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November 29, 2007
Time to bag plastic?
By JIM WRIGHT
The "paper or plastic" question would be settled once and for all by a plan to make New Jersey the first state in the nation to outlaw plastic grocery bags.
New Jersey could join San Francisco, Paris, South Africa and other communities around the globe in banning plastic bags in an effort to protect the environment.
Stores larger than 10,000 square feet -- which includes grocery and big-box stores and many pharmacy chains -- would have to phase out plastic bags over the next three years under a measure being considered in Trenton.
"These bags are a serious environmental problem," said Assemblyman Herb Conaway, D-Burlington, a sponsor of the bill with Assemblyman Jack Conners, D-Camden. "Millions of them become litter that ends up in the soil and water and can harm wildlife. They take years to break down. They help fill up our landfills. And they take 12 million barrels of oil to a year make."
Plastic bags, which were introduced in 1977, account for 90 percent of the bags used in stores. An estimated 100 billion of them are used in the United States each year -- about 332 per person. Only about 4 percent are recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The bags are considered an environmental menace because they aren't biodegradable. Although many are reused to line trash cans, collect animal droppings or in other ways, they also end up in landfills, flapping in trees and in the ocean, where hundreds of thousands of whales, turtles and fish die each year after eating plastic.
Cities and countries around the world are grappling with what to do about plastic shopping bags.
Last week, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban plastic bags. Similar bans have been considered in Annapolis, Md., Baltimore and Philadelphia. In Maine, a legislator wants to charge a 20-cent fee on plastic bags. A measure that passed last week in Suffolk County, N.Y., promotes reusable totes.
Rwanda, Zanzibar and Paris have banned plastic shopping bags. Bangladesh outlawed the bags -- anyone caught with one faces a $2,000 fine -- after they got stuck in storm drains and caused havoc during monsoons. Ireland imposed a 15-cent tax on bags five years ago, reducing their use by 90 percent. Measures in Australia, meanwhile, have resulted in a 34 percent drop in plastic bag use in the past three years -- a savings of 2 billion bags.
The bans have been controversial because plastic bags are convenient and there are concerns that paper bags contribute just as much to the world's pollution woes. In Oakland, a coalition of retailers, plastic bag manufacturers and recyclers sued to stop an impending ban, saying that while outlawing plastic has become popular, it might not actually be the best choice for the environment.
Conaway said he got the idea of outlawing bags in New Jersey when he noticed how many had accumulated at his house. Then his wife arrived home one day with reusable bags from the store.
"I thought that was a good approach and it should be encouraged more broadly," he said. "Here's a readily available alternative to plastic bags that would have almost no impact on the lives of everyday consumers."
If his bill passes, large retailers would have to reduce plastic bag use 50 percent by Dec. 31, 2009, and stop using them entirely by the end of 2010. Retailers would have to provide recycling bins for plastic bags and sell reusable bags.
Conaway said he did not consider banning paper bags because he does not think they are as big of a problem.
"Trees are a renewable resource, and paper bags can be made to be reusable as well," he said. "Paper can play an important role without the negative environmental impacts."
The paper problem
However, there is considerable debate about the environmental impact of both plastic and paper. Producing either kind of bag requires energy and creates pollution. Because modern landfills are so compact and little air and sun are getting to the waste, paper isn't degrading either. In fact, some say plastic bags are the better choice -- because they take up less space in landfills and there are so many uses for them after they're brought home.
"Plastic bags can be a very environmentally responsible choice," said Keith Christman, senior director of packaging for the American Chemistry Council. "They reduce energy use dramatically compared to paper and compostable plastic bags, and they produce dramatically less greenhouse gas emissions throughout their life cycle compared to the alternatives."
Betty McLaughlin, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute, said the answer is reusable bags.
"What we ought to be doing is getting people to get into the habit of just bringing their own canvas bags with them," she said. "We're already seeing that more and more."
Retailers and the plastic bag industry are not warming to the proposed ban.
"I don't think government should be involved," said John Holub, president of the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association. "Many retailers are already doing this voluntarily, and we're concerned what effect government intervention might have on those voluntary programs."
ShopRite, Pathmark and Stop & Shop say they already recycle their plastic bags and sell reusable bags. ShopRite, A&P and Pathmark also offer customers two cents every time they use their own bags. Whole Foods offers 10 cents.
"We think there's a real opportunity to reduce the number of plastic bags consumers use, through the programs we have in place and through education," said Karen Meleta, spokeswoman for ShopRite. "It's a real consumer-behavior issue. I'm not sure that legislation, although well-intentioned, will address it."
As for the paper-vs.-plastic debate, Meleta said many customers prefer plastic: "The plastic bag has a handle, it's easier to carry, and it can be used for other purposes," she said.
In North Jersey, shoppers had mixed reactions.
"Why would they want to ban plastic bags?" asked Bill White, a Hackensack resident. "They make my life easier."
Alison Bond of Teaneck said that "environmentally speaking, the bags are not great, but I do reuse them -- I pack my son's lunch in them."
But Leonard Lovecchio, a South Hackensack resident, believes the ban is a good idea. "I do a lot of fishing and I see them in the water," he said. "They're a nuisance."
Conaway's bill does not have a Senate sponsor. That makes passage a long shot in the current legislative session, which ends in January. But Conaway remains unfazed.
"If it doesn't pass this term, it'll be one of the first ones out of the chute when the new Legislature starts up," he said.
E-mail: wright@northjersey.com
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Paper or plastic?
Plastic bags account for roughly 90 percent -- 100 billion -- of the bags Americans use every year. Governments at every level are attempting to reduce the use of those bags. But a look at both paper and plastic shows the choice is a tossup. A better alternative may be reusable cloth bags, currently the choice of only 1 percent of shoppers.
Manufacturing edge: Plastic. It takes four times more energy to make paper bags. Plastic bags also generate considerably less air pollution, waterborne wastes and industrial solid-waste during manufacture. For every seven trucks needed to deliver paper grocery bags to a store, only one is needed to carry the same number of plastic bags.
Materials edge: Neither. Some 14 million trees are cut down to make 10 billion paper grocery bags Americans use each year. But it takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce 100 billion plastic bags. While paper is better because trees are a renewable resource, reducing the use of plastic could mean more forests will be cut down.
Litter edge: Paper. Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales and other marine mammals die every year from eating discarded plastic bags mistaken for food. Plastic bags are among the 12 items of debris most often found in coastal cleanups.
Solid waste edge: Plastic. They're lighter and they take up less space in landfills. Because landfills are so compact and only a little air and sunlight reach the waste, both paper and plastic bags degrade at the same slow rate.
Recycling (slight) edge: Paper. They are recycled at a far higher rate. But it takes 91 percent less energy to recycle a plastic bag.
Sources: N.J. Assembly bill 4555, Society of Plastics Industry, Federal Office of the Environment, Center for Marine Conservation, American Forest and Paper Association.
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