Plastic Bag Tax
2 February 2008 in UncategorizedThe following is a letter that I am sending out via email to the local, provincial and federal governments.
I was inspired by an article in the New York Times that discussed the success of Ireland taxing plastic bags. It is my belief that a future conscious city such as ours should consider championing this cause here in Canada.
While plastic bags don’t occupy that much space in landfills due to their compressibility the real cost is in their manufacturing. It amazes me that something like this can be free when they are certainly not free to produce. Stories I have read state that most bags come from China where manufacturing is so cheap that the cost to ship something half way around the world doesn’t make the price higher than we could make it domestically — this is the WalMart era. As a rough guesstimate it takes around 18 million litres of oil to make 1 billion shopping bags. Canada probably uses between 10 billion and 30 billion bags per year a majority of which end up discarded, poisoning our lakes and rivers. (http://reusablebags.com/facts.php)
Most grocery stores are now providing cheap alternative bags that are reusable and thus very environmentally friendly. Why not add a little pressure to this trend by taxing plastic bags? A 33 cent tax would make plastic bags as expensive by storage volume as the reusable bags and could be collected at the register automatically if no reusable bags are presented or purchased. The computer systems in place at area grocery stores are more than capable of carrying this out. My experience in local grocery stores has been that reusable bag are on the rise with more and more families using them. However, I think out of apathy, a lot of consumers just don’t bother to care or forget their bags. Adding a tax would certainly perk them up and make a far number more opt for the inexpensive reusable bags.
It is my hope that one day our world operates in such a way that life can be sustained on this planet for centuries to come. At this moment in time the future looks bleak but we can help. Taxing plastic bags is one step toward waking up the populace and making it easy for them to join the cause.
Interesting idea. I normally shop at No Frills which actually charges for plastic bags. I just put my groceries into a box, which gets thrown in the recycling when I get home.
I do shop at Wal-Mart from time to time, and yes, the bags I get usually get thrown out as soon as I get home. My grandpa hates throwing out plastic bags so he just collects them. We have about 2,000 plastic bags stuffed into multiple drawers and corners in the house. But the likelihood that we’re actually going to use more than one or two is pretty slim.
People could bring their used plastic bags back to the store, but that adds a lot of hassle at the checkout. Checking out is supposed to be a fast and easy process, and having to pull crumpled bags out from your pocket and hand them to the cashier, who then has to uncrumple it some more and get it open, adds a lot of extra time.
I have seen these new reusable bags, but I’m not yet convinced. Why would the consumer spend money on this bag when they could just get plastic bags for free? Even with your proposed 33 cent tax, a lot of people will just not care and still use plastic bags. If the government really wants to step up and be responsible, they should provide FREE reusable bags to all Canadian residents. Maybe set up a website where people can order them, with an allowable limit of maybe 2 or 3 per person per given time period. Sure, it would cost the government a little bit of money, but they would make it back with having less plastic bags to process into landfills.
My point is this. The average consumer should not be expected to pay more just to be more environmentally responsible. If the government expects us to pay more, they should also be willing to put their money where their mouth is.
Just my two cents. :-)
Well, I just read an article on NY Times which says that the 33 cent plastic bag tax did in fact cause a significant reduction in plastic bag usage over in Ireland. I have to say, I am highly surprised. Then again, people in Ireland don’t necessarily have the same mentality as people in Canada and the U.S., so it will be interesting to see what happens if a similar tax is introduced here.
Well, since I’m waiting for the solder to cool on the cables of my e-bike battery, it’s pretty obvious which side of this argument I’m on. I think they should just ban plastic bags at all retail stores. Customers would solve this very simple problem very quickly on their own — some would bring bags, some would just load their stuff from the cart to their trunks, some would look like idiots carrying 20 things in their arms — I promise that everyone would get their groceries and other shopping home. Why does every problem’s fix need to involve a solution that spoon-feeds the consumer a new easy for-everyone system? Just get rid of the problem; people are awfully smart and innovative when they have to be.
Congratulations on getting a reply back. More on this later : )
So I grabbed one of those “green” bags from Sobey’s instead of plastic bags. I figured it fits more and I needed something good since I had to carry my groceries home. I realised after they didn’t charge me for it — which I guess sort of made it stealing — but I’m totally going to use it now!