Plastic Bags: Fiction vs. Fact – Rebuttals for Common Bag Ban Opposition Claims
Fiction #1) Jobs
Proposals to ban plastic bags amount to an attack on green American manufacturers and threaten the livelihood of tens of thousands of
working families. More than 10,000 people in the U.S. are directly employed by the plastic bag manufacturing and recycling industry, and
thousands more are indirectly employed.
Rebuttal: Plastic bag manufacturers typically make a wide variety of plastic bags, plastic film and/or other goods. The
manufactures are well diversified so any claim of significant job loss is unsubstantiated. Let’s work to create some truly green
jobs by helping to stimulate demand for more domestic reusable bags.
http://www.crownpoly.com/page.asp?p=21
http://www.polybagllc.com/products.htm
http://www.hilexpoly.com/products
http://www.enviro-tote.com/made_in_usa.html
Fiction #2) Health
Recyclable plastic bags don't pose the potential health risks associated with reusable bags.
Rebuttal: The claim that reusable bags could pose health risks has been debunked by Consumer Reports. The study that
caused the media stir was based on a small sample of 84 bags. While some bags did have bacteria, none were harmful strains,
“A person eating an average bag of salad greens gets more exposure to these bacteria than if they had licked the insides of the
dirtiest bag from this study.”
http://www.banthebagspdx.com/?p=473
Fiction #3) Economy
Misguided bans on plastic bags would weigh down the economy, increase costs and inconvenience consumers.
Rebuttal: Plastic bags are not free. Stores currently pay for plastic checkout bags and build their costs into the price of goods
sold. Most bags end up in landfills or are littered. There are also post-consumer costs as bags add to the charges at landfills
and taxpayer dollars are typically used to control litter such as plastic bags. Reusable bags are affordable, easily accessible and
convenient.
http://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/how-much-does-it-cost-to-clean-up-plastic-bags
Fiction #4) Recycling
Recyclable plastic bags are better for the environment than the alternatives.
Rebuttal: ‘Recyclable’ does not guarantee that something will be recycled. Very few plastic bags are actually recycled and the
industry has made it hard to get true plastic bag recycling rates. Plastic bags are typically a low-quality film that has little
secondary market value. Hilex Poly operates plastic bag recycling plants in the US but many bags are sent overseas for
recycling due to a lack of demand. Plastic bags often ‘gum up’ the machinery of more profitable recyclables such as PET
bottles, decreasing efficiency and increasing recycling costs.
Most carryout plastic bags you see at grocery stores are made from HDPE, High Density Polyethylene. The US EPA estimates
that in 2010 about 690 thousand tons of HDPE plastic ‘bags, wraps and sacks’ were generated in the United States, but only
4.3% of this total was recycled, a decrease from 6.1% in 2009. Illinois is one of the few states that provides a number
specifically for plastic bag recycling, which was 1.5% in 2009. The plastics industry often points to big percentage increases in
plastic bag recycling but with the baseline numbers so low, the true improvement is modest and underwhelming. Paper bags
biodegrade easily but they often take more energy and resources to produce and transport than plastic bags. Reusable bags
made from domestic materials are the best alternative for the environment.
http://plasticbaglaws.org/get-involved/plastic-bag-recycling/
http://www2.illinois.gov/green/Documents/Waste%20Study.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw_2010_data_tables.pdf
http://www.bagmonster.com/2011/12/plastic-bag-recycling-rates.html
For another good overview of all these issues and more, check out this Dec 2011 piece from activist Stiv Wilson…
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/12/28/defense-plastic-bag-bans?page=0%2C0