Taos single-use plastic ban a good step, but falls short

On Monday (Nov. 1), Taos became the newest member of the singleuse-plastic-ban club, whose membership has been growing steadily as communities across the country seek to stem the accumulation of plastics on our lands and in our oceans. This is a step in the right direction, but still with no local recycling solution and some problematic loopholes in the Town’s ordinance, the ban still falls short of where we need to be.

For one, calling the ordinance a “Plastic Bag Ban” is a misnomer. While some stores around town have switched to paper bags by their own choosing, others are now using “reusable” plastic bags, which actually contain more plastic than traditional single-use bags. The idea is that customers, after taking their groceries home in these hardier bags, will then keep them clean enough and intact enough to use them again – and again. That’s a big bet, and if it’s a losing one, well, then we’ll probably see even more plastic littering our streets. And while paper bags are typically biodegradable and therefore much less harmful to the environment if they end up in the wild, they actually take about four times as much energy to manufacture, according to a study by National Geographic.

Compliance is also sure to be a problem for businesses, particularly small local businesses that have already been battered by a slew of economic problems caused by the pandemic. While they’ll have until the end of the year to fall in line with the ordinance, doing so in most cases will come at a cost. Single-use plastic bags are cheaper than the alternative paper or reusable plastic bags, so managers will have to either choose to eat the extra cost or pass it on to customers.

The ordinance also doesn’t incentivize businesses to make the switch, beyond the threat of being charged with a misdemeanor if they’re caught out of compliance starting next year. That can result in a fine of $300 per day or up to 30 days in jail. Like with its pandemic mandates, the Town is likely to use a more soft-handed approach to enforcement, but it might be better to swap out a punitive approach for one that helps businesses make the transition, such as a tax break to help them cover the cost to comply.

The good thing about the ordinance, despite its flaws, is that it is likely to start a slow shift in both business and consumer behavior. A 2019 study by the University of Sydney found that a similar statewide plastic bag ban in California led to a 71.5 percent reduction in plastic bag consumption after it was enacted in 2014.

In these early days, it’s tough to predict how Taos’ ban will play out over coming years, but let’s hope this first step is one of many more to come.