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There is something missing from this otherwise typical bustling cityscape.
There are taxis and buses. There are hip bars and pollution. Every other person is holding a cellphone to his ear. But there are no plastic bags, the ubiquitous symbol of urban life.
In a determined attempt to deal with litter, Ireland passed a plastic bag tax in 2002 – now 22 euro cents, about 33 U.S. cents – at the register if you want one with your purchases. There was an advertising awareness campaign. Then something happened that was bigger than the sum of these parts.
Within weeks, there was a 94 percent drop in plastic bag use. Within a year, nearly everyone bought reusable cloth bags, which they now keep in the office and the back of their cars. Plastic bags became socially unacceptable – on par with wearing a fur coat or not cleaning up after your dog…
Before the so called plas tax, Ireland was struggling with a plastic bag problem that is typical in much of the world. Frank Convery, a professor at University College Dublin and head of ENFO, Ireland’s environmental information service, said: “You’d be driving in the Irish countryside and the sides of the roads were covered in plastic – when the foliage dropped off in the fall what was left on branches was a bunch of old plastic bags waving in the wind. That’s gone and people love it.”
Do Americans care what their neighborhood looks like?
So, 20 years or so we went from paper to plastic in order to save trees, even though they were environmentally safer. Now, we’re going from plastic to cloth in order to save the planet, even though the energy costs are higher for the cloth bags. it all sounds a lot like the egss are bad for you, then eggs are good for you thing.
It all comes down to people wanting to feel better about themselves and their place in the world, and wanting feel like they are better than those that aren’t jumping on board this latest movement. i.e see South Park Pruis episode…
“You’d be driving in the Irish countryside and the sides of the roads were covered in plastic”
What a bunch of slobs! maybe they just needed some laws on littering?
#1 – too bad your first sentence is full of crap.
We went from paper to plastic because supermarkets and department stores saved half a penny. The wonderful world of media went along because it became an easier and cheaper place to advertise.
And you believe all their lies. No surprise.
Eggs are good for you…. But only the white part.
#1 – Angus – Now, we’re going from plastic to cloth in order to save the planet, even though the energy costs are higher for the cloth bags.
The cloth bag is used more than once to carry home food from the store. And in addition to this, oil isn’t a renewable resource, so why waste it on driving and bags?
Ahh social engineering at its best!
[Fixed. – ed.]
#1 Angus –
The shift from paper to plastic was not one done in order to save trees, it was done by merchants because storing and transporting plastic bags is much easier than dealing with paper bags. It is a matter of convenience for the merchants.
There a plenty of examples of things that we have done in the past, that in hindsight we look at and say “how we could be so dumb”? Take for example the lead used to raise the octane of gasoline. You know the epidemic of Alzheimers that we seem to be experiencing… guess what is turning out to be the leading cause? Lead. But when the proposal to remove lead from gasoline was discussed industry cried too costly, to difficult, it will hurt America’s competitiveness.
Plastic is forever. It will exist in it’s fundamental form for generations to come. Paper trees are a crop just like any other crop. Paper degrades very quickly when exposed to moisture.
In regards to the original article, it’s nice to see that people are doing the right thing just because it’s the right thing to do, although saving money may have been the initial incentive.
Make gasoline $10 / gallon and see how quickly we shift to zero emissions vehicles and start the long overdue environmental cleanup of the air.
So, I’m a bit confused. We can use paper now? I hate the stupid plastic bags anyways. They rip easily, won’t hold as much as paper, and they litter the ground all over the place, especially on a windy day. I think a nice compromise would be for stores to offer paper, or to change 75 cents for a reusable bag of reasonable size. All I’m saying is offer a reasonable alternative, and you won’t need to have the government try to regulate by taxation. Just like cigs, either outlaw them or keep them.
How Hard Can It Be?
I’ve wondered about this for years as I schlepped plastic containers to the dump. I noticed unsold cloth bags for sale at some stores, and told myself “gee, I should get one of those. Then I wouldn’t have all those idiotic plastic ones clogging up wastebaskets” (er, dustbins). But like most lazy people, I just went with the flow.
But hey! I just realized I HAVE a cloth one in a drawer, probably got it from some promotion. Today, I’m off to the store with it…Goddamn, I even feel sort of ‘liberated’!!
(now you watch…the plastics industry is going to piss and moan to high heaven about lost revenues and jobs. As we used to say in the 70’s… GET REAL dammit!!)
“All politics is local”, said Tip O’Neill as he left the US Congress.
(and I’ve heard there are some nice sturdy ones made of hemp, too)
Same in the Bay Area – cloth bags are promoted, no plastic available in many stores (eg, Longs and Whole Foods).
Paper is used because 1) it’s recycled, and recyclable. 2) most people I know around here reuse it to hold said recycling before it goes in the recycling bin…
The cloth bags are awesome btw – I have several and they are REALLY useful outside of shopping too.
Stupid question: Is there a place to buy these cloth bags cheap? The grocery stores tend to over price them.
‘Round here the grocery stores (Walmart, Kroger, Harris Teeter, and Publix) are letting them go for $0.99. Kroger is even giving folks $0.4 per bag every visit as incentive.
Environmentalists just hate freedom. They want to force everyone else’s life to be a little more miserable to make themselves feel better.
Let’s throw in another change that might help. Let’s put a wattage limit on computers. Why use 800 watt power supplies? All to play a few games. Let’s limit power supplies to save energy, and let people play games outside.
There’s only one way to beat the energy waste of the food distribution system. Grow, process, bake as much as you can yourself and stop urban sprawl so that food depots and other necessities are within a short distance of where you live… you know… self sustaining communities.
That will never happen in more than a small percentage of any population, and our planet (or we) will succumb to the filth we increasingly produce and wallow in. If there ever was a creator, he made the most selfish, focked up, dumb-ass waste of gray matter species imaginable… in his own image no less. No wonder he got himself nailed to a cross.
Good for them I use my plastic bags as trash bags.At least that cuts down the plastic usage,and keeps plastic bags at the dumps
What? And interfere with plastic manufacturers’ Gawd-given right to sell the public what it “wants”?? Commies!
#15–JimR==you hit on one of my favorite hypotheticals.
Imagine if the GOUSA “outlawed” food preservatives except for specialized products?
What would the result be?
Fun to think through the pro’s and con’s. But, small/local/distributed means of production can’t put together large political donations as can the large multi-national corporations===so forget all the pro’s==it will never happen.
Bobbo, couldn’t you you can still have the giant multinationals providing the goods, just limit the surface area of human occupation? Construct buildings so that a floor could be added at any time as population increases. I have a detached house bordering on the countryside and I would dread living in a condo… but the alternative is eventual extinction as we claim every square inch as ours. It’s only a matter of years before my view of a natural beautiful countryside will become a view of brick and cement and sewer pipes. Why does a country HAVE to grow in population? Why does the GNP have to grow? One revolves around the other, but if you limited both… ah forget it. Live your life and enjoy it. Nothing is stopping the monster we’ve created. Some near future generation will finish it off and lick the plate clean. URP.
Sorry, I’m just in that kinda mood today. Winter blues. Someone tell me a joke. 😉
Joke for JimR.
Bush said while he was running as a candidate:
“You could say that I am a god steward of the environment.”
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Stop me now, my head hurts I’m laughing so hard!
Good one Awake. It would be even funnier if when he was running as a candidate, he ran off a cliff.
Here’s one…
The Taco Bell Chihuahua, a Doberman and a Bulldog are in a bar having a drink when a great-looking female Collie comes up to them and says, “Whoever can impress me with a sentence containing liver and cheese, can have me.”
So the Doberman says, “I love liver and cheese.”
The Collie quickly replies, “That’s not good enough.”
The Bulldog says, “I hate liver and cheese.”
The Collie shakes her head and replies, “That’s not creative enough.”
Finally the Chihuahua says, “Liver alone . . . cheese mine.”
#19–JimR==why do we need growing population? Because just about all of our social spending programs are just still failing ponzi schemes.
Pro’s to no articifical preservatives and/or freezing of foods==decentralized food processing and sales. Great stimulus for local economies and jobs that cannot be outsourced. Healthier food. Really–the only downside is that there would be a decrease in variety and super large corporations would find it harder to compete against Mom and Pop outfits.
#21–best three dogs walk into a bar joke I have every heard. Not quite as funny as which is the smartest breed, but close.
JimR – Would you enjoy a dab of old-fashioned Chinese humor?
—
Ling, a vagrant minstrel, insinuated himself into the household of a great and influential mandarin. One night, he made off with a thousand of gold yuan and a jade lion beyond price. This theft so unhinged his former employer that the old man’s hair turned snow white in one night, and for the remainder of his life he did little other than sit on the dusty floor of his chamber, listlessly plucking at his p’ip’a and chanting, ‘Was that not a most curious minstrel?’
—
That one always cracks me up… 🙂
Bobbo, hmmm, I would go with no artificial preservatives for sure, but no freezing? The growing season here is 3-4 months tops. I need preserved food for 9 months of the year.
Three headed Cat, I don’t get it and I’ve read it through a bunch of times. Now I’m really depressed. 🙂
Don’t feel bad, JimR – Chinese humor is, shall we say, an acquired taste…
One innovative store that has set up shop in the USA is Aldi, a german grocer. They don’t have free bags, you must bring your own cloth bags. If you want plastic bags you must purchase them. The shopping carts also require a quarter, and to get your quarter back you must put your own shopping cart away.
Well thats only a small start – check this out!
http://tinyurl.com/2xx234
“A “plastic soup” of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said.”
Swell…
Cheers