Of Plastic Bags and Bondage (or, “How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bag”)

The ubiquitous plastic bag, found everywhere from grocery stores to Best Buy, is in the news again.

First of all, it seems that the Washington Post has endorsed a proposed “plastic bag tax” in Maryland, which is designed to lessen people’s use and desire for the item.

However, it seems they left out one rather salient fact in their endorsement:

“….the Post failed to mention is that the bill, SB 576 — entitled the “Community Cleanup and Greening Act of 2013“ — specifically EXEMPTS plastic bags used to wrap NEWSPAPERS, an exemption which obviously favors the Washington Post company…”

Why, that certainly seems odd? I’m sure that the Post had NO idea that the exemption was even there…

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Elsewhere, the former mayor of Solana Beach, CA, has decided to recant her previous allegiance to the War On Bags. Courtesy of 10news.com:

Outside stores such as Vons in Solana Beach, customers look like they’re doing a juggling act of sorts, trying not to drop their items because they forgot their reusable bags and refused to spend 10 cents for a paper one.

“I don’t like it, carrying stuff, it’s ridiculous. You know you spend a lot of money you expect to have a bag, not pay for it,” said shopper Harold Vita.

Solana Beach resident Allan Morrison says he shops outside the city for the most part because of the ban.

He calls it an imposition. It’s the kind of complaint Vons employee Fawn Conard has become used to.

“They just say, ‘Oh, it’s 10 cents a paper bag? Well I’m not gonna pay for a paper bag for 10 cents. It’s ridiculous,” Conard says.

Former Solana Beach Mayor Celine Olson admits she initially backed the plastic bag ban and paper bag fee. Now, she feels the council’s decision is hurting the city both economically and environmentally.

“It’s needs to be reconsidered and I would like Solana Beach to be the first city that stops the trend,” said Olson.

Hallelujah! Another person wised up, upon seeing the wreckage and lies that always seem to accompany the Green Movement’s cause du jour. It’s not as if it’s much of a secret, of course.

We’ve covered this before (“Dear Green Police: Make up your mind, would ya’?“). Back then, I included a study from the UK that blew up a major myth in the Bag Brouhaha:

Another common talking point about supermarket plastic bags is that they are rarely recycled, but this argument ignores the fact that a large portion of supermarket plastic bags (40% in the U.K.) are reused as garbage pail liners.

Interestingly, the U.K. study found that it is better for the environment to reuse these bags as garbage pail liners, rather than recycle them. 

This is due to the environmental “benefits of avoiding the production of the bin liners they replace.”

Wonder why we never seem to hear this study being quoted in the news?

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Of course, the Eco-warriors have a suggestion for our grocery store use, much as they did back in the 80’s when they pushed us away from paper and toward plastic bags in the first place. What is this new, cutting edge idea? Reusable, CLOTH bags!!

So, what’s wrong with that idea, other than it being far less convenient and more work for me? 

Plenty.

You need to constantly wash the bags, in order to keep them sanitary. This requires more energy and water usage, usually things that the Green movement rails against. And there also seems to be the little problem when folks, inevitably, fail to keep up with their basic, everyday “bag hygiene” regimen.

According to a study in 2011 from the International Association for Food Protection: 

Reusable bags were collected at random from consumers as they entered grocery stores in California and Arizona. In interviews, it was found that reusable bags are seldom if ever washed and often used for multiple purposes.

Large numbers of bacteria were found in almost all bags and coliform bacteria in half. Escherichia coli were identified in 8% of the bags, as well as a wide range of enteric bacteria, including several opportunistic pathogens.

When meat juices were added to bags and stored in the trunks of cars for two hours, the number of bacteria increased 10-fold, indicating the potential for bacterial growth in the bags.

But hey, what’s a little E-Coli among friends, right? Especially when we have a planet to save  a nation to destroy!

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So come on, everyone: Do your part! Fall in line! Support your local plastic bag ban/tax, and pledge to begin using your reusable, cloth Bags-O’-Death.

We need to reject our old, outmoded ideas of “freedom” and “common sense”, and embrace the Utopia that our Leftist Betters are preparing for us.

They have our best intentions at heart, I’m sure.