EU Plastic Bag Debate Highlights a Wider Global Problem

jones_supa writes "An EU citizen uses around 200 plastic bags per year. That's too much, says the EU. But wasting plastic bags is not just a European problem. Countries around the world are struggling with the issue, and it especially affects growing economies such as Asia. Some Southeast Asian countries don't even have the proper infrastructure in place to dispose of the bags properly. The problems for the environment are many. Plastic bags usually take several hundred years until they decay, thereby filling landfills, while animals often mistake the plastic for food and choke to death. Additionally they are a major cause of seaborne pollution, which is a serious hazard for marine life. This autumn, EU started ambitious plans which aim to reduce usage 80% by 2017. Some countries have already applied measures to slow plastic bag use: England has added a 5p charge to previously free bags, and in Ireland the government has already imposed a tax of 22 euro cents ($0.29) per plastic bag. The EU Environment Commissioner, Janez Potonik, said, 'We're taking action to solve a very serious and highly visible environmental problem.'"

Comments

Taxing is not going to fix the problem

[schwit1]

This gets fixed by developing a better bag. Better means comparable cost and strength, with handles and environmentally safe.

Jumping straight away to a tax makes it look like nothing more than a money grab.

Re:Taxing is not going to fix the problem

[TheRaven64]

remember to bring to the store

This is the big one. It's quite common to pop into a shop on the way home, and unless you're driving you won't have a bag with you. I'd love it if shops would give you a bag for a deposit and return the deposit when you returned the bag.

Re:Taxing is not going to fix the problem

[Sockatume]

Funnily enough the bacteria, salmonella etc. have a hard time getting through the plastic that my meat comes wrapped in, and my fruits and vegetables get washed to remove "store germs" from everyone who's been handling them anyway. It's amazing how people can make the most trivial change to their habits sound like an invitation for catastrophe.

You don't have to remember to take the bags if you have them with you; and it's no additional effort to remember to take the bags if you are of sufficient mental competence that you know you are leaving the house to go to the store, and not just wander about in a daze.

Re:Easy to ACTUALLY solve

[Jamlad]

You don't need to charge a premium, which does absolutely nothing to mitigate the problem of the bags which ARE thrown away, and only an idiot would believe that the majority of the population will take good care of plastic sacks because they cost them 5p a piece.

That's just it. It does work, and it did work, in Ireland. I remember when the fee came into place and the number of plastic bag littler noticeably dropped, because it wasn't the big supermarkets that was causing all the waste. It was the local corner shop, where people would go to pickup a pint of milk, or the paper and some smokes and forget to bring a bag with them. All of sudden having to pay 15%-25% extra on top of your pint of milk (I forget how much it was relatively) and most people just carried it home in their hand.

Re:Taking exception to a statement in the summary

[Sockatume]

The decay rate of polyethylene is on sturdier ground than the decay rate of modern concretes and steels, so I don't think there's much cause for pathological scepticism. Unless you're unduly concerned that your roof is about to fall in on your head.

Re:England

[FatLittleMonkey]

Errr, why don't you keep the rest in the boot (or trunk or regionally-named-subvehicular-enclosed-storage-area)? What value are they serving in your house?

Bring one in, still have 19 left in the boot. When the pile inside gets noticeable, take them back out to the car. (This is what I do. Although more like 6 than 20.)

Follow through

[onyxruby]

The problem with well intended programs is that most of them have a lack of follow through in their chain of events.

I recall when early in my career I worked in a fair size office building that had a cafeteria on the premises. In the cafeteria you were presented with an assortments of recycling options where you could recycle everything from organic waste to making sure that green glass was separated from brown.

When I worked the first shift I would watch as everyone dutifully separated everything just so to make sure they were being good for the environment. I was then transferred to second shift after a while at which point I noticed that every single evening the janitor took every single bin and dumped them all into the same garbage dolly.

The same thing happens with many recycling programs where the materials are simply shipped to Africa or China. They are then disassembled by hand as they value the money more than the computer, often by small kids and certainly without any kind of environmental controls. In order to put an end to e-waste you really have to start forcing in country recycling programs where the materials are completely broken down.

Re:United States

[ArsenneLupin]

3. Generic bags. Lets not use them as as an advertising platform. you want bags that you can use tastefully at any store.

I never had any problem pulling out a bag of a competing supermarket out of my pocket at checkout. Or a bag with father Christmas on it in the middle of the summer. Who the hell cares? Grow a skin!