by John Stossel | May 5, 2020. Here's How. Not So Fast | WIRED Plastic Bottles Plastic Bags NADJA: Where did you get your hands on a peer-reviewed study? What Comes Next for Venezuelas Oil Industry? But it turns out that charging people to use bags is not the same as paying them to bring reusable bags. Special thanks to our Emperor Penguin patrons Lawrence Harris and Brownies Central. The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking, new connections, and new industries. 1999-2023 Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved. Anyway, at a cracker plant, they use extreme heat to crack the molecular bonds in the oil or gas to produce a new gas called ethylene. Natasha Mascarenhas. ETHAN: When environmentalists talk about plastic bags though, its often not about the production process, but rather what happens after we throw them out. You can learn more at pbs.org/perilandpromise. Single-use plastics seem to be disappearing. And then sometimes theres these added responses that are unintended. The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our livesfrom culture to business, science to design. the more right . Rough Draft 14 - Writing - The Effects Of Plastic In the essay Yeet that wheat. That signals to customers that these arent reusable products. The reasons for papers higher carbon footprint are complex, but can mostly be understood as stemming from the fact that paper bags are much thicker than plastic bags. Its like when your boss bans YouTube at work, so everyone jumps to Discord. ITS PAPER. And honestly, a little sketchy that ethylene cant handle sunlight. The Massachusetts proposal may not become law this year, but it's the latest sign that the plastic bag industry is losing this war. Banning plastic bags is great for the world, right? The Pros and Cons of Plastic Bag Bans | Dumpsters.com One of the most comprehensive research papers on the environmental impact of bags, published in 2007 by anAustralian state government agency, found that paper bags have a higher carbon footprint than plastic. But studies conducted in Australia or Europe have limited applicability in the U.S., particularly when youre considering climate impact, because every country has a different energy mix. And so in terms of ranking those, that would be my order, taxes, hybrid bands, and then least preferred standalone bands. As longtime plastic bag adversary Ian Frazier recently reported in The New Yorker, In 2014, plastic grocery bags were the seventh most common item collected during the Ocean Conservancys International Coastal Cleanup, behind smaller debris such as cigarette butts, plastic straws, and bottle caps. The New York City Sanitation Department collects more than 1,700 tons of single-use carry-out bags every week, and has to spend $12.5 million a year to dispose of them. Paper does have its own environmental consequences in terms of how much energy it takes to generate, acknowledges Emily Norton, director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club. Nakuru, Kenya In the open-air Wakulima Market thin plastic shopping bags have disappeared, banished by Kenya's national bag ban. Theres the impact of material, if it makes it into the environment as litter, theres the impact of the production of it on emissions and climate. There are so very many variables. And sort of the bottom line, what I found with in terms of like the amount of plastic, was about a third of the plastic that was eliminated by the carry out bag ban came back in the form of garbage bags, which do tend to be a bit thicker than the carry out bags. Whos building these things, Triscuit? And thats actually increasing the carbon footprint. In fact, we can take it a step further. So I wont rehash it all today, but if you listen to our episodes on fracking or the Permian Basin or the Haynesville Shale, youll learn a little bit about the villain origin story of plastic bags, and some of the many issues to which they contribute. If they were going to use a slur for white people, why not name it Karen or Wonderbread? Any time someone needs bags, make a trip to the back to get them and have them wait. One of the biggest battery recycling plants in theUSis up and running. The Sweaty Penguin is presented by Peril and Promise: a public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York, reporting on the issues and solutions around climate change. So if its, if it makes it into the environment, it stays there, it breaks into smaller pieces, it gets blown around the world, many different ecosystems. Thats primarily because more energy is required to produce and transport paper bags. The larger takeaway is that no bag is free of environmental impact, whether thats contributing to climate change, ocean pollution, water scarcity, or pesticide use. You would think five cents to reuse a bag would have a state similar behavioral response is five cents to not use a bag to have to pay for than plastic bag. I mean, look at all the kids roaming the streets looking for water after eating a single Saltine. NADJA: After much deliberation, Nandor and I have invited a new resident into the house. ETHAN: But first, its time for Plastic Bags 101. Ad Choices, Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? Facebook, Follow us on They do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Peril and Promise or The WNET Group. Microplastics can be ingested by anyone from seabirds to fish to even humans through our food and water, and can cause health issues, reduce appetites, and even increase the risk of mortality. The only newsroom focused on exploring solutions at the intersection of climate and justice. Now, for various reasons, political reasons, taxes are often not favored by politicians, because people dont like the word tax. In other words, rather than emitting carbon, they would take carbon out of the atmosphere. These residents are trying to keep them out. Seeing how nuanced this issue is, I asked Dr. Taylor what the next steps could look like. Lets start with paper: the only kind of bag that is, in the most literal tense, tearible. Thats right, nothing like getting high on your own supply. Nearly one year after New York became the second state in the nation to pass a ban on grocery store plastic bags the law is going into effect on Sunday. If a plastic bag is reused in the home as the garbage bag in a bathroom waste bin, does that reduce its footprint by eliminating the need for another small plastic garbage bag? Put all that together, and National Geographic estimates that a paper bag would need to be used anywhere from 3 to 43 times in order to neutralize its environmental impact as compared to plastic. Better alternatives are available 10. Plastic Bags Are a Problem. So some of my recent research was looking at to what extent do we actually see border shopping occur? The remaining 21 percent, of course, came from the Kardashians. Oil and natural gas are also made of carbon and hydrogen, so in addition to using them for energy, we process them into plastic. So I wont rehash it all today, but if you listen to our episodes on fracking or the Permian Basin or the Haynesville Shale, youll learn a little bit about the villain origin story of plastic bags, and some of the many issues to which they contribute. Plastic is a toxin that stays in the environment, marine animals ingest it, and it enters their bodies and then ours.. How do we do that? [wrong buzz, rewind] Cracker? Hopefully its not laced with xylene! And beyond that, ethylene itself is a dangerous pollutant. Fees have a smaller, but still significant, effect. Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? Not So Fast AD READER: This episode of The Sweaty Penguin is brought to you by Christmas. I happen to have a peer-reviewed study that suggests otherwise. Twitter, Follow us on Plastic bags should be banned as it pollutes the water and land. The Massachusetts proposal may not become law this year, but its the latest sign that the plastic bag industry is losing this war. Its vital reporting made entirely possible by loyal readers like you. Of those 48, 16 had publicly available air pollution data, so I took a look at that group. A lot of the waste ends up in our communities, says Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of UPROSE, an environmental and social justice-oriented community organization in Brooklyn. Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? 2. Rather than automatically using a bag, just ask the customer for their bags, or maybe even stop keeping bags at the register at all. Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? Not So Fast How many plastic bags are replaced by one cotton tote bag? Every time you need to process a new batch of polyethylene, you bring it to the facility and say, Polly want a cracker? [ding ding ding] Wow, that was a tough one. Known as one of the greenest commercial buildings in the world, since it opened its doors on Earth Day in 2013 the Bullitt Center has been setting a new standard for sustainable design. First, we transport our fossil fuels to a type of petrochemical plant called a cracker. Cracker? That way youre reducing the amount of material thats going into the product, but you still want it to be something that youll actually find convenient and reuse with you. If so, awesome, although we should probably talk about why youre that obsessed with your tote bag. But thats not to say plastic bag recycling couldnt be more widely implemented. Okay, maybe Im going overboard, but honestly, if it were a small ordeal to get a single-use bag, I could see the inconvenience of that motivating people to bring their reusable bags to the store a whole lot more than a five or ten cent tax. Not only are there these human health concerns, but crackers and other petrochemical facilities are not located very fairly. Thats right, the solution to single use plastic isnt bans, its awkwardness! Already in Massachusetts, 32 towns and cities have passed bag bans or fees. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy. TAYLOR: When I put my economist hat, the sort of first tool that I really think that policymakers should consider is a small fee, or a tax on all the different types of carry out bags. And the most common substitute, paper bags, may be just as bad or worse, depending on the environmental problem youre most concerned about. In the last couple weeks, I believe around five of our team members got sick, so weve been struggling a little bit! But what if reusable bags arent good either? Not So Fast Like cigarettes, plastic bags have recently gone from a tolerated nuisance to a widely despised and discouraged vice. As plastic bag bans go into effect, some question the unintended People still need bags to bring home their groceries. Scientists are getting closer to understanding the neurology behind the memory problems and cognitive fuzziness that an infection can trigger.
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