Environmentalists have convinced government leaders to impose all sorts of regulations and bans over the years in an effort to reduce pollution and protect the environment. Some of these efforts have been more effective than others, while some simply seemed nonsensical. Among the more widespread efforts showing up in many states around the country has been the push to do away with “disposable” plastic shopping bags in favor of paper or reusable cloth bags. That particular plan has been spreading across Maryland recently, with several counties and cities ushering in new laws this year forbidding retail outs from using plastic bags when ringing up sales. Shoppers will either have to opt for paper bags or bring their own reusable bags to the store with them. But how effective will such a ban be and will it really make any sort of difference in terms of pollution? (CBS Baltimore)
Anne Arundel County’s “Bring Your Own Bag Plastic Reduction Act” went into effect Monday.
Shoppers at Anne Arundel County retailers will no longer be offered “single-use” plastic bags. Retailers will offer paper or reusable bags for purchase.
“I’ve gotta remember to bring my bags,” Charlene Lowry said while laughing. “Other than that, no change at all.”
The Anne Arundel County law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, along with similar bans in Prince George’s County and the city of Frederick.
While I’m rarely a fan of government regulations and bans because they are so easily abused, I really don’t have too much of a problem with the policy being described here. My wife and I have been using reusable cloth or canvas bags for years when grocery shopping and it’s rarely been a bother of any sort. A policy like this might be a bit of a pain when you’re stopping at a store quickly to grab something you previously forgot (as opposed to an organized, weekly shopping trip), but in that case, a paper bag should be an acceptable option.
When we made the switch, it had nothing to do with global warming or the climate cult. It’s just that pollution is bad and eight billion people create a lot of pollution. Plastic is toxic and it takes forever to break down. We’re jamming billions of tons of this stuff into landfills and you’ll still be finding it if you go back and start digging a hole one thousand years from now. If we can cut back on our use of it this way with little to no inconvenience, why not?
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that we can suddenly get rid of all plastic. The sad reality is that plastic is also incredibly useful we don’t have fast, practical ways to replace many things that are made of it. Some attempts to do so have been more hilarious than effective. I’m reminded of Tom MacDonald’s outstanding song “People So Stupid.” In it, he sang:
“Hallelujah, everyone, activism saved the planet.No more plastic straws in paper,Just paper straws wrapped in plastic, congratulations.”
As far as the bag situation goes, though, we also can’t do away with the small plastic bags entirely, or at least not yet. Any of you dog owners out there who take your pet for a walk regularly know what I’m talking about and that’s a job that we really can’t hand over to paper or cloth.
In addition to the individual cities and counties that have enacted these bans, eight states have banned them entirely. Those states are California, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, New York, Oregon, Maine and Vermont. You’re probably noticing a pattern there. The blue states are much quicker to ban (or at least try to ban) pretty much everything, particularly if there’s an environmentalist angle involved. Red states always lag behind or refuse to play the game.
Where the bans are in place, businesses have actually been penalized and fined for violating the law and continuing to distribute bags, but those incidents are relatively few in number and the fines are small. Since New York imposed its ban in 2020, the Department of Environmental Conservation claims that it has conducted tens of thousands of inspections and issued $75,000 in fines in increments of $250 or $500. That seems like an awfully large expenditure of resources to enforce a single ban, but perhaps that’s just me.
Here’s that Tom MacDonald song I referenced above in case you’ve never caught the video. Turn up the volume. “People so Stupid”
