A piece of good news ...
Plastic bags are a scourge on the globe. From the plastic ocean in the Pacific, to the stomachs of choked birds, to the fences of highways, the trillion (or more) of annual bags are infrequently reused or recycled and often don't even make it into the dump.
Facing increasing levels of pollution on the Anacostia River, with a high percentage of collected trash being a rainbow of colors of plastic bags, the Washington, DC, City Council voted yesterday to institute a five-cent fee for bags to help drive reduced use and, as well, to help raise funds for the cleaning of the Anacostia River.
Council member Jack Evans said the bill can be viewed as a "first step" toward the long-term goal of severely limiting plastic bags and bottles nationwide.
"There is not a river I go to, a park I go, a stream I go to, where I don't see plastic bags everywhere," Evans (D-Ward 2) said. "The fact is our country is becoming inundated with plastic bags and plastic bottles. . . . This is the first step to try to address this issue."
The bill, passed unanimously by the 13-member Council, actually has a thoughtfully innovative element (that I, at least, haven't noted implemented elsewhere): rewarding businesses for giving discounts for those who bring in their own bags.
Under the plastic bag legislation, called the Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Act, businesses would keep a penny for each bag sold, and the other four cents would go into a fund to clean up the Anacostia. If businesses offer a discount to consumers who bring reusable bags, they would get to keep two cents for each bag sold.
DC also has, for awhile, been building up with this via, for example, giving out free reusable bags.
Who stood up to fight this step toward a sustainable DC?
The plastics industry, several local businesses and the D.C. Republican Party opposed the tax. Critics said it would disproportionately affect the city's poorest residents. The city GOP sent out a statement yesterday accusing the council of imposing a $9.5 million tax on District residents.
Isn't it nice to see that the GOP is so concerned about the city's poor?
Re the Anacostia River, see Earth Conservation Corps.
Of course, the real answer to the question "paper or plastic" is neither: reusable cloth (or recycled plastic) bags.
Daily Kos "Plastic Bag" diaries have included:
Bcgntn's excellent The Price of Paper or Plastic building on San Francisco's 2007 decision to ban plastic bags. (See also Eddie C's San Francisco’s leadership in a throwaway society.)
KoNko China Bans Disposable Plastic Bags, which is important on multiple levels, in part to highlight that, in some ways, China is on a green path forward -- and that we need to figure out how to emphasize this there (and in our own society/societies) over polluting paths/options.
A Siegel, Govt action can spark social change: Plastic bags extinct in Ireland lays out how a combination of a 33 cent fee and awareness campaign led to a plummeting demand for plastic bags in Ireland, essentially overnight.
A Siegel, "Take your Canvas Bags": Viral Videoing to Change the World which discusses the overall implications of plastic bags.
LaughingPlanet's Plastic Island: Twice the Size of Texas & Growing (And, a highly recommended article: Our oceans are turning into plastic. Are we?)
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