Putting a fee on bags? Just get rid of them

The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports Fayetteville is considering a “10-cent fee on bags” at big-box stores. And just how laughable is that? Does anyone really think a dime charge will make even the slightest dent in the use of plastic bags? Indicative of the seriousness of such a measure, only 58% said the 10-cent surcharge would make a difference in their shopping.

Fayetteville City Council members, get real.

Enact a measure of $1 per bag. No, get even more real. Make it $5 per bag. You might actually make a difference “in reducing litter in the city’s waterways and reducing trash in the landfill.”

On the other hand, if you really wish to be serious about this matter, ban such bags all together. And a plea that “it just wouldn’t work” or “people won’t abide it” is plain rubbish.

I lived a year in Oslo, Norway, as a Fulbright scholar in the late 1950s. Of course, there were no such plastic bags then, but there were paper bags. Even these were not available in the stores, as Norway was still recovering from the economics of World War II. A person either brought his/her own reusable bags, or the merchandise remained on the counter. Or, perhaps on the floor.

And how did the Norwegians handle the situation? They brought their own bags to the store.

Even now, people here can buy reusable cloth bags for 50 cents each. Should a person not have, or fail to remember to bring, such bags, they can purchase these items on the spot, take their goods home and be ready to reuse the bags another time.

If absolutely no paper or plastic bags were available at stores, we would all be amazed at how quickly all of us would learn to bring along our own reusable bags. It’s been done.

J.R. “DOC” IRWIN Bella Vista