[Editor’s Note: With the City Council scheduled to discuss a plastic bag ban at Monday’s 7 o’clock meeting, here is an opinion that the former chair of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce wrote two years ago.]
It is with great interest I have followed the discussion about a ban on single-use plastic bags in Culver City.
To decrease the usage of plastic made from petroleum is a good thing. But to ban plastic bags is more of a symbolic action promoted by professional agitators with large green hearts than something that will have any serious environmental impact.
Rather, the City of Culver City now has an opportunity to choose an environmental, smart and sustainable solution and be an environmental leader instead of a “City of No.” Plastic bags are practical and versatile, which is why most of us use them.
The discussion has centered on litter issues and the environmental impact of green house gases (GHG). Let’s start with looking at the green house gas issue. When substituting a plastic bag with a paper bag, the life cycle emission of GHG is increased with at least three times (ref. United Kingdom EPA and other studies). San Francisco’s ban on plastic bags has actually increased the GHG emission 2 to 2.5 times through the use of paper bags instead. One reason is the extra traffic that it generates. The paper bag is heavier. It takes more space, so you need about seven trucks instead of one to transport the same amount of paper bags as plastic bags. The paper bag definitely is not an improvement with regards to climate change and traffic. Rather, it is the opposite.
The same UK EPA study shows that if you use a cotton canvas bag, you need to use it 130 times in order to not generate more GHG emission than using the single-use plastic bags. If, like me, you also use half of the single-use plastic bags as trash liner, the cotton canvas bag has to be used over 170 times not to generate more GHG emissions.
There Is No Doubt
Clearly the single-use plastic bag is the best alternative from a climate change perspective. In the U.S., it is even better since most of our plastic bags are not made from petroleum/oil. Instead they are made from a gas component of natural gas that has to be filtered out before the natural gas can be distributed to us for cooking, heating and other reasons.
To cut down, or eliminate, the litter, we should do a couple of things. First, though, we have to realize that of the plastic that ends up in the ocean, on average only 1 to 2 percent is from the single-use plastic bags. This is from a multitude of different studies. However, one study estimated 5 percent. We should note that the plastic bags that end up in landfills (a majority of them shouldn’t, but rather be recycled) is actually a form of carbon sequestration.
Try This Strategy
Still, it would be great to eliminate the litter as much as possible. The first thing we should do is to have stores charge at least 10 cents each for plastic and paper bags. When Washington D.C. started to charge for bags, the use of plastic bags decreased between 60 and 70 percent within the first year. The money collected by stores in Culver City for the bags could, for example, go to a local environmental fund to support the clean up and improvements of Ballona Creek.
We should require the stores to phase out the single use bags and start providing multi-time use plastic bags. This will further decrease the number of plastic bags consumed, and at the same time it would make for even better trash liners. This type of plastic bag is used successfully in many other countries.
Of course, what we should do if we really want to be environmental leaders instead of a “City of No,” is to require that our stores phase in the use of multi-time use plastic bags that are made from agriculture waste. These are real renewable plastic bags that can be recycled as normal plastic. They are available today. A supermarket chain in Sweden introduced these bags in January 2011. Just the other day, Pepsi announced a type of soda bottle made the same way.
We need to acknowledge that it all comes down to you and me, to our individual responsibility for our environment. We have to take responsibility to not litter, to teach our children (and grownups!) to recycle and throw trash in trash bins. We should create a “Keep Culver City Clean” campaign.
I hope we all will take a more comprehensive look at the issue of single-use plastic bags than just no. Instead, grab the opportunity of being environmental leaders and move our great city to the forefront of educated environmental enlightenment.
Mr. Eriksson may be contacted at ge@esitechtrans.com
