Banning of Plastic Bags

It is no fun when your walking inside with a handful of groceries and one of those plastic bags rip. There goes the butter and pickles rolling down the driveway. Plastic bags don't just let us down when carrying groceries they also can be harmful to wildlife. Plastic bags never decompose so they just keep filling and filling our landfills. Well some countries have come up with a plan to take care of some of these problems. In South Africa some plastic bags have been completely banned others are now taxed since 2003. Shoppers have to pay for bags in Switzerland, Holland, Germany, and a few other countries.

So what about the United States well California started a bill about plastic bags. The bill wants to banned all plastic bags and charge shoppers at least five cents for a paper bag if they choose to not use reusable bags. It hasn't been completely passed yet, but it is working its way through. Some people back the bill thinking it's a great way to help stop waste. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said " This bill will be a great victory for our environment." Stated on the MSNBC News page.

Some shoppers dislike the bill because they think that not all families will be able to afford paper bags. Others say it is a pain to keep up with reusable bags and don't always plan every time they are going to run into the store to pick something up quick. The CNS News page has statements from shoppers leaving stores about the bill.

I think that something should be done about plastic bags in all states, but it will be hard to change. What about all the people that work to produce plastic bags they will all lose their jobs. That is lots of families that lose their income. On the other hand more reusable and paper bags will need to be made. I also think if they want to charge for paper bags they could have a bin at the front of the store to return paper bags for half the cost. I know that the paper bags can't be reused for groceries, but the store could recycle the paper bags. I also think that if a bill does get passed that reusable bags should be discounted for maybe like the first month or two months so families can afford lots of them. If the bill does get passed in California I don't think that it will be long before we see similar bills in different states.

It will change more places than just grocery stores. At the daycare I work at during the fall and spring semesters we use plastic bags all the time. We just have parents bring in their grocery bags and we use many many bags everyday. If a kids gets their shirt or pants dirty from playing outside or just eating lunch we put their dirty clothes in a plastic bag for their parents to take home at the end of the day. If all plastic bags are banned than we will have to come up with a new system because their parents couldn't bring their grocery bags in to us.

It will probably be a while before there is a bill in Oklahoma or Missouri, but you never know.