I like the idea of banning plastic shopping bags but I am opposed to taxing or discouraging the use of paper bags as an alternative.

Plastic shopping bags really have three strikes against them. The first is litter. They sometimes blow out car windows, out garbage trucks and landfills. The second is they don’t really break down outside of combustion. Rotting and solar degradation isn’t enough to break down large chains of polymers without burning. Fire is a natural part of many landscapes but much of our world today is fire suppressed due to the risk to property and concerns about pollution. The third thing against plastic is they are made out of a non-renewable resource. Unlike trees you can’t just plant another oil well.

A better option is using paper bags. Not taxing them but actively encouraging their use. Paper bags are a renewable resource made from an often organic crop. They subject carbon out of the air. Timber production helps support healthy forests, good jobs, recycling of paper, and helps keep recreational lands for hunting, fishing, camping and leads to protection of clean water. Even when paper bags become litter they will quickly biodegrade. Paper bags are recyclable at the curb side, can be used as kindling for starting woodstoves, have many uses around the house.

Cloth bags are fine but in my experience they quickly become dirty and wear out. I often forget where I put mine and they’re not convenient when shopping. I often use plastic bags at the store but would be more than happy to use paper bags if they were available – one less thing to have to remember to bring back to the store for recycling.

I understand that paper bags are somewhat more expensive to manufacture then plastic. It’s more complicated to manage forests properly or to collect and recycle paper than it is to make thin plastic bags from ethylene, a byproduct of natural gas production. But most retailers used to offer paper bags as part of the normal cost of doing business, so I see no reason not to go back to them.