Stupid-Ass California Plastic Bag Ban Suspended
The bag ban is a lesson in unintended consequences.
Judy Lin writes for the AP about the annoying plastic bag ban at stores in California:
A trade group has turned in enough signatures to qualify a referendum on California's plastic bag ban law, suspending implementation of the nation's first statewide ban until voters weigh in on the November 2016 ballot, state elections officials said Tuesday.
How 'bout the supposed benefits of that bag ban? From Reason Foundation, Julian Morris and Lance Christensen write:
The premise of these laws is to benefit the environment and reduce municipal costs. In practice, the opposite is more likely to be the case....The available evidence suggests that it will do nothing to protect the environment; quite the opposite, it will waste resources and cost Californian consumers billions of dollars. Specifically, such legislation will:
•Have practically no impact on the amount of litter generated (moreover, while banning plastic bags at small retailers might reduce plastic bag litter by 0.5%, banning the distribution of HDPE plastic bags by large retailers is unlikely to have any impact even on the amount of HDPE plastic bag litter produced.)
•Have no discernible impact on the amount of plastic in the ocean or on the number of marine animals harmed by debris;
•Increase the use of oil and other non-renewable energy resources, including coal and natural gas;
•Result in five-fold or greater increase in the shopping bag-related use of water;
•Make little or no difference to the costs of municipal waste management;
•Impose enormous costs on California's consumers, likely over $1 billion in both direct and indirect costs (such as time spent washing reusable bags).
A bit from the details -- about the claim that plastic bags are clogging storm drains:
Proponents of plastic bag bans claim the bags clog storm drains, but a comprehensive 2009 survey by Keep America Beautiful found that plastic bags of all kinds represented just less than 1% of visible litter items in storm drains.2 By contrast, as Figure 1 shows, plastic drink containers represented about 2% and other plastic items represented over 10%.3 Clearly, banning plastic bags would do little to reduce the problem of clogged storm drains, so attention should instead focus on ways to reduce the production of litter of all kinds--or mitigate its effects.
Unfortunately, the bag ban passed by idiots in LA will stay in effect. Does this mean that I'll litter less? I never littered in the first place. What it means is that I buy less at the liquor store when I go there for half 'n' half and realize I could get something else -- but I'd have to pay for a bag.
From that link above in the LA Times' Patrick McGreevy piece, follow the money:
SB 270 by former Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) would allow grocers to charge 10 cents for reusable plastic or paper bags to shoppers who do not bring their own to the store.The alliance of bag makers argued that the real purpose of the law was to enrich supermarket chains and other retailers through collection of the 10-cent fee.
The opponents said it was untrue that the plastic bags provided by supermarkets are single-use because many consumers use them again to line trash cans, pick up waste left by their pets or carry lunches to work.
"SB 270 was never a bill about the environment," Califf said. "It was a backroom deal between the California Grocers Association and their union friends to scam consumers out of billions of dollars in bag fees - all under the guise of environmentalism.
I use them when I go on walks, to pick up litter left by others.
Steve Daniels at February 25, 2015 1:25 PM
The Economic Way of Thinking about Politics
12/03/07 - Russell Roberts at Econlib
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[edited] Politicians are just like the rest of us. They find it hard to do the right thing. They claim to have principles, but when their principles clash with what is expedient, they often find a way to justify their self-interest. If they sacrifice what is noble or ideal for personal gain, they are sure to explain that it was all for the children, or the environment, or at least for the good of society.
Bruce Yandle uses bootleggers and Baptists to explain what happens when a good cause collides with special interests.
When the city council bans liquor sales on Sundays, the Baptists rejoice. It is wrong to drink on the Lord's day. The bootleggers rejoice too. It increases the demand for their services.
The Baptists give the politicians cover for doing what the bootleggers want. No politician says we should ban liquor sales on Sunday in order to enrich the bootleggers who support his campaign. The politician holds up one hand to heaven and talk about his devotion to morality. With the other hand, he collects campaign contributions (or bribes) from the bootleggers.
Yandle points out that virtually every well-intentioned regulation has a bunch of bootleggers along for the ride, special interests who profit from the idealism of the activists and altruists.
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Andrew_M_Garland at February 25, 2015 2:54 PM
"The opponents said it was untrue that the plastic bags provided by supermarkets are single-use because many consumers use them again to line trash cans . . . "
This is exactly what I do. We are required to put our garbage in plastic bags BY LAW in our town. So, rather than buying plastic garbage bags I simply re-use the shopping bags I get for my groceries. Lord, I don't want to start paying for plastic bags to throw out my garbage - so, I hope they never enact such a plastic bags ban here.
charles at February 25, 2015 6:16 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2015/02/25/stupid-ass_cali.html#comment-5867479">comment from charlesI pick up and put Aida's tiny Tootsie-roll-sized poops in them when my landlord's gardner is coming (not nice to leave them for him). And I store bacon in them, and they get multiple uses for that. Or did.
Amy Alkon at February 25, 2015 6:23 PM
It's crazy. The ban is still very much in effect up north.
Note: If I recycle, then my neighborhood wakes up to people (one guy in a Benz, natch) digging through our trash at 6 in the a.m.
If I don't recycle, Flipper dies.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at February 26, 2015 11:47 AM
I hope not at the same time Amy.
Ben at February 26, 2015 8:12 PM
As long as you tolerate liars, you'll get lies.
MarkD at February 27, 2015 8:52 AM
Everything in the grocery store is wrapped in plastic, so why are the plastic shopping bags singled out?
JoJo at March 4, 2015 2:51 PM
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