Bill banning plastic, paper bags will have unintended consequences
According to the story “Two Tennessee lawmakers want to ban plastic bags – and grocery stores are on board,” a bill has been submitted to the General Assembly by state Sen. Richard Briggs and state Rep. Dave Wright.
That bill would ban grocery stores, food service businesses and other retail outlets in the state from providing free plastic or paper carryout bags to their customers. The stores would be required to offer reusable bags for sale to customers to hold their purchases.
This bill is a bad one on several levels and will likely have unintended negative consequences if passed. Take my own family’s situation, for example. We always choose paper bags when we grocery shop. We do not discard them when we get home, instead placing them in a receptacle and reusing them to hold household refuse, which I take out to the trash cart every evening.
If we did not have the free paper grocery bags, we would have to buy single-use plastic bags to hold the garbage. I doubt we are the only family that does this. Thus the consequence of banning paper grocery bags would mean more plastic bags in landfills.
The paper bags are biodegradable and will quickly decompose in landfills, compared to the hundreds of years it may take for the plastic one to decompose. Whereas plastic bags are made from petrochemicals, paper bags are made from a renewable source, wood pulp from trees.
As trees are cut down, new ones are planted by the timber companies to replace them.
It should be noted that many grocery stores and other retail establishments provide recycling receptacles on site to recycle their plastic carry-out bags. Shoppers have no excuse for discarding the bags after one use.
According to the article, Briggs received input from executives of the Kroger and Publix grocery chains in creating his bill, and the chains favor the proposed law. Of course these stores will benefit if the bill is passed. They will save the cost of the paper and plastic bags and would make a small profit on the sale of reusable bags. Better yet, these stores and others could tout themselves as being more “green” in hopes of impressing the environmental lobby.
The nanny state has made enough intrusions into our lives.
There are federal regulations on what light bulbs we can use, what toilets are acceptable, and in Tennessee there are laws determining how children can wear pants.
This new bill extending the nanny state should not be passed, or at the very least, the paper bag provision should be removed.
John Fox is a retired state worker and freelance writer from Williamson County.
According to the article, Briggs received input from executives of the Kroger and Publix grocery chains in creating his bill, and the chains favor the proposed law. Of course these stores will benefit if the bill is passed.