The California Bag Ban (Mediated #3)

The California Bag Ban (Mediated #3)

The question of paper or plastic in California will now only be found in the history books. On September 30^th, California governor, Jerry Brown, signed a law into effect that bans the use of single use plastic bags. 

For me this issue has been of minor interest for some time. Having lived over in China, I experienced quite the phenomenon of plastic bag pollution. Every street vendor served their food in little clear plastic bags. After people had finished their meal, they would then discard the bag in the street, thinking that it was someone else’s job to clean up the mess. This cultural behavior produced a huge amount of plastic waste at any place where bags could be pushed by the wind. I have wondered for years what the solution to this problem would be. 

In recent years, I saw the other side of this argument, when I did some consulting work for a plastics manufacturer that was producing a biodegradable plastic out of certain minerals. This plastic could be used just as people were used to, but it would almost completely degrade after only a few months.

Once I heard the news that California had a bag ban, I was intrigued and began to read more. The article I found was quite cogent. It presented that there were two sides to this argument and shared the beliefs of each side. The environmental side wishes to get rid of the use of plastics because it degrades and the manufacturers want to keep making their products. 

This article continued to give evidence for each side while staying away from bias or opinion on this issue. It further explained the law itself. I learned that the ban is not for every bag. It is only for grocery stores, but not meats and produce. Non-food items are also exempt. It will take effect in 2015 for large stores and then smaller stores the next year. 

The author further explains that the municipalities spend millions on cleanup efforts in order to take care of plastic bag problems. I can see how Americans have gained a lot of the same behavior attitude as the Chinese in that they think that it is someone else’s job to keep the place cleaned up.

Paper bags or reuse bags will be used in place of the plastic ones. The grocery stores will also be allowed to charge for these bags up to 10 cents a piece. The author of the bill believes that people will adopt quickly to the change and then we will have cleaner streets and parks.

The author also presented evidence about the plastic bag recycling programs. They explained the failure of these programs that were implemented years before the law was written and passed.

The idea has many other states and large cities looking to implement the same kind of ban. The manufacturers (American Progressive Bag Alliance) of plastic bags are still looking to fight this ban by forcing the decision to be put before the voters. I feel that the idea is good if they are proposing true debate of the issue which could further collaboration and solutions that are better than the ban. If this could be done then I would support that kind of effort. Otherwise it is just boiled down to an issue of opinion and perspective.