Introduction
Plastic bags are complex and expensive to recycle. Most of them end up in landfill areas where they take more than 200 years to photodegrade. They break down into the most minor and toxic parts that contaminate the ecology. Plastic bags also enter into the food cycle when living organisms accidentally ingest them. Plastic pollution has become one of the pressing ecological problems. The aspect is also tremendous rising due to the massive production of single-use plastic that overwhelms the global ability to deal with them. About 50% of all plastics ever produced have been made within the last 17 years. Its production rose rapidly from 3 million tons in the 1950s to 800 tons by 2019. Massive production is expected to double by 2040. Each year, approximately 10 million tons of plastic waste escapes to water from the coastal areas (Mazhandu & Muzenda, 2019). The figure is similar to shifting eight garbage bags full of trash n each foot of coastline worldwide. Plastic bags comprise numerous additives that make them more robust, flexible, and durable. Several additives can prolong the life of products if they become liter with approximates ranging from about 300 years to break down. Most of the plastic bags end in waters.
Research Questions
Does plastic bag law reduce the environmental pollution in California and Texas?
Are there any controversial issues with the plastic bag ban in California and Texas?
Hypothesis
Plastic bag ban will reduce the percentage of plastic bag by 50%
Method of the Study
The study utilized data from California and Texas websites over a particular period.
Results and Discussion
Plastic Bags Laws in California
California is among the leading states with the highest number of plastic bags, which all end up in landfills. In terms of plastic bag abundance, the amount has been increasing tremendously over the last ten years. For instance, the total number of plastic bags is 3.38% of the total waste, and grocery bags are about 2.97% (California, 2020). Several cities and counties in California have passed laws banning the distribution of high adhesive polyethylene plastic shopping bags and mandating costs for paper bags. State Senator Alex Padilla passed the bill that could impose exact needs across the state. The main goals of the bill are to protect the environment and decrease municipal expenses. At the time of enacting the law, more than 190 municipalities in 16 states and the District of Columbia have introduced the law on the ban of plastic bags. California is the leading state of plastic bag ban with the law nearly ultimately enacted in about 90 municipal councils such as Los Angeles and San Francisco.
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Apart from the plastic bags ban, California mandates retailers to gather some fees for paper bags. In numerous instances, this cost is set at $0.10. However, some municipal countries have high costs, such as $0.15, and many have been projected to increase costs to about $0.40 from the usual $0.25 (California, 2020). Proponents of the ban had some claims that restrictions on plastic bags would decrease and safeguard the marine environment, decrease people's consumption of resources, decrease waste and save residents` money on taxes. The restriction could also decrease emissions of greenhouse gases. California
Successes of California Plastic Bag Ban
There is clear proof that California statewide plastic bag ban is working. Several reports have highlighted that the law linked with waste management has decreased environmental pollution. Evidence from the Call Cycle found that clients brought their bags in 86% of the transaction and did not buy papers or reusable bags. In that case, the report recorded an 85% decrement in the quantity of plastic bags and a 61% decrement in the amount of paper bags offered to clients. Before SB 270, there were 435 reported single-use bags and 116 paper bags. The total estimates were 3,081 tons and 6,044 tons, respectively (Xanthos & Walker, 2017). After introducing the bill, the quantity of reusable plastic and recycled plastic bags was introduced, and the estimated tones as of June 20, 2017, were 1601 and 2358, respectively.
Numerous reports have argued that California's plastic bags have led to a moderate rise in paper utilization and pushed some clients to utilize other means. For instance, thicker bags were purchase to replace single-use plastic gas. In a comparison of tons, the report found that about 28.5% of the plastic bags have decreased due to the bad due to replacing other alternative bags. Another study argued that California plastic bag has become effective because it has drastically reduced plastic bags usage by more than 70%. It also took 100% of the grocery bags out of the recycling mechanical, where it has been a big problem when it comes to machinery costs. The bill also maintained people from the littering community and ecology as a whole.
Plastic bag bans have also proven in California that it has a successful beginning line of safeguarding the environment. Plastic bags are usually the wrong choice because they pollute the environment and delay all living organizations. Although it has not solved the plastic problems in the state, it has assisted in changing its consumption habits and cause customers and retailers to determine the best alternatives to paper bags.
Additionally, plastic bag fees on customers have proven to decrease the amount of single-use plastic bags found on the beaches and neighborhood. The information provided by California data has shown that percentage of trash collected has been reducing drastically since 2008. California plastic bags had reduced from 6% in 2008 to about 3.8% in 2020. Paper bags in the state has reduced from about 3.5% in 2008 to 0% in 2020 (California, 2020). This information demonstrates that a fee on paper and other bags is a required method in ensuring that the utilization of plastic bags reduces.
Failures of Plastic Bag Ban in California
California plastic bag ban has received mixed reactions from local shoppers as well as the media. Several studies have found deficiencies with the California state law. They argued that the laws need the most significant food retailers to recycle plastic bags. It has been transparent that plastic bag recycling does not work due to financial incentives. The stores are needed to submit yearly reports shows the quantity of plastic bags purchased, how many were returned by customers and which recycling factories processed, yet the state recycling unit cannot measure how many stores are complying. This voluntary data collection produces unsatisfactory results. Many reports found that there have been numerous data that have not been evaluated since 2016, 4 years after the law was enacted (Staub, 2020). About only 3% of California plastic bags have been recycled, which is only approximately a 1% increase from the past years.
Additionally, while the overall plastic bags bough and recycled during the last four years are available after several media requirements, the figures have not been verified so that the formal recycling percentage can be updated. The initiative lacks resources to evaluate the latest program. There is no money charged to plastic manufacturers, recycling companies, or retailers to assist pay workers. While the bill enables fines, if the supermarkets and shops do not adhere, no penalties have been introduced.
Another significant failure is that most recycling companies do not want to deal with plastic bags because their machinery is too expensive and that they only handle profitable products such as plastic bottles and aluminum cans. For instance, in numerous cities across California, they stopped gathering plastic bags because there is no market for plastics. Also, other companies have directed residents not to place plastic bags on the curbside or other single-stream recycling bins. This aspect implies that, in theory, it is an excellent idea to segregate plastic bags so that they can be reused separately. However, in reality, it does not work because the recycling process is expensive and non-profitable.
Recommendations for the Legislation
To improve the effectiveness of the ordinary, the state should mandate the stores to report bags sales and usage to comprehend what to plan, such as increasing fees on paper and reusable bags. While the cost of $0.10 has been demonstrated to incentivize clients to bring personal bags, a higher fee would dramatically alter the habits to reuse the plastic films and increase the percentage of shoppers who use their bags.
Texas Plastic Bag Ban: Case Study in Austin
The Single-Use Carryout Bag Ordinance (SUBO) was enacted in 2013. The bill regulated the kind of bags that retailers could distribute in Austin and encourage the utilization of reusable bags. Austin is different among Texas cities due to its distinct regulations to introduce strategies to safeguard the environment. There are no plastic bag fees in the regulation, so it is a precise and straightforward regulation of single-use bags. The guideline accepts reusable bags made of machine washable material of all types. The ordinance also allows plastic film but must be at least 4-millimeter-thick to act as reusable bags.
Austin also enables vital communication in stores to assist retailers and shoppers to work collaboratively to reduce plastic bag waste. Reusable bags must depict messages transparently, elaborating their re-usability. Supermarkets must also post signs in Spanish and English, highlighting the city's ban on single-use bags and encouraging clients to remember the guideline. The Austin Resource Recovery Center argues that the law will affect more than 100,000 businesses such as supermarkets and liquor stores (Smithline, 2019). The Austin City Council approved the law because they realized that residents utilized more than 200,000 million plastic bags annually, which cost the city approximately $900,000 in year trash expenses.
The Success of the Austin Plastic Bag Ban
The main goal of the regulation is to alter the habits of residents within the geographical region governed by political administration. Regarding the ordination, the amount of single-use plastic bags has decreased drastically, decreasing plastic fil litter and reducing the environmental and recycling costs. The percentage of trash gather since 2008 has been decreasing drastically. Texas plastic bags was about 10% in 2008 and reduced to about 3.8% in 2020. The amount of paper bags trash collected in 2008 was 6% in 2008 and has decreased to 3.8% in 2020. These figures demonstrate the massive success of plastic bag reduction in Austin.
According to the Zero Waste goals, the City of Austin has designed to divert 90% of its waste out of landfills by 2040. These initiatives include introducing the Universal Recycling Ordinance and organic diversion method to promote and enable compost collection as residential services. Decreasing plastic bags, single-use bags, and reusable ones is a positive way to realize the objective of the Zero Waste initiative. Since the law's enactment, the overall weight reduction of plastic bags currently stands at 0.018% (Mazhandu & Muzenda, 2019). With eradicating reusable plastic bags, the reduction of overall plastic bags could be about 1.9 tons and make the city achieve the Zero Waste goals.
There are numerous positive impacts that Austin has realized since the enactment of the plastic bag ban. The retail stores which are the provider of single-use bags have realized profits because the costs associated to its processing has disappeared. Once the retailers in the region ban single-use bags, the costs associated with offering them have been eradicated in the bottom line. The expenses have shifted to customers who do not have to buy bags, thus saving on costs. Several studies have also found that the ban has decreased the number of single-use bags among consumers. The report argues that the band has realized about 200,000 decrements in plastic bags. The litter bags are also lower compared to the past years (Ocean Conservancy, 2018). Compared to the nearby city of Fort Worth, which has a decreasing rate of 11% bags in their litter, Austin has the smallest percentage of 0.2% of single-use bags in the litter.
Failures of Austin Plastic Bag Ban
Despite the decrement in lightweight plastic bags, the ban demonstrates massive failure because the weight of 4 millimeters is still ending up in landfills. Single-use plastic bags were much lighter and could be recycled easily. The ban did not evaluate the effect of carryout plastic bags both before and after the guideline. The weight of grocery bags disposed of in the litter could have been quickly evaluated and would have demonstrated the future failure of the pans. The city council could have calculated the recycling rates for each kind of shopping bag. They could have known that the weight of the remaining shopping bags dumped in the litter rises by a variable of four.
The ordinance did not offer an accurate perspective of plastic bag litter. The ban also recognized the decrement of single-use bags but did not evaluate the litter percentage of 4 millimeters plastic reusable bags. These types of bags could potentially hinder animals. The litter audit so few shows that the remaining 50% of plastic bags, such as product bags, trash, and zip-lock bags that were not limited in the ordinance, are still likely to be problematic to ecology single-use plastic bags (Bag Law Maps, 2020). Generally, it shows that the ban is not economical and also fails to alter consumer habits to alternatives.
Recommendations for the Legislation
The self-evaluation of the Austin plastic bag ban suggests the eradication of the 4-millimeter reusable plastic bag. The main reason is that it will further eradicate an extra 24 tons of plastic fil entering the recycling plans and subsequently dumped in the litter so that the city can realize the Zero Waste Plan (Walter, 2016). Additionally, the City Council should educate consumers on the correct recycling procedure to remove plastic bags from the litter. There should also be encouragement on reusable plastic bags through the city to enhance waste management efficiency.
The City of Austin should organize massive awareness of numerous neighboring towns to implement the plastic bag ban to alter the landfill concern and enhance consumer habits changes. There should also be a correct reuse procedure to increase the lifespan to the purchases reusable plastic bags. Public education efforts should teach consumers to divert plastic grocery bags out of the litter to the recycling bin in the local store where they will be reused within the shortest time.
Errors in the Study
The main error during the study is sampling. There was some variation of data provided by different reports, making it hard to estimate the parameter of a problem. This happened because inference about the whole population is based on data obtained from several sources, which might be biased based on their particular interests. In this case, I found it hard to deduce the whole estimate and provide concrete recommendations to the plastic bag ban.
References
Bag Law Maps. (2020). Bag law maps — PlasticBagLaws.org . PlasticBagLaws.org. https://www.plasticbaglaws.org/bagmaps
California. (2020). California . Bag Laws by S. Walter Packaging | The Resource for Retail Packaging Legislation. https://www.baglaws.com/legislation/state/california/ for Management of Reusable Grocery Bags in California. California Department of Resources
Mazhandu, Z. S., & Muzenda, E. (2019). Global plastic waste pollution challenges and management. 2019 7th International Renewable and Sustainable Energy Conference (IRSEC) . https://doi.org/10.1109/irsec48032.2019.9078268
Ocean Conservancy. (2018). TIDES. https://www.coastalcleanupdata.org/
Smithline, S. (2019). SB 270 Report to the Legislature. Implementation Update and Policy Considerations
Staub, C. (2020, June 24). California reinstates bag ban and PCR requirements . Plastics Recycling Update. https://resource-recycling.com/plastics/2020/06/24/california-reinstates-bag-ban-and-pcr-requirements/
Walter, S. (2016). Texas . Bag Laws By S. Walter Packaging | The Resource For Retail Packaging Legislation. https://www.baglaws.com/legislation/state/texas/
Xanthos, D., & Walker, T. R. (2017). International policies to reduce plastic marine pollution from single-use plastics (plastic bags and microbeads): A review. Marine Pollution Bulletin , 118 (1-2), 17-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.02.048
