Uncovering new details in the plastic bag debate

EDITORIAL

It’s possible you’ve got a stash of plastic shopping bags taking up space in your home and you’re not sure what do with them.

Recycle? Reuse? Or just throw away?

The Golden State prohibited the thinner, single-use plastic bags in 2014 to reduce litter, but with health restrictions due to COVID-19 many stores are giving out the cheap bags again. As of Jan. 1, retailers are also charging for sturdier bags.

According to a report from Columbia University’s Earth Institute, Americans use and dispose of 100 billion plastic bags each year. The Environmental Protection Agency found that less than 5% are recycled.

We all know why the temporary switch in plastic-bag usage was made—to help curtail the spread of a virus that has killed over 400,000 Americans. Stores must now allow shoppers to bring in reusable bags if they pack up their own food, but restaurants continue to give out cheap plastic bags for takeout orders.

And, of course, there’s the mass production of plastic for billions of masks, face shields, hospital gowns, gloves and packaging for online orders that’s leaving behind a wave of pollution that will be with us long after the pandemic has faded.

Ironically, the drop in oil prices due to lower demand has made it cheaper to manufacture new plastic—which starts as a fossil fuel— than to make plastic from recycled material.

We’re often left wondering which one is better for the environment—paper or plastic?

The answer, it turns out, is complicated.

Yes, paper bags decompose much quicker than plastic, are more likely to be recycled and don’t kill marine life like plastic bags, which are easily blown from trash cans and dumps into the local waterways. But experts also say less energy and water are needed to make a plastic bag than a paper one.

Though supermarkets are required to offer bins where shoppers can return plastic bags for recycling, the availability of the bins can be inconsistent, and many experts say that few, if any, of those bags are actually recycled.

Neither E.J. Harrison and Sons nor Waste Management, the two main trash haulers in Ventura County, accepts plastic bags in their recycling bins. This includes trash bags.

One study found that in order to offset the difference in the ecological impact between thinner single-use plastic bags and other types of sturdier sacks, people should use the thicker plastic ones at least four times and cloth bags anywhere between a dozen and 100 times.

The truth is, there is no easy fix to the plastic bag mess. We’ll continue to use plastic in our everyday lives, and we know that future generations will view us as crazy and wrongheaded for doing so. Let’s just hope that better alternatives emerge in the future. In the meantime, please do all you can to reuse those plastic bags whenever possible.

Lastly, never throw away an empty plastic bag that can easily float away. Use it to collect other trash and tie the top. One small change can help make a big difference.