Beacon Hill & Plastic Grocery Bags: About Time!

We stopped using plastic grocery bags awhile ago because they were a nuisance to recycle or dispose of, in my Pet Peeve category right next to Junk Mail, besides the environmental consideration.

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From 2004 --
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Plastic Left Holding the Bag as Environmental Plague
Nations around world look at a ban
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There is a growing international movement to ban or discourage the use of plastic bags because of their environmental effects. Countries from Ireland to Australia are cracking down on the bags and action is beginning to stir in the United States.

Although plastic bags didn't come into widespread use until the early 1980s, environmental groups estimate that 500 billion to 1 trillion of the bags are now used worldwide every year.

Critics of the bags say they use up natural resources, consume energy to manufacture, create litter, choke marine life and add to landfill waste.

In Australia, about 90 percent of retailers have signed up with the government's voluntary program to reduce plastic bag use. A law that went into effect last year in Taiwan requires restaurants, supermarkets and convenience stores to charge customers for plastic bags and utensils. It has resulted in a 69 percent drop in use of plastic products, according to news reports.

One of the key concerns is litter. In China, plastic bags blowing around the streets are called "white pollution." In South Africa, the bags are so prominent in the countryside that they have won the derisive title of "national flower."

Plastic industry trade associations were unable to provide estimates of plastic bag use in the United States. However, based on studies of plastic bag use in other nations, the environmental group Californians Against Waste estimates Americans use 84 billion plastic bags annually.


WCVB reports --

WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Looking to find funds in a down economy, West Bridgewater Selectmen have proposed a new tax that is drawing criticism from some residents.
Video: Town Mulling Tax On Grocery Bags

NewsCenter 5’s Jack Harper reported that the town will seek approval for a 5-cent tax on both paper and plastic grocery bags. Selectmen say the fee would help fund landfill and recycling programs in the town.

A measure pending on Beacon Hill would impose a 2- to 15-cent tax on plastic bags across the state. Selectman Jerry Lawrence said that levying a fee within the town will help keep tax dollars within the local economy.

However, opponents of the measure say the tax will only compound the financial troubles of burdened families.
“I think it’s a bad idea,” said one man doing his grocery shopping at a West Bridgewater grocery store. “I mean, with the economy right now -- I mean, the cost of everything. And then charging more for bags -- it’s crazy,” he said.

A similar measure was rehashed in Leeds, Maine, this week, where one legislator proposed a 10-cent tax on plastic bags at all retailers.

Several countries already charge a fee for bags, including Ireland, where a 33-cent-per-bag fee is credited with cutting use of disposable bags by more than 90 percent.

The Beacon Hill move may be the right legislation for the wrong reasons, but let's hope it moves ahead. Several store chains already offer a 5 cent discount if you don't use a plastic bag.

Kudos to the sponsors!

It's simple to get in the habit of taking reusable bags into the store, any store, with you.

Mr. MR used to get concerned that taking another store's bag into the store would constitute a faux pas of etiquette. It's becoming so trendy, no one notices.

And if you don't choose to participate? You're making a contribution to your town's coffers!

Way to go Beacon Hill! Maybe we can get this accomplished this year.