PLASTIC BAG BAN SNUFFS JOBS

Not satisfied that Portland and Corvallis have chosen to ban ethylene “plastic” bags, Democrat legislators would now like to deprive the entire population of Oregon of the ability to use them. The ethylene bag ban is being readied for the upcoming legislature. Sadly, Democrats’ posturing on this issue du jour will kill jobs.

A study released in August- shows the Los Angeles County bag ban punished retailers and resulted in fewer shoppers. The loss of business resulted in a 10% job loss at retailers inside the ban area. According to the study:

Banning plastic bags causes significant economic harm. Proponents of plastic bag bans primarily argue that such bans reduce the amount of waste entering landfills, lessen litter problems, help protect the environment and reduce petroleum consumption. However, none of these claims is supported by facts.

Oops.

While a ban in an entire state isn’t an apples to apples comparison, when I spoke with the head of the study on the program last Friday (check back here for Taftcast), she confirmed the LA study is predictive for border areas of Oregon and would undoubtedly result in job losses throughout the state. 

In the LA study the unincorporated area of LA banned ethylene bags while the City did not. This resulted in higher costs for stores in  the bag ban areas:

Many stores also began purchasing reusable bags. While 43 percent of stores in the ban area had not purchased reusable bags before, every store purchased these bags after the ban. And nearly half of these stores (48 percent), lost money on reusable bags. Of the stores that lost money, 38 percent expected the losses to stop after 1 month to 3 months, another 38 percent thought the losses would continue indefinitely. In order to stop losing money, 29 percent of stores ceased providing free reusable bags, and another 36 percent increased prices on these bags. Most stores also lost money on paper bags. 

 And more fall out that doesn’t seem to make the headlines:

Paper bags also produce more greenhouse gases. Plastic bags generate 68 percent fewer greenhouse gases than composted paper bags. Plastic bags consume 71 percent less energy during production than paper bags.

I love paper bags. I’m not as big a fan of “plastic” ones. All of my bags are reused at least twice. Reusable bags are a pain. They’ve been shown to carry cooties from dripping meats and rotting vegetables to, oh, norovirus. I don’t remember to take them, I don’t like to buy them, and on the occasions I have used them, washing them either, 1) shrinks them, or, 2) breaks them down very quickly. Finally–and ironically–they’re usually made of real plastic and are made in China. Oh, and one more thing found by the study:

Reusable bags may be the worst of all. Such bags need to be used 104 times to be less polluting than plastic bags. However, such bags are used only 52 times on average …For an equivalent amount of groceries, single-use plastic bags produce 15.5 pounds of waste while paper bags produce nearly 75 pounds of plastic waste.

PLASTIC BAG MONSTER SCARES AWAY JOBS

See some of my previous posts on plastic bag bans, starting with the fact that they’re not plastic, they aren’t found in the gyre in the Pacific, and that local politicians use the issue to look green while not accomplishing much. 

The sampling of posts are not necessarily in any order:
http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2011/01/oregon-lefts-plastic-bag-ban-claim.html
http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2011/07/portlands-rainbow-city-council-bans.html
http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2011/02/suffocate-plastic-bag-ban-proposal-in.html
http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2011/07/portlands-rainbow-city-council-bans.html
http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2011/01/oregon-lefts-plastic-bag-ban-claim.html
http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2011/01/oregon-lefts-plastic-bag-ban-claim.html
http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2011/07/portlands-government-issued-shopping.html
http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2010/07/plastic-bag-ban-portland-to-issue.html
http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2011/02/suffocate-plastic-bag-ban-proposal-in.html
http://victoriataftkpam.blogspot.com/2011/07/portlands-government-issued-shopping.html

UPDATED***** SIGN THE PETITION TO HELP STOP THIS:
http://www.bagtheban.com/take-action/oregonstatewidedec2012