PlasTax?
2015 Earth Day Series Vol. 1
Should retailers begin charging consumers for the use of plastic bags?
When this blog topic came across my desk my immediate reaction to the question was, No, absolutely not! Followed by a silent rant about how this is America and we should be able to use plastic bags if we want. However, once I started to look into the facts I began to realize that the negative effects of single use plastic bags greatly outweigh the convenience. Fortunately for those of us who cannot afford to pay for bags every time we visit a store, because lets be honest that small charge can add up, there is an alternative solution. But first, let’s start with the facts.
• Over 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year worldwide.
• About 1 million plastic bags are used every minute. • A single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade.
• Plastic bags remain toxic even after they break down. • Every square mile of ocean has about 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in it.
• The average family accumulates 60 plastic bags in only four trips to the grocery store. • The extremely slow decomposition rate of plastic bags leaves them to drift on the ocean for untold years. These plastic bags cause the death of many marine animals (fish, sea turtles, etc.), every year when animals mistake them for food. • When plastics break down, they don't biodegrade; they photodegrade. This means the materials break down to smaller fragments which readily soak up toxins. They then contaminate soil, waterways, and animals upon digestion.
Sounds terrible right? Trust me; actually doing this research was even harder than reading those 8 facts. I am an animal lover and seeing so many animals die in our oceans each year because of plastic bags is not easy. It really makes you question, how much is the convenience really worth? In 2001 Ireland decided to put this question to the test and see how much people were really willing to pay for plastic, by creating the PlasTax. The PlasTax acknowledges that sometimes people will still use plastic bags, so rather than try to ban them; they began charging a nominal fee per bag at checkout. In a study by the Irish Department of the Environment it was found that plastic bag usage has dropped 93.5%. This breaks down to a drop from 328 to 21 bags per person each year!
Now, people in Ireland did not stop using plastic bags and start carrying everything by hand. Instead they began using alternatives like reusable bags and baskets. These can be found at almost any store in the United States today, so why aren’t we using them? With Earth Day just around the corner I encourage you all to stop think about how a small sacrifice from you can help to greatly improve our environment overall. Now think about how you would answer the question, Should retailers begin charging consumers for the use of plastic bags?
Works Cited
"dangers Of Plastic Bags ." Envirosax. Bellouco Pty Ltd. , N.d. Web. ., and "direct Manufacturer Of Reusable Bags." Plastic Bag Ban Map. Factory Direct Promos, N.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. Top Ten Facts about Plastic Bags in Our Oceans (n.d.): n. pag. Environment Massasschusetts. Web.
"Facts About the Plastic Bag PandemicShare." Www.reuseit.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
"Facts and Myths." Www.reuseit.com/. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
