One of the most important things a citizen can do besides voting, is to write their legislator, and let them know their thoughts on issues of the days. I recently wrote my county legislator, Vicky Plottsky about theproposed bag banthat is likely to be taken up in the next few week sin the county legislature.
Dear Ms. Victoria Plotsky:
I am writing you to urge you to vote no on the proposed Albany County Local Law “D”, The Eliminate Single-Use Plastic Bag Use in Albany County Act”.
I believe this law is not only unnecessary, it’s misleading in it’s purpose and bad public policy. This law would not only ban plastic bags, but also charge a new tax on environmentally-superior paper bags.
Plastic bags are convenient for consumers like myself, but generate minimal waste compared most other packaging consumer goods come in today. Moreover, all big-box retailers in the state of New York are required to take back plastic bags from consumers. Even when plastic bags aren’t recycled, they have a wide variety of uses in their reuse — like boot liners, keeping one’s lunch from leaking onto their backpack, or even trash can liners.
That said, I have no objection with banning plastic bags in favor of paper bags. Indeed, this is a public policy that should be explored further by county government. An increase in the use of paper bags would have significant environmental benefits.
The use of paper bags support local farms and forest owners. They will encourage more people to plant timber species, helping to sequester carbon dioxide out of the air and reduce climate change. Paper bags can be conveniently recycled with most mixed-paper recycling programs, and used for composting.
Paper bags rot relatively quickly, they provide few of the litter concerns that plastics cause. They are non-toxic. They don’t block up waterways, they don’t get stuck in trees. The environmental benefits to paper bags are only positive — they should be encouraged, not discouraged.
Taxing paper bags is a new tax on local families. Rather then taxing them, we should be promoting them — so we can have healthy forests that provide habitat for wildlife, recreation for citizens, and increased for the opportunities for the public to hunt and trap. Managed forests are healthier, have larger wildlife populations and increase carbon sequestration. A healthy pulp and paper industry, creates jobs and is good for our region’s economy.
Therefore, I believe you should vote no on the proposed Local Law “D”.
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.
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