Amidst China’s myriad of troubles, something good happened today; China banned ultra thin plastic bags. Now, a customer must either purchase a thicker bag (1-3 cents) or bring their own bags.
China uses a trillion plastic bags a day costing 37 million barrels of crude oil. Many of the bags find their ways into streams, streets and the ocean.
Ideally, it seems, that this will encourage (or force) people to bring their own reusable bags to the grocery store which ultimately will save everyone money and save the environment. Not being stereotypical, but Chinese people are you know . . . cheap.
I think the real problem is changing people’s perceptions of what is right. In my mind, it’s not worth bringing my own bags to the store because my efforts are so small compared to the billions of bags used by all other Americans. But, if we are all forced to pay for our plastic bags, it will make me feel like I’m part of the cause rather than a drop that’s not making a difference. Moreover, I shouldn’t get funny looks from the store clerks as I did when I tried using my own bags or told them not to give me any.
On a related note, a similar Hawaii bill banning plastic bags died in the recent legislative session. That bill banned plastic bags and forced big retailers to use biodegradable bags. I think a more reasonable solution would have been to charge people 5 cents for a plastic bag, which would have made it socially acceptable (even socially hip) to roll into a store with a reusable bag.
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