There is a bill in Philadelphia City Council that was struck down last year but has reared it's ugly head once more: A bill banning plastic bags and another that would institute a tax of 25 cents per plastic bag you get from a store.Environmentalists are praising this bill; I am not.
Who, exactly, does this bill help? Many site the best reason to institute this ban is because they cause waste and aren't disposed of properly. Really... that's about it. These people see a city where everyone carries tote bags all the time, and buy small things like books and bottles of water.
Sadly, their view of reality seems incredibly limited.
Think about your average day at work. During your day, you most likely go out and get lunch from a corner deli or a fast food restaurant. Most of these places use plastic bags. So your kick run to Taco Bell for a taco and some nachos jumps from a mere $2 to $2.25. Multiply that by 5, and you've just paid $1.25 more for what should be free. Or maybe you go to the store and buy a few things, maybe some soap, a soda, and magazine. You don't have a tote bag, so your stuck paying 25 cents for a bag. Or what about a simple run to the corner store for something for dinner? Again, another fee! How about this simple fact: What if you make a fairly large purchase from a store, say for a poster frame that wouldn't fit in a tote bag? Again, a fee for something that should be free!
Really, this is just silly. Why do we need another law banning something? Why are we having government take the roll of babysitter to force us to do something we should be doing ourselves?
What makes more sense is for letting the owners of stores make their own rules about plastic bags. IKEA and Aldi have already made rules at their stores about charging people for plastic bags, with fees normally only 10 cents. I once went to the store with my own tote bag, my own ugly, unattractive, 100% recycle from plastic tote bag, to get groceries from the corner store. Because I did, the man who ran the store gave me $1.00 off my $30 purchase. If more stores did this and promoted it, we wouldn't have this problem!
This move is nothing more than a smack in the face of Philadelphians everywhere! Instead of cutting government waste and making the local city government work more efficiently, instead of eliminating programs that need to be cut, instead of making legislation that would save Philadelphia money, our City Council foolishly thinks that instituting a fee in the name of "being green" is the right thing to do! They hide behind a shield of false environmentalism in order to fill city coffers, and I say enough!
Instead of having government as out babysitter and nickle and dimming us for everything, why don't we instead convince businesses to switch? Wouldn't the time and effort to persuade, push, and enforce this idiotic legislation be better used to convince local businesses and large chains to do it instead? If we're already seeing a move in the private sector to make things better, why not let them do what they need instead of imposing the will of a select few?
Feel free to look at the legislation yourself:
Mandatory Use of Recycled and Compostable Checkout Bags
http://webapps.phila.gov/council/detailreport/?key=9141
Advanced Recovery Fee (Green Fee) for Disposable Shopping Bags
http://webapps.phila.gov/council/detailreport/?key=9142
(Photo thanks to "The Kids Got Moxie")
5 comments:
This is done all over Europe and it's amazing. It not only makes people more responsible for their own stuff but reminds them to take part in their environment everyday. The idea isn't to make you spend an extra .25c at the store, it's to make you spend 5.00 on a bag once and then use it forever! You are portraying the image of the typical wasteful American. Just because plastic bags were free for us once, does that mean they should be free forever? Please remember that you sound like a spoiled brat when you complain about things like this. Buy a really cool bag that you love and help out the earth a little. After all, she provides you with water and oxygen all day every day.
but.. by the by... i agree with a lot of other things you write about :)
Thanks, but this was pointed out and I'm going to put it into the article:
"The industry says the fee would derail recycling efforts, penalize the poor, and ultimately harm the environment because most stores would simply shift from plastic to paper, which it contends has a bigger environmental footprint."
My entire point, though, is why ban something when simply educating people could be more effective? If stores actually just asked if you wanted a bag or not, and most do, that saves a bag right there.
I already carry a messenger bag and I don't really mind. But I'm taking abut little things, like grabbing a quick meal and being charged extra for the "convince" of a bag.
It's just irritating seeing the cost of living, of sheer day-to-day things, being nicked-and-dimmed by a local government that has decided to break the law over and over again to push their own personal agenda in the name of what they view to be "public well being", especially when its incredibly obvious this time its being dowe just to raise funds during a struggling economy.
Mark,
I disagree with everything you are saying. I will admit that when i made the transition from getting plastic bags at the checkout to bringing my own, there were a few times that i would forget and it was annoying to have to pay the extra cost. BUT...I have to say that is exactly what put the fire under my ass to remind me to bring my bag from home (that, paired with being educated from EVERY direction...its hard to not be aware of the green movement).
Anyway, I have a few different sized bags. Several for large shopping trips and then smaller ones for quick little trips. I've also gotten really good at using no bag at all when i can get away with it!! Also, three items like soap, soda and a magazine are not hard to carry without a bag!!
What I would like you to clarify for me is...how, exactly is this law penalizing the poor?? Everyone has bags...poor people have bags (I don't have a lot of money and the times i've had to pay for a bag was when i was too lazy or forgetful to bring my own bag...NOT because i'm broke!!! I'm sorry but I think you are standing on the wrong soapbox.
That kinda goes back to my "Ideal society" thing I said, where the people who favor this "dream of a world where everyone carry tote bags all the time."
I forgot to make a correction to this article; that this law would, in fact, only effect grocery stores IF enacted. Or, at the very least, the tax portion would. So, that said, my argument is flawed to that degree.
That said, its a bad idea because it puts the roll of government back to babysitter, and City Council as it stands has enacted as many stupid laws as possible to impose their will.
My argument is pretty sound: Why enact legislation to mandate something when simply asking businesses to do this would be more effective? Why not educate people about this? Offer incentives to do it?
There are a host of ideas better than passing another inane law.
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