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Chile Becomes First Country In Americas To Ban Plastic Bags (ewn.co.za)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Eyewitness News: Chile's Senate has passed a bill that will prohibit the use of plastic bags in stores, with a vote in their House of Representatives overwhelmingly in favor of the measure, with 134 supporting the bill and one abstention. According to The Independent, the new law would give large retailers one year to phase out the use of plastic bags, and smaller businesses two years. This makes Chile the first country in the Americas to ban plastic bags, and officially recognize how important such a ban would be in the effort to reduce unnecessary single-use plastic waste.
At first, the measure was only meant to ban plastic bags in Patagonia, but it was approved by both the senate and president for the entire country. The Association of Plastic Industries registered Chile as using 3,400 million plastic bags per year, or 200 per person. Telesur reports that the Minister of the Environment, Marcela Cubillos, said the country needs a larger cultural change for people to start replacing plastic with reusable bags.
At first, the measure was only meant to ban plastic bags in Patagonia, but it was approved by both the senate and president for the entire country. The Association of Plastic Industries registered Chile as using 3,400 million plastic bags per year, or 200 per person. Telesur reports that the Minister of the Environment, Marcela Cubillos, said the country needs a larger cultural change for people to start replacing plastic with reusable bags.
Paper bags? How did people survive before plastic bags were invented?
It isn't just cat litter. I also use the plastic bags for all the trash can liners in the house since the City wants all garbage bagged. They aren't as strong as a real trash can liner, but they work. The extras get donated to the church food bank for people to use to take home the stuff they pick up there. They aren't single use for a great many people, and having to buy higher grade plastic bags to replace their second use is crazy.
The problem, here, isn't the bags: It's the people who can't bother to dispose of them properly. Can we ban the lazy, inconsiderate people, instead?
Paper bags? How did people survive before plastic bags were invented?
It isn't like paper bags have no environmental footprint.
So people will whine about that. I'm not certain that recycled paper will be very good for grocery bags, because every time paper is recycled, the individual fibers get shorter and shorter. I think Trader Joe's uses recycled, and their paper bags are pretty weak.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Have gnu, will travel.
As a NYer I hate paper bags because roaches love them.
And I love plastic bags from the store because I put my garbage in them and each time I leave the apartment I throw out my trash.
This is far superior to reusable bags in which I must then BUY plastic garbage bags. Now that's retarded.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
The comments so far that I have read anout how this is bad are basically reduced to "This is an inconvinience for me." and then tryt to find another reason. So here is how it works in places where they are already doing this.
Instead of using a bag one time, you take a cotton bag that you can use many times over years. You take it with you when you go shopping. Sure, you will forget it a few times, but most people are not snowflakes and will start to remember, just like you remember to take your phone with you.
Where I live most people can not use the bag for trash anyway. You need to buy special bags for special garbage. So there is no gain there.
The single use items need to stop. I just bought 4 microSD cards and the amount of garbadge I got with it is immense. I get a SD sleeve (or whatever it is called) that I do not need. They are placed in a plastic that I do not need inside an even bigger plastic that is put inside a carton. That was the put inside a box that was filled with filling paper. 4 microSD cards Could have bneen send in an envelope, yet they decided to use the size of a small shoebox. I guess 99.9% waste.
I also use 1 use-based items, because I am as lazy as the rest (and perhaps even more so as I do this at work), yet I changed my behaviour in using plastic bags and I did not try to sweasel my way out of it and find excuses. I adapted my behaviour and after a month it was ok.
So now when I go shopping, I take two small nags that are both the size of a wallet with me. I always have at least one with me at all times in case I suddenly need it. Something like this and yes, they exist in other materials as well, but you need to search foir yourself as I am lazy and my shift is almost over.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
As a NYer I hate paper bags because roaches love them.
But it depends on the environment around them. Roaches just don't sprout on paper unless there's edible stuff (home trash, food particles, etc) around them.
And I love plastic bags from the store because I put my garbage in them and each time I leave the apartment I throw out my trash.
That's what I do.
This is far superior to reusable bags in which I must then BUY plastic garbage bags. Now that's retarded.
It is only far superior from a point of convenience, not environmental sustainability. Yeah, maintaining the environment carries costs.
With that said, a lot of these problems with plastic bags is the lack of a proper recycling policy.
In Japan, people are meticulous how they pack their garbage. Pet litter, diapers, chemicals, and toxic stuff on one bin. Kitchen garbage on another bin. Recyclable paper on another bin. Plastics, aluminum cans and glass on another bin. All other in yet another bin.
People do it and stick to it. Then government facilities sort all that shit out in whatever way is best.
When we go about banning plastic bags is because our garbage disposal systems suck and we have no way to contain the flood of plastics, be it in Chile or in the US. It's really that simple.
Banning plastics bags is an abdication that we cannot - technically and culturally - dispose of our garbage properly.
Better than nothing I guess, so hooray?