Thats leading to a split in the anti-bag movement. Now theres a breakthrough. Again, Im not referring to carbon emissions, Im talking nitrous oxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, smog, Sagittariuses, really bad stuff. Thank you all for listening, and Ill see you next week. 12:48 PM PDT March 16, 2023. We use [drumroll] oil and gas! PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. All three counties are majority minority, the first two are over a third low income, and according to data from Texas Rising, if you rank all 254 counties in Texas for the overall environmental and social burdens they face, these three counties come in at #3, #8, and #53. Thats right, I said it. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Im curious, in your work looking at plastic bags or plastic in general, if there have been any cases of people being irrational actors in the market that just really surprised you or stood out to you. Heres just one tiny example: Does the paper for paper bags come from a recycled paper mill on Staten Island or a virgin forest in northern Canada? So when you do lifecycle assessments of these two different types of material, paper bags end up being much worse on sort of their upstream, the manufacturing side, so its a bit concerning to also see the shift to paper. And now theyre using a thicker product with more packaging. Wait, sorry, wrong kind of cracker. It may not be big enough. Even then, the question remains as to whether single-use bags are necessarily always worse than reusable ones. Paper does have its own environmental consequences in terms of how much energy it takes to generate, acknowledges Emily Norton, director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club. In fact, the only place they havent been is Dave and Busters. The U.S. is the number two producer of polyethylene in the world behind China, and in the U.S., 80 percent of our primary petrochemical supply is in Texas and Louisiana. ITS PAPER. Any time someone needs bags, make a trip to the back to get them and have them wait. Others, like in New York City, treat all single-use bags equally. Heres why thats a big deal. So that means fewer animals getting entangled over time which is good, but unfortunately, it also means plastic bags take a lot less time to become microplastics. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Peril and Promise or The WNET Group. A single mom, or someone working two jobs, is more likely to have to do her shopping in a rush on the way home from work than to go out specifically with a tote bag in hand. Every year, around 500 billion plastic grocery bags are used worldwide. A pound of cotton requires more than 5,000 gallons of water on average, a thirst far greater than that of any vegetable and even most meats. ETHAN: But first, its time for Plastic Bags 101. Now, a new law hopes to take things a step further by banning these: single-use plastic pre-checkout bags that are not recyclable and can contaminate compost facilities. These residents are trying to keep them out. Thats right, its always the one you most suspect. Not So Fast. To help combat this waste, several American states have enacted bans on plastic grocery bags. There are many factors to consider when looking at the environmental impact of plastic bags, and also paper bags may not be as environmentally friendly as people think. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Washington, DCs government estimates that its 5-cent bag tax has led to a 60 percent reduction in the number of these bags being used, although that figure is contested by other sources. Like, get a life, man. The adverse impacts of plastic bags are undeniable: When theyre not piling up in landfills, theyre blocking storm drains, littering streets, getting stuck in trees, and contaminating oceans, where fish, seabirds, and other marine animals eat them or get tangled up in them. As the Australian study noted, a cotton bag has major environmental impacts of its own. The U.S. is the number two producer of polyethylene in the world behind China, and in the U.S., 80 percent of our primary petrochemical supply is in Texas and Louisiana. . Thats right, go get that bag. So paper and plastic as litter paper, you know, decomposes, it breaks down, its not as harmful to the environment, if it if its litter. I happen to have a peer-reviewed study that suggests otherwise. ITS PAPER. Heres Why That Matters. Will we use our cotton tote hundreds or thousands of times? So Im trained in thinking about how People respond to environmental [00:00:32] policy and particular and the policies that I focused on have been around waste and food. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Now, obviously, there are still benefits of reducing our consumption of plastic. Some social justice activists who work in low-income urban neighborhoods or communities of color also argue that plastic bags are a particular scourge. So paper bag usage did increase quite a bit. Proposition 67, also known as SB270, officially passed in November 2016, prohibits plastic bags . Thicker, reusable bags are still available for purchase for 10 cents. Bag bans cut this litter off at the source: In San Jose, Calif., a plastic bag ban led to an 89 percent reduction in the number of plastic bags winding up in the citys storm drains. All that said, paper is made from trees, meaning paper bags contribute to deforestation. You can order the T-shirt plastic bags in wholesale from Bags . Twitter, Follow us on ETHAN: Today we are talking about bags: a word that simultaneously means a container with an open top used for carrying things, a lot of money, and any goal youve ever had in your life. Its right up there with Taylor Swifts jet, Beyond Burgers, and figuring out which soup is best for throwing at artwork. Did you just finish trick or treating? LASZLO: Am I? Shortly after, the Massachusetts State Senate passed a measure that would ban plastic bags from being dispensed by many retail businesses and require acharge of 10 cents or more for a recycled paper or reusable bag. ETHAN: Does this mean bag bans are bad or bag alternatives are bad? If youre singularly focused on eliminating plastic bags, theres a level of convenience from a policymaker standpoint thats tempting. Remember when I said petrochemical facilities use natural gas for electricity? Thats primarily because more energy is required to produce and transport paper bags. Every time you need to process a new batch of polyethylene, you bring it to the facility and say, Polly want a cracker?. The reasons for papers higher carbon footprint are complex, but can mostly be understood as stemming from the fact that paper bags are much thicker than plastic bags. And beyond that, ethylene itself is a dangerous pollutant. A tweak could let quantum possibilities increase as space expands. AD READER: This episode of The Sweaty Penguin is brought to you by Christmas. And if not, then maybe totes arent the best alternative. Come on, why have we not tried this yet? When we got rid of the carry out bags, people had to start purchasing garbage bags. Also, this question is something like asking, Would you prefer to get a parking ticket or a tax assessment? It depends on the specifics, but its better to avoid both wherever possible. Goldstein is confident that if people switch to reusable bags, even cotton ones, and use them consistently, that will ultimately be better for the environment. If someone wants a straw, they can ask and get it, no questions asked. Major funding forPeril and Promiseis provided byDr. P. Roy Vagelos and Diana T. Vageloswith additional funding from Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III,and the Estate of Worthington Mayo-Smith. Thats where this gets interesting. The court has given itself a deadline extension until late Friday night to decide whether mifepristone should remain legal. In fact, it may not even be the most effective option. Different studies say different things, but the point is clear: even though paper bags are much better for the environment in the disposal stage, the rest of the supply chain is riddled with problems. In all seriousness, theres drawbacks here too. We talked about a whole list of issues in our first segment, and those dont vanish. Put all that together, and National Geographic estimates that a paper bag would need to be used anywhere from 3 to 43 times in order to neutralize its environmental impact as compared to plastic. NADJA: Will you at least go and talk to it? Shortly after, the Massachusetts State Senate passed a measure that would ban plastic bags from being dispensed by many retail businesses and require a charge of 10 cents or more for a. All of these policies give consumers a little more freedom, but try to nudge them in the right direction through small fees or rewards in the 5 to 15 cent per bag range. How Are Muskoxen Faring in a Changing Climate? And in pretty much any case, people shift to an alternative type of grocery bag, and while plastic is unique in that it does not decompose, other types of bags have issues of their own. What I found was a net benefit, we were still reducing more plastic than this rebound effect. People still need bags to bring home their groceries. Phytoplankton: How Too Much of a Good Thing Causes Problems. So if its, if it makes it into the environment, it stays there, it breaks into smaller pieces, it gets blown around the world, many different ecosystems. [knock on door, door creaks open, then Laszlo starts coughing uncontrollably]. [booo] Yeah, that was even rough for my standards. And all of these materials do better? And these different dimensions? Spoiler alert: plastics parents got divorced at age eleven and it still isnt over it. [deep echoey filter] ITS INSATIABLE! Cause of environmental pollution 2. 12 Reasons for Banning Plastic Bags: Plastic Bags Are Made With Non-Renewable Energy Plastic Bags Use Up Lots Of Energy Plastic Bags End Up In The Ocean Beach Plastic Litter Is On The Rise Plastic Bags Kill Millions Of Animals Every Year Plastic Takes A Long Time To Disintegrate Plastic Is Harming The Ocean's Coral Plastic Bags Contain Toxins And beyond that, ethylene itself is a dangerous pollutant. I hardly know her! Our world faces increasingly severe hurricanes, wildfires, floods, heat waves, and more, but grocery bags have somehow become one of the hottest environmental topics. I hope at least one of those cracked you up. Two weeks ago, the Massachusetts State Senate passed a measure that would ban plastic bags from being dispensed by many retail businesses and require a charge of 10 cents or more for a recycled paper or reusable bag. The New York State Plastic Bag Task Force, convened by Governor Andrew Cuomo in March 2017, found that a hybrid ban on plastic bags along with a fee on alternatives is more effective than a simple ban. Amid fracking boom, Pennsylvania faces toxic wastewater reckoning. Lets start with paper: the only kind of bag that is, in the most literal tense, tearible. So I usually recommend considering a bag tax first. Not So Fast." But sales of garbage bags increased substantially and especially those small garbage bags that you know, are around the same size as the carryout back. The Massachusetts proposal may not become law this year, but its the latest sign that the plastic bag industry is losing this war. Advocates for plastic bag bans often neglect to ask what will replace plastic bags and what the environmental impact of that replacement will be. In some cases, people start buying more plastic trash bags now that they cant use their grocery bags to store trash. Oil and natural gas are also made of carbon and hydrogen, so in addition to using them for energy, we process them into plastic. [slam the wrong buzz several times, then rewind] Okay, okay cracker? (The crunchy rich should already have more than enough tote bags from PBS and Whole Foods.). ETHAN: Obviously, this is a ridiculously nuanced issue, and while it might not be the most pressing concern of our generation, its absolutely worth discussing, especially given how popular the topic has been. Then Oregon, Connecticut, Maine and Vermont passed laws against them. How many plastic bags are replaced by one cotton tote bag? Quick Navigation for Reasons Why Plastic Shopping Bags Should Be Banned REASONS 1. I personally dont care much what kind of bag my groceries are in, Id even take a Hello Kitty bag if it meant my eggs got home without breaking, but Im sure some people really love their plastic bags, and for those that do, this is certainly an intriguing possibility.
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