|
|
| Re: San Francisco bans reusable bags (1713403) | |||
 |
|||
| Home > OTChat | |||
|
[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ] |
|
||
|
Re: San Francisco bans reusable bags |
|
|
Posted by Henry R32 #3730 on Fri Apr 3 11:11:08 2020, in response to Re: San Francisco bans reusable bags, posted by gp38/r42 chris on Thu Apr 2 18:45:30 2020. Admittedly this article is by a plastic bag lobby group for Ontario, Canada, but it goes through some good points about plastic bags. There's a section onReusable Bags which has this nice section: A 2011 UK Government Life Cycle Assessment found that all bag options have environmental consequences. Surprisingly, it also found that cotton/canvas reusable bags have to be reused 131 times to match the environmental performance of conventional plastic shopping bags used just once. Non-woven polypropylene bags have to be reused 11 times and heavier gauge plastic bags have to be reused three times to match the environmental performance of a conventional plastic bag. What is often forgotten in the discussion of the superiority of reusables over conventional plastic shopping bags is that plastic shopping bags are multi-purpose, multi-use bags. Plastic shopping bags are not used just as a convenience to carry groceries, but are a necessity for almost every kind of goods purchase and for managing household waste. A hearty 60% of plastic bags are reused in Ontario. But what if plastic bags were no longer available? What happens to that 60% reuse Ontario enjoys? For example, a cotton/canvas reusable bag would never be used as a bin liner for household waste. And there are those who do not have time or inclination to wash their reusable bags to avoid bacterial cross-contamination of their food. There are those who just forget their reusable and need a plastic bag when shopping. And some cannot afford the cost of reusables and certainly cannot afford to buy kitchen catchers at $0.20 per bag for their garbage. So, if plastic shopping bags are not available, we would require another type of plastic bag to fill the gap. And the only option we have today as a replacement is the heavier and more expensive plastic kitchen catcher or nothing at all. |
|
|
|