Classmate Wes Davis wrote a nice editorial called Bag Ban: The Impacts. He talked about the bag ban in Austin that prohibits the use of plastic carryout bags in retail stores. While Davis was able to write about both the advantages and disadvantages of the ban, I mostly only see negative things.
I agree with Davis that the bag ban is supposed to be a good thing for the environment. However, Austin is just one of few cities to implement this ban. Does it really make much of a difference to the environment if all the other hundreds of cities are still using plastic bags? Should we really bother? Whenever I decide to take a detour to HEB on the way to my apartment, it isn't until I'm in the checkout line that I realize I don't have my reusable bags. It's no problem to use the shopping cart to load all of my things into the car, but once I get home, I have to hope my roommates are home to help move all my food and crap into the house. It's a hassle for no reason if this ban won't catch on. Although, I would love to see Davis's "circus performer act."
Unlike Davis, the ban doesn't prevent me from wasting food, because I've always been frugal as hell. I don't let any of my food spoil or go bad, so having to take multiple trips to and from the store, buying a small amount of items at a time when I forget to put the bags back in my car, is nothing but an inconvenience.
The worse thing of all has to be the huge increase in shoplifting. Davis was correct in saying that reusable bags has made shoplifting much easier, especially since some people use backpacks instead of the reusable bags.
What I want to know is what's wrong with using paper bags. When the ban was first enacted and I went to HEB without knowing about it, I asked if there were any bags they could give me. The cashier told me that they could give me some paper bags, but they'd cost me about a dollar each. One, paper bags aren't very strong. They're paper! Do you know how many paper bags I'd have to purchase to carry all of my groceries?! Two, why are you charging me for paper bags? Stores always used to ask their customers if they wanted paper or plastic bags. If you're trying to save the environment by cutting out plastic bags, why offer me paper bags? You're cutting down the trees to make these paper bags. That seems counterproductive to helping the environment. And while you're offering these paper bags, why are you making me pay for them if they're okay to be used? I don't get it.
In the end, I enjoyed Davis's humorous commentary and was happy that he at least found something positive about the bag ban. However, I think maybe we should keep our plastic bags and just force people to start recycling them, or something.
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