Arizona Bill Would Ban Local Limits on Plastic Bags.

[elleng]

While other places have turned to bans and fees to discourage the use of plastic bags, Arizona is headed in a different direction.

On Thursday, the State Legislature here sent a bill to the governor that would ban the bans, with supporters seeing it as a way to protect businesses and consumers from a potential hodgepodge of regulations.

The bill would prevent cities and counties from regulating the “sale, use or disposition of auxiliary containers,” which include single-use disposable bags, boxes, cans and bottles. It would also prohibit requirements for businesses to report energy use.

State Senator Nancy Barto, the bill’s sponsor and a Republican, said that “excessive regulation on containers creates more work and cost for retailers and other businesses — and leads to higher consumer cost and a drag on economic growth.” She added: “Municipalities acting on their own to implement these mandates run counter to the state’s goal to overcome Arizona’s sluggish job growth and economic stability.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/us/arizona-bill-would-ban-local-limits-on-plastic-bags.html?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=none&state=standard&contentPlacement=1&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2015%2F04%2F03%2Fus%2Farizona-bill-would-ban-local-limits-on-plastic-bags.html&eventName=Watching-article-click

[JonLP24]

1. What is the point of this?

The only city to carry out any such rule is Bisbee, southeast of Tucson, which banned single-use plastic bags and requires a 5-cent charge per paper bag.

--

Where I live I can grab as many plastic bags as I want, I have several under my sink which I use for trash bags. A huge waste of time if you ask me.

[elleng]

3. I DON'T understand why Bisbee would charge for PAPER BAGS,

while banning use of plastic bags. Makes NO sense to me.

Several counties in MD charge customers who get plastic bags for carrying their shopping, from retailers.

[immoderate]

14. I suspect because paper bags are biodegradable, while plastics are persistent.

--imm

[Travis_0004]

17. Yes but paper bags are much worse overall

Since they take so much more resources to make

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

18. Tell that 'worse overall' to the giant floating patches of plastic out in the oceans

and all of the dead wildlife with stomachs stuffed full of plastic.

Plus, as pointed out, paper bags are sturdy enough to be reusable, while the flimsy plastic ones tend to rip even before you get them home the first time.

[Renew Deal]

2. Maybe Arizona has sluggish job growth because of people like Nancy Barto

[NYC_SKP]

4. Ridiculous. The state telling local govs what the can and cannot ban?

I do not see how this would survive a challenge in court.

But then I'm not in the profession.

The only people interested in stopping single use bag bans is the industry that makes the bags.

This is protectionism. I no likey.

[merrily]

8. Another example of corporate welfare. (Tax breaks are by far not the only form.)

Supermarkets may like them too. Many customer prefer plastic bags because of the handles. If you are dealing in that number of bags, you don't want the blowback from customers about collecting a deposit, etc. And the whole process holds up the supermarket line and you ain't seen blowback if you ain't seen a supermarket line being held up.

No matter what though, special economic interests trump the interest of the 100% in clean air and water and slowing global warming.

(Glad to see you are well enough to post.)

[elleng]

10. Counties I frequent in MD charge a nickle if shoppers use/need plastic bags,

and stores provide recycle bags, like canvas, with handles. I have 2 of them in my car, at any time. They cost $1. Here, clean air and water trump most other considerations.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

19. Our paper bags usally come with handles.

At least at the local grocery. Out at the Krogers, the paper bags don't have handles, and are far flimsier to boot, often ripping while you're trying to carry them.

[Zorra]

5. An overview of the AZ State legislature:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002643837#post18

[merrily]

6. I read once that plastic supermarket bags are environmentally preferred to paper, except in coastal

areas. There was not a lot of elaboration, beyond "the paper industry has such a huge footprint," or words to that effect.

In coastal areas, the plastic bags were said to get into the ocean and do bad things there, including to sea gulls, which get them tangled in their beaks.

I have no idea if any of the above was true or not, but it was a view I had not known existed.

[elleng]

7. How would plastic bags be preferred to paper ANYWHERE???

Plastic bags don't do bad things in cities/towns/deserts??? Do they EVAPORATE there???

[merrily]

11. As stated, I am not advocating the position, nor was there much explanation of it.

I know what you are saying that plastic does not decompose after it's discarded. However, my impression is that they were saying that deforestation and the process that turns trees into paper takes a greater up front toll on the environment. I stress "impression" because again, very little was spelled out.

And yes, I know that producing a plastic bag also takes a toll on the environment. Almost everything does. But the claim apparently was that paper bags take a greater toll.

Again, I am not advocating the position or claiming it is an accurate one. What I did believe at the time was that the person putting the position forward was genuinely interested in the environment.

[elleng]

12. I get that you're not advocating.

I do NOT believe that plastic would EVER be preferable environmentally to paper bags. And as I've said elsewhere, where I live, 5 cents is charged if plastic is required, and stores provide, for $1, recyclable canvas-like bags, with handles.

[merrily]

15. I also can't answer questions, but I do believe the person was sincere. Unfortunately, any other

recollection about the source of the statement is very fuzzy. It was a brief statement years ago.

The only reason I remember it all probably is that it was such a different thing than I had been hearing (which was why, at the time, I squinted at the person recommending it).

For my own use, I have a couple of sturdy cloth shopping bags that I got free (someone was handing them out with their logo on them, as a promotion--out of business now, so the free advertising I do for the company is not even an issue) and an insulated bag I bought at a supermarket. I also have folding shopping cart that helps make handles on bags irrelevant. I sometimes use it when doing serious shopping within walking distance.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

20. Yeah, we always try to remember to take our cloth bags along too.

The local groceries all sell their own versions, usually for about a buck a bag. At the closest one, they knock a nickel off your bill per cloth bag you use each trip.

[SoCalDem]

9. I love love love my canvas bags

and every time I shop, SOMEONE asks me where I got them...

answer ebay..

cheap and wonderful..

I also have a few insulated ones that look like paper bags on the outside

[merrily]

13. There you go. I have an insulated bag and some cloth bags, too. I also

save some bags that Starbuck's gave me that I didn't spill anything in. I carry one or two to Starbucks to hand to the cashier with my bag of coffee beans. A couple of them have told me they love that I bring the bags with me.

[progree]

16. Plastic bags are cheaper, take less energy to produce. But recycling them is difficult

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/09/30/good-question-why-do-we-use-so-much-plastic/

Good Question: Why Do We Use So Much Plastic?, CBSLocal, 9/30/14

(selected excerpts)

According to the plastics industry, 90 percent of grocery bags in the U.S. are still plastic. So, why do we use so much of it?

Plastic bags cost between 1 to 2 cents. Paper bags can run 4 to 5 cents.

It takes two to four times more energy to produce paper bags compared to plastic. The production of paper bags also gives off twice as much pollution and creates more waste.

But, what we do with these plastic bags has serious environmental consequences. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans recycle about half of all paper bags and only 12 percent of plastic ones. In the environment, plastic bags can last literally decades and even centuries.”

he says there are no facilities in Minnesota in that recycle plastic bags because the food and waste materials inside those bags take a lot of labor, and the bags can wrap around the equipment.

“It’s In The Bag” is a program sponsored by the Recycling Association of Minnesota which collects the plastic bags that people bring back to retailers to recycle. The materials are collected, sorted and recycled by adults with disabilities employed at vocational centers throughout Minnesota.

[MBS]

21. The 100-day session of the AZ legislature is an annual joke.

Except it's a joke that's not funny.