (one bag for each item, probably!) On top of being very handy to line bathroom trash cans and take your lunch to work, they’re also found in prominent public places: as flapping, tattered flags in the tops of trees, wound up among logjams of river debris, lodged in the bellies of sea turtles which have mistaken them for a jellyfish dinner, etc.  In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that somewhere between 500 million and 1 trillion bags are used worldwide each year.

Virginia’s General Assembly introduced a bill that would ban the bags, for reasons ranging from the bags being general environmental nuisances to acquiescing to cotton farmers’ complaints that the bags mucked up the cotton bales. But the plastics lobby had their way with things in Richmond, and legislators killed the bill. Critics have also said that paper bags, the dominant alternative to plastic grocery bags, are a far more serious environmental concern and are more expensive to produce, besides. In a quick scan of reports by various media outlets, there hasn’t been too much mention of the growing popularity of reusable bags–themselves frequently made from recycled plastic. Plus, in other states where bills have been introduced to ban or tax the use of plastic bags by large retailers, legislators cite economic woes as a reason why consumers just won’t put up with a 5 cent fee for each bag they use at the store. C’est la vie, right?

Not so fast. A number of other places have managed to ban bags altogether. And we’re not just talking San Fransisco, but some bureaucratic behemoths: The BBC reported that at the beginning of 2008, China outlawed the bags, encouraging its citizens to return to more traditional methods of hauling groceries, like baskets and cloth bags. Bangladesh has also banned plastic bags, after studies showed that drainage passageways blocked by the bags were the “main culprits” in severe countrywide flooding in 1988 and 1998.

Another way of discouraging the use of plastic bags is a tax or fee on bags, and one of the longest-running success stories is in Ireland. The 15 cent tax per bag enacted in 2002 has reduced bag use by 90 percent, according to a BBC report. In the first year, the country raised €3.5 million.

For its part, New York state has enacted a law requiring big retailers to recycle their bags, and violators face a fine — a pretty paltry one, at that, slapping big retailers first with a warning, then a $100 fine, then up to a $500 fine for “knowingly and intentionally” violating the law. I’m sure Wal-Mart is shaking in its shoes at the prospect of parting with that kind of money.

Maryland is in on the game, too: Montgomery County state delegate Alfred Carr, Jr. introduced a 5 cent-per-bag tax on every bag–paper and plastic (excepting the tiny plastic ones)–given out by businesses across the state. No word yet on whether it will pass; the state’s General Assembly doesn’t adjourn for another month.

The prospects aren’t looking too good, as jurisdictions are just trying to survive the current recession.

And as a final note, news outlets across the globe have started sounding death knells for the recycling industry: recycled cardboard waste has gone from a high of $135 a ton last September to $35 a ton today. Plastic, which used to fetch 25 cents per pound, now only gets 2 cents a pound. Some municipalities’ recycling programs have even started to restrict the kinds of recyclables they’ll accept: some only take paper, some only plastic. Fox News put together a comprehensive little piece on how this bottoming out is affecting cities and towns across the country.