Posted on 02/09/2012 12:26:32 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
CORPUS CHRISTI — Littering the landscape with plastic shopping bags is indeed a problem. The proposed solution — banning them — doesn't address the problem at its source, which is the people doing the littering. A bag ban only removes bags from their arsenal, much like a ban on so-called "assault" rifles can change the cosmetics of a law-abiding gun owner's home arsenal.
For an inanimate object, the plastic bag, like the assault rifle, has attained quite a reputation for villainy. Truth is, its penchant for premeditated environmental depredation is overblown. Lift an empty one to appreciate the tininess of its footprint compared to a paper bag or a Prius. The green reputation of those two products overlooks their manufacture, which does much heavier environmental damage than the manufacture of plastic bags.
Improperly discarded plastic bags make an unsightly spectacle of the landscape, which more easily camouflages other litter such as plastic drink bottles, plastic foam cups and cigarette butts that fly easily out of car and truck windows. The bags' environmental impact is smaller than their visual statement. Also, we tend to remember our outrage at the sight of those bags caught in trees and brush more readily than we remember how useful they are when used properly.
The ones that come back from the grocery store make it safely into the house, where they are reused as budget trash can liners, lunch bags and pet poop picker uppers. In the home environment the bags usually are disposed of safely in a trash can or — better — the recyclables bin. We have no idea how many bags can be wadded and stuffed into one bag for storage or recycling. We just know it's a lot.
Plastic bags from a convenience store or fast food restaurant are much more likely to end up as litter, which is no reason to ban convenience stores or fast food restaurants.
Plastic bags make a minuscule dent in landfill space and, according to a 2009 Wall Street Journal article, were found to be only a tiny fraction of the street litter in San Francisco, less pervasive than chewing gum and cigarette butts.
The heavily touted alternatives, paper bags and reusable shopping bags, pose their own problems. Paper bags are more costly and less environmental to manufacture, and aren't as strong as plastic — especially when wet. A joint study by the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University in California found that reusable grocery bags tended to harbor dangerous germs and that most users weren't aware that the bags needed to be washed to prevent this problem.
That doesn't negate the reusable bags as a solution. Preventing the germ problem by washing the bags is easy enough.
The local Surfrider Foundation promoted reusable bags at the Jan. 31 City Council meeting, also urging a plastic bag ban. The council is scheduled to discuss a ban at its Feb. 21 meeting.
While we share the sentiment that inspired the call for a ban, bags don't litter, people do. But since the bags, unlike guns, have no Second Amendment protection, maybe we'll find out whether a bag ban will solve Corpus Christi's trashy people problem.
It’s not so much the bags as it is the crap inside them that the dimwits through out the window. Litterers(sp), suck.
I’ve taken to calling empty lots around Midland TX, “bag farms”.
they appear to be the blooms of recent plantings!
And of course the root of the problem is that we are awash with people who haven’t been raised to believe that they should be responsible for anything. THey are not honorable, they are lazy and they think the rest of the world owes them a living. THAT is the real problem. And instead of addressing that our government wants to increase that problem and put a bandaid on the consequences, as if that will make any difference at all.
Yeah, we lived next to one of those “bag farms” in Midland years ago...I guess some things never change.
Is “ban” the only word liberals know?
Another punish the class law
It doesn’t matter what the item or activity is. If it is enjoyed, useful, productive, economical and/or improves, in any way, the American quality of life, liberals want it banned. If it is immoral, idiotic, unethical, illegal, unAmerican, profane, socialist, economically foolish, parasitic, perverse, and/or destructive to the American quality of life liberals promote it.
Is it not the libtards that ushered in the plastic bag to ‘save the trees’ & create less paper garbage in the first place?
Yes. And they’re the ones who decided the only drinkable water comes in plastic bottles — the same bottles that create unbelievable litter, especially along beaches and even in the middle of the ocean.
FREEP THIS POLL ***PING!*** FRmail me if you want to be added or removed from the Fearless Poll-Freeping Freepers Ping list. And be sure to ping me to any polls that need Freepin', if I miss them. (looks like a medium volume list) (gordongekko909, founder of the pinglist, stays on the list until his ghost signs up for the list)
Will it stop people from dumping off their old sofa’s and other large trash on the side of rural roads in the middle of the night?
I am old enough to remember what trash day was like before the invention of plastic bags. Rotting malodorous bits of food spilling out of metal trash cans, paper shopping bags of waste disintegrating when wet and spreading their goo everywhere, etc. Plastic bags were the best thing that ever happened to sanitation in this world.
If you want to put an end to littering, drag every school student out chain gang style twice a year and force them to clean up trash for 8 hours along the roads. They may not be doing “all” the littering, but they seem to have developed the attitude that it's somebody Else's job to clean up after them.
If that doesn't change attitudes, make littering a capital crime. /s
Poll: Should the city of Corpus Christi ban plastic bag useage? (sic)
No
116 (57%)
Yes
84 (42%)
total votes: 200
Vote Early... several times
The last time that a libtard said to me, when she re-used a cardboard coffee cup insulator “Just my little part to help save a tree” Thats when I stopped abruptly and looked at her in shock and asked “What do you have against tree farmers?” The look on her face was priceless.
Always preferred paper bags anyway!
Which one would be awfully happy to get a hold of one if lost at sea or on a deserted island.
Poll: Should the city of Corpus Christi ban plastic bag useage?
Thanks for your vote.
Response Percent Votes
No
58% 129
Yes
41% 90
total votes: 219
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.