Myth - Bag Bans are the Best Solution

Fact: We firmly believe that a dramatic reduction in the over-consumption of plastic shopping bags is needed – it’s part of our core mission and with our site reuseit.com®, we woke people up to the issue back in 2003. The problem is that we, as a society, perceive plastic bags to be free and rarely stop to wonder who’s picking up the tab for all the resources required to make and dispose of those bags. Plastic bag bans are not the most effective legislative solution. Instead, we favor bag fees as a proven, market-based solution that has been shown to reduce plastic bag consumption by 80-90%.

Five reasons we believe bag bans are not the best solution:

  1. Bag bans miss the mark, because over-consumption is the problem, not the plastic bags themselves. In fact, we use so many plastic bags because they are one of the most ingenious, practical inventions of our time, perfectly suited to our convenience-hungry society. Banning them essentially punishes innovation and success.
  2. Bans shove, not nudge, people to change their behavior.  We believe in the concept of nudging consumers - that with small cues, people can be influenced to make big behavior changes. A ban does not require someone to stop and think about their consumption habits. A fee, on the other hand, requires a conscious decision to change. This results in long-term change and is the only way we will ultimately solve our massive over-consumption issues.
  3. Bans shift the problem to other culprits, like paper bags or cheap reusable bags. If plastic bags are banned, the options for a consumer are then to take (or pay for) for a paper bag or pay for a cheap reusable bag. Many people will chose the less-expensive paper bag, which is really no better than a plastic bag. People who know this may opt for the reusable bags, be out a dollar, and perpetuate a trend toward an explosion of cheap reusable bag consumption – bags that will rarely be reused.
  4. Bans are an emotional response to the problem. Banning something is an extreme approach and can lead to unintended consequences. Bans gain momentum because they provide great soundbites for politicians and are something passionate people who want change can rally behind. Unfortunately, in trying to do something good by jumping on board with a ban, smarter, effective solutions are overlooked.
  5. Bans inconvenience customers. Sometimes we need plastic bags for meats, for picking up after our pets or even for a carsick kid! It’s nice to have the option to choose plastic if we need it.

Why we think fees make sense:

Bag fees incite behavioral changes while still allowing freedom of choice within the free market. The best free programs charge equally for paper and plastic disposable bags. Washington, D.C. was the first U.S. city to implement a 5-cent fee for all disposable bags and has already seen an 80% decrease in the use of use-and-toss bags. Ireland’s PlastTax is the pinnacle example – its 33-cent fee cut consumption by 94% within the first year. These and other examples prove that fees dramatically reduce consumption – but if you forget your reusable bags or simple want a plastic bag for your chicken – you have the freedom to choose your bag.

  1. Fees are market-based solutions that get people to change their consumption habits – and with a nudge not a shove. Even small, 5-cent fees make a huge impact.
  2. Fees are practical for the consumer.
  3. There is evidence that fees can be adopted in the U.S., and they work! We have an example of a major city (D.C.) reducing consumption of use-and-toss bags by 80% with a small fee.
  4. The money collected from fees can go directly toward addressing the problem.
  5. If you don’t like the idea of your money going to fatten government coffers, no problem. Bring your own bag, and they don’t get a dime.

Bottom line: Fees are practical, proven, long-term solutions that dramatically reduce the consumption of all "use-and-toss' bags, whether paper, compostable, plastic or other.

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