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to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.Philadelphia will try again to ban plastic grocery bags
Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 3:35 pm - by Matt Campbell. Filed under: Community.
You might remember that plastic bags were introduced so we could save trees. The idea was to use less paper so fewer forests would be clear-cut. Now we’ve learned that plastic bags are filling up our landfills and the ones that don’t make it that far are blowing around our streets like urban tumbleweed.
This week, two Philadelphia city councilmen re-introduced a bill that would ban the distribution of plastic grocery bags. The ban was tried two years ago but retailers and chemicals companies successfully argued that the same results could be achieved through a recycling program and public education campaign.
The problem now is that Councilman Jim Kenney says there was never any follow through. ”They didn’t do any of it.” So, Kenney and Councilman Frank DiCicco now plan an outright ban on stores using those flimsy plastic grocery bags. Here’s the wording from the 2007 plastic bag ban.
Mandatory Use of Recyclable and Compostable Checkout Bags.
(a) No supermarket or pharmacy shall provide checkout bags other
than:
(i) recyclable paper bags;
(ii) compostable plastic bags; and/or
(iii) reusable bags.
Your options will be to bring your own canvas bag or cardboard box to haul your stuff home.
Here’s what we want to know from you.
Has anyone noticed if supermarkets tried to discourage plastic bag use?
Has anyone seen a big bin where you can return your plastic bags?
Is the “paper or plastic” debate, something that government should even be engaged in?
Related link:
February 6th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
We used to return plastic bags to stores like Wegmans and Whole Foods all the time. Now we use cloth and made-from-recycled-bottles bags so frequently that we don’t have enough plastic bags to bother recycling. We’ve found that once we got used to reusable bags, we couldn’t bring ourselves to take plastic — we’d rather buy another reusable bag or carry our stuff home unbagged than accept plastic or even paper.
February 6th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I try to bring my own canvas bags to the market, but on days that I forget, I ask for paper bags. Usually the checkout person looks at me strangely and makes a big show of having to go “find them”, and literally has to go somewhere else to get a stack of paper bags. Why don’t they have them readily available at the checkout? Then also they proceed to place the paper bags inside the plastic ones, as if I just wanted some reinforcement. I am also finding that most chain markets and drugstores seem to be surprised, and maybe a little annoyed, when you have your own bags.
Though I do see more and more people bringing their own, which is great. I find its easier to bring my own bags and use a self-check out line, or purchase a reusable bag if I forget mine at home, rather than ask for paper.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
For me the obstacle to re-usable bags is my simple inability to plan ahead. However, since I often end up at the store with a gym bag or such and I don’t often buy more than few items at a time, I can usually just use my gym bag. I’m sure that if I ever took the leap and supported my local public radio station with a $100 pledge and got four canvas grocery bags (wink wink), I’d do my best to remember them when it comes time to get the groceries. I’m also generally pretty good about bringing the used bags back to the store but I’ve gotten used to using them carry my lunch or bag up the scoopings from the cat litter box (of course, never to be used again).
There are, however, a couple sources of plastic bags that may be around for quite a while: Chinese food places and my favorite cheap but unhealthy eatery in South Philly - The Charcoal Pit. Not sure what the alternative will be for them since they have everything bagged and ready to go by the time I come to pick up.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I shop at Weavers Way where my option already is to bring a bag or use a box - I keep a bag of canvas/ cotton bags in my car and I have a chico bag (http://www.chicobag.com/) clipped to my purse so I’m almost never caught without my own bag.
I also shop at Costoc where bags are not even an option provided by the store.
I hate using plastic bags and avoid using them as much as possible (don’t need them in my house and don’t go anywhere I can recycle often) - which confuses a lot of cashiers (especially at Wawa - I don’t need a bag for a single sandwich, I can carry it.)
February 6th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
While some of the plastic bags make it into recycling bins, far too many end up blowing on the street or getting caught in trees. And honestly, I don’t know that “public education” would do anything to help. I think we have to go cold turkey. Philadelphians will find ways to adapt to the new reality. And plastic bags are a real scourge, well worth eliminating. Go to it, Council.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
For information about plastic bags and the environment as well as links to studies on their impact; surveys on plastic bags knowledge; and environmental shopping strategies, please visit…
http://www.thetruthaboutplasticbags.com
February 8th, 2009 at 9:40 am
While living in Ireland a few years ago, my American friends and I learned quickly not to use plastic bags. They were available in all stores, but each bag cost 35 euro cents, the equivalent at the time of about 53¢. The charge was a tax. Given the current state of our city government, this doesn’t seem like a bad idea at all.
February 9th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Please consider this…Plastic bags are much better for the environment than paper. Re-usable bags are bad for the economy. If people would put the same effort and discipline it will take to use re-usable bags into recycling plastic ones, everyone will win. There is a lot of misinformation about plastic bags out there. If recycled, plastic bags are the best option. Everyoone will win and American jobs will be saved. Please help the environment and the economy by recycling plastic bags.
February 10th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
[...] WHYY LINK Share and [...]
February 10th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Why are re-usable bags bad for the economy?
March 4th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
[...] Philadelphia will try again to ban plastic grocery bags [...]
March 21st, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Please do it Philly. To Patrick and anyone else who believes plastic is in anyway shape or form good for the environment… because recycling helps the economy: our economic system is killing the world! Recycling is good, sure, but it only encourages using more natural resources and is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Why do you suppose the cities of San Francisco, Chicago, and Seattle either banned plastic bags or now prevent public money from being used to purchase plastic bottled water? The bigger picture clearly shows the life cycle of plastic bags or a piece of PVC from birth to death is destroying our world by releasing persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Here’s a link to a study on “POPs carried by synthetic polymers in the ocean environment” http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18969998
We seriously need to rethink how we make things - like plastic bags so folks can be ‘productive’ while not killing the planet that supports them.
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:41 am
@Marcus. I know a lot of grocery stores are promoting the use of reusable canvas grocery bags. They work, but I think the Obama Adm should allow us to use those plastic postal service bins to haul our groceries. Those bins should be “shareware.”
March 25th, 2009 at 9:21 am
People who believe recycling is better than reduction or reuse need some re-education. There is a reason that the mantra is “reduce, reuse, recycle”. Why create a product that is specifically designed to be thrown away? The natural resources used for production and transport are completely wasted. Recycle plastic bags? Why don’t we just not make them in the first place and then we won’t have to recycle them?
How are re-usable bags bad for the economy? You think production of single-use plastic bags is good for the economy? If we stop making plastic and paper bags, the people currently employed will find jobs in a green economy making reusable bags and recycling other products.
We need to re-prioritize our efforts and wasting raw materials and energy for convenience has to stop.
Change your habits and bring the re-usable bag.
May 3rd, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I did notice bag-recycling bins pop up at Fresh Grocer and reusable bags go on sale in various places. But I still see a steady stream of people leaving most big grocery stores with all of their purchases double and triple-bagged in plastic.
I attended the City Council hearing on this issue on Fri, May 1, and it was really interesting. It basically boils down to people not wanting to change their habits, or thinking it will be too difficult to do so. Sooner or later we will all have to break out of the pattern of over-consumption and waste we are in, because it is killing the environment. If you consider all the hidden costs of waste removal, war to support the petroleum that goes into our plastic bags, etc., you will see that more sustainable, reusable bags are the answer. The community garden I am part of is selling Chico bags as a fundraiser - someone at the hearing made the point that reusable bags are now a fashion accessory and there is tons of work to be found in producing those higher quality, more durable, sustainable products that people will pay for. Industry needs to keep up with the times.
July 5th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Both paper and plastic are equally bad. It may not seem obvious but they are. The effort and resources that go into making paper bags is astounding. And what you get out of one tree is way less than you would expect. Plastic and making plastic is just a bad idea.
Thing is, people need them and they’re not going away. Using canvas bags and “bring your own box” is absurd. No one is going to do it except the hippies (I mean that in a nice way.)
Bottom line is, nothing will get done.
I think the best thing to do would be to allow Philadelphians to throw their plastic bags into the recycling bin. Last I checked we weren’t allowed to do that. ( Only sturdy plastic 1 & 2).
The supermarkets should blast a permanent campaign reminding us to recycle the bags.
If Philadelphia won’t accept plastic bags in the recycling program, then Supermarkets should have a bin so that we could bring them back so they could be taken to a recycling facility that would accept them.
July 18th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
I found a website for plastic bag recycling where one may search for locations to recycle plastic bags. However, it does not provide specific locations, so one has to contact the store of a chain to find out about the specifics…
http://www.plasticbagrecycling.org/plasticbag/s01_consumers.html
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:52 pm
with regards to the website suggested by Clear Perspective (above), it’s produced by Hilex Poly. They make plastic bags for a living.
August 8th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Mr. Stanowski-I wholeheartedly agree that plastic bags make waste and the resources used to produce them are destroying our environment. Nonetheless, the probability that people will bring back their plastic bags to be recycled is as low as people returning with their reusable bags. I, for one, have about 6 in the trunk of my car-all gifted to me by a variety of grocery stores. Apparently, I am in good company-judging by those standing next to me in the lines, wincing at how they, too, forgot their bags in the car.
Perhaps we need to start charging for plastic or paper bags. Or as they do in Europe, make the plastic bags so skimpy, that half a block away, your bag rips open and your groceries scatter all over the sidewalk. Trust me, this is a truly humbling experience.
Hitting the wallet and incurring some embarassing moments will surely remind people (like me) to carry their sturdy and cheap/free reusable bags.
July 28th, 2010 at 10:33 am
Shopping bags and carrier bags made of plastic have been popularly replaced by paper bags in many establishments.
Now, the those bags have been further delimited to recycled ones.
Unlike plastic bags however, that cause health and environmental repercussions because of the toxins from the plastic when disposed of and recycled improperly, those bags including recycle bags pose no threat to us and the environment.