Here Comes the Ban on Plastic Bags

The ban on plastic bags is coming.

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, have introduced a bill that would ban retail stores from providing non-biodegradable plastic bags to consumers.

I knew it was only a matter of time before this happened. According to the article, Mark Pocan says:

Moreover, because plastic bags are made with petroleum, they increase the United States' reliance on foreign crude oil, Pocan said. Biodegradable bags, in contrast, are made with the starch from corn and other agricultural products.

I find Pocan's statement disingenuous as it's the cars in the parking lots of grocery stores that undergird our reliance on foreign crude oil, not plastic bags. As I noted at the post linked above: "Plastic bags are extraordinarily energy-efficient to manufacture. Eighty percent of the plastic used to make plastic bags in the U.S. comes from North American Natural Gas, not oil. Less than .05% of a barrel of oil goes into making all the plastic bags used in the US while 93% - 95% of every barrel of crude oil is burned for fuel and heating purposes. Although they are made from natural gas or oil, plastic bags actually consume less fossil fuels during their lifetime than do compostable plastic and paper bags."

Newsflash: corn starch and other agricultural products take dead dinosaurs to be made into shopping bags. Trucks burn the same amount of diesel hauling bags here whether they're made of plastic or corn starch or paper. Instead of wrapping oneself in green and banning plastic bags to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, let's instead work on those cars in the parking lots of retail shops and grocery stores. According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Wisconsonians are driving more trucks (PDF) these days.

If it seems a bit more crowded on state roadways, here’s a couple reasons why: the number of vehicles registered in Wisconsin now totals about 5.5 million, up over 2% from last year. The popularity of trucks continues to increase with autos now outnumbering trucks by a mere 4,745 vehicles. Meanwhile, the number of licensed drivers in Wisconsin is also edging upward to just over 4 million. Male drivers slightly outnumber female drivers by about 1%.

Again, compostable plastic and paper bags use more fossil fuels during their lifetimes than plastic bags; and it's all those trucks (and vehicles generally) that represent our reliance on foreign oil.

If reducing fuel consumption is your thing, how about bolstering public transportation instead of futzing around with grocery bags? Contact your representatives in Washington and ask them to get Amtrak into the federal transportation bill because, as of now, it isn't. Perhaps Mr. Pocan can start looking at reducing traffic in the southeast corner of our state by investigating a bistate commission to oversee the Amtrak Hiawatha line which runs between Milwaukee and Chicago. I think the Midwest High Speed Rail Association makes a good case for one.

The Cap Times article is a great example of the crappy journalistic standards these days where a reporter can give the opinions of two opposing sides and assume everything has been covered and done fairly. One side says X and the other Y - what more do you need? Why can't Davidoff do something more than he said-she said with evil industry on one side and green politico on the other? How about finding out if Pocan's or Scholz's statements are true. Why not find out how much foreign crude goes into plastic bags or how recycling efforts are going? When was the statistic Pocan quoted from? Is he citing one from 1990? How long will it take a biodegradable bag to biodegrade in a landfill where it is not exposed to air or sunlight? Are any greenhouse gases released when biodegradable bags break down?

Sure there are competing sides to the issue but that doesn't mean that there isn't truth in between them somewhere. Would Davidoff and the Cap Times write an article about someone who claims the earth is flat by merely getting a round-earther's opinion and saying that there was a controversy?

Use a little skepticism and give us some data too - give us readers something to work with instead of simple he said-she said.