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NPR Admits Plastic Bag Bans Pointless
Posted on 4/23/19 at 10:21 am
Posted on 4/23/19 at 10:21 am
NPR Admits Plastic Bag Bans Pointless, Paper & Cloth Totes Worse For Environment
As the enviro-wackos continue down the doom-and-gloom tropes, and cities move to ban plastic grocery bags, even NPR concedes that these bags aren’t nearly as damaging to the environment as the greenies would have us believe. What’s more is that the alternatives that the greenies promote, paper bags and reusable cloth totes, may be even more harmful to the planet.
Taylor recently published a study of bag regulations in California. It’s a classic tale of unintended consequences.
Taylor found these bag bans did what they were supposed to: People in the cities with the bans used fewer plastic bags, which led to about 40 million fewer pounds of plastic trash per year. But people who used to reuse their shopping bags for other purposes, like picking up dog poop or lining trash bins, still needed bags. “What I found was that sales of garbage bags actually skyrocketed after plastic grocery bags were banned,” she says. This was particularly the case for small, 4-gallon bags, which saw a 120 percent increase in sales after bans went into effect.
Trash bags are thick and use more plastic than typical shopping bags. “So about 30 percent of the plastic that was eliminated by the ban comes back in the form of thicker garbage bags,” Taylor says. On top of that, cities that banned plastic bags saw a surge in the use of paper bags, which she estimates resulted in about 80 million pounds of extra paper trash per year.
Plastic haters, it’s time to brace yourselves. A bunch of studies find that paper bags are actually worse for the environment. They require cutting down and processing trees, which involves lots of water, toxic chemicals, fuel and heavy machinery. While paper is biodegradable and avoids some of the problems of plastic, Taylor says, the huge increase of paper, together with the uptick in plastic trash bags, means banning plastic shopping bags increases greenhouse gas emissions. That said, these bans do reduce nonbiodegradable litter.
What about reusable cloth bags? We know die-hard public radio fans love them! They’ve got to be great, right?
Nope. They can be even worse.
A 2011 study by the U.K. government found a person would have to reuse a cotton tote bag 131 times before it was better for climate change than using a plastic grocery bag once. The Danish government recently did a study that took into account environmental impacts beyond simply greenhouse gas emissions, including water use, damage to ecosystems and air pollution. These factors make cloth bags even worse. They estimate you would have to use an organic cotton bag 20,000 times more than a plastic grocery bag to make using it better for the environment.
The most environment-friendly way to carry groceries is to use the same bag over and over again. According to the Danish study, the best reusable ones are made from polyester or plastics like polypropylene. Those still have to be used dozens and dozens of times to be greener than plastic grocery bags, which have the smallest carbon footprint for a single use.
LINK
As the enviro-wackos continue down the doom-and-gloom tropes, and cities move to ban plastic grocery bags, even NPR concedes that these bags aren’t nearly as damaging to the environment as the greenies would have us believe. What’s more is that the alternatives that the greenies promote, paper bags and reusable cloth totes, may be even more harmful to the planet.
Taylor recently published a study of bag regulations in California. It’s a classic tale of unintended consequences.
Taylor found these bag bans did what they were supposed to: People in the cities with the bans used fewer plastic bags, which led to about 40 million fewer pounds of plastic trash per year. But people who used to reuse their shopping bags for other purposes, like picking up dog poop or lining trash bins, still needed bags. “What I found was that sales of garbage bags actually skyrocketed after plastic grocery bags were banned,” she says. This was particularly the case for small, 4-gallon bags, which saw a 120 percent increase in sales after bans went into effect.
Trash bags are thick and use more plastic than typical shopping bags. “So about 30 percent of the plastic that was eliminated by the ban comes back in the form of thicker garbage bags,” Taylor says. On top of that, cities that banned plastic bags saw a surge in the use of paper bags, which she estimates resulted in about 80 million pounds of extra paper trash per year.
Plastic haters, it’s time to brace yourselves. A bunch of studies find that paper bags are actually worse for the environment. They require cutting down and processing trees, which involves lots of water, toxic chemicals, fuel and heavy machinery. While paper is biodegradable and avoids some of the problems of plastic, Taylor says, the huge increase of paper, together with the uptick in plastic trash bags, means banning plastic shopping bags increases greenhouse gas emissions. That said, these bans do reduce nonbiodegradable litter.
What about reusable cloth bags? We know die-hard public radio fans love them! They’ve got to be great, right?
Nope. They can be even worse.
A 2011 study by the U.K. government found a person would have to reuse a cotton tote bag 131 times before it was better for climate change than using a plastic grocery bag once. The Danish government recently did a study that took into account environmental impacts beyond simply greenhouse gas emissions, including water use, damage to ecosystems and air pollution. These factors make cloth bags even worse. They estimate you would have to use an organic cotton bag 20,000 times more than a plastic grocery bag to make using it better for the environment.
The most environment-friendly way to carry groceries is to use the same bag over and over again. According to the Danish study, the best reusable ones are made from polyester or plastics like polypropylene. Those still have to be used dozens and dozens of times to be greener than plastic grocery bags, which have the smallest carbon footprint for a single use.
LINK
Posted on 4/23/19 at 10:23 am to Smeg
quote:
Taylor found these bag bans did what they were supposed to: People in the cities with the bans used fewer plastic bags, which led to about 40 million fewer pounds of plastic trash per year. But people who used to reuse their shopping bags for other purposes, like picking up dog poop or lining trash bins, still needed bags. “What I found was that sales of garbage bags actually skyrocketed after plastic grocery bags were banned,” she says. This was particularly the case for small, 4-gallon bags, which saw a 120 percent increase in sales after bans went into effect.
I love reading about shite like this
Posted on 4/23/19 at 10:24 am to Smeg
Most people do not understand that plastic shopping bags were "born" as a way to utilize plastic resins that were not good enough for anything else but it was either dispose of the resin (as a hazardous waste in many cases) or find a use for it...
Posted on 4/23/19 at 10:27 am to Smeg
"The only reason human beings are even on this planet is because the Earth wanted plastic and couldn't make it itself" George Carlin
Posted on 4/23/19 at 10:27 am to Smeg
Los Angeles is eat up with this, and probably the rest of CA too.
Posted on 4/23/19 at 10:29 am to Smeg
I can't wait for the pointlessness/uselessness of the plastic straw ban study.
Posted on 4/23/19 at 10:31 am to Smeg
I went to friend's house this weekend. While they are not "preachy", they are PROUD that they request paper grocery bags (when the reusable tote is full and they need another bag).
Well, we went for dinner and we are very casual. So, we are there at prep time. They empty the paper bags and then put those bags INTO the plastic lined garbage can. So, the biodegradable bag was used once and stuffed into a PLASTIC bag. I chuckled.
Well, we went for dinner and we are very casual. So, we are there at prep time. They empty the paper bags and then put those bags INTO the plastic lined garbage can. So, the biodegradable bag was used once and stuffed into a PLASTIC bag. I chuckled.
Posted on 4/23/19 at 10:33 am to Smeg
quote:
NPR Admits Plastic Bag Bans Pointless
now do straws
Posted on 4/23/19 at 10:34 am to Smeg
How bad for the environment is a tote bag I get For say donating to a local non-profit radio station?
Posted on 4/23/19 at 10:34 am to Smeg
I wanna send this to my dumb arse sister in law so bad!!! She is always virtue signaling about different environmental bullshite and shames people for using plastic bags.
Posted on 4/23/19 at 10:36 am to Smeg
Plastic everything should be banned
Posted on 4/23/19 at 11:04 am to Ancient Astronaut
Need to know how much energy goes into making one of those 'eco friendly' tote bag made from 2 liter plastic bottles. Haven't seen that stuff in a while so I'm guessing they are quietly going away.
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