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State
legislature needs to address litter
Members
of California's Assembly and Senate have
just over two weeks to put forth new bills.
Unfortunately, it looks likely that nobody
will be inclined to reintroduce a 2002 bill
that exemplified California's environmental
progressivism.
By
putting a small tax on plastic bags and
disposable cups, Assembly Bill 586, introduced
nearly three years ago, would have caused
a serious drop in the volume of trash generated
by Californians.
Last
year the bill died from the neglect of an
Assembly committee. Our state legislators
need to take a stand against the lobbyists
and reintroduce this painless bit of green
legislation that would help clean up California.
Everybody
uses plastic bags. Some of us have a drawer
or bag full of them in the kitchen. They
float through drainage ditches and down
rivers, ultimately gracing the seas and
shorelines with their flimsy yet durable
presence. Plastic bags and disposable cups
are a part of the trash that litters surf,
sand, streets and land in California and
around the world. The bags pose a special
hazard in the water. Turtles and other marine
animals mistake them for food and try to
eat them, often dying as a result. The Earth
Resource Foundation, a non-profit environmental
education group, estimates that over 100,000
animals die each year because of plastic
bags.
The
United States Environmental Protection Agency
reported that in 2000, Californians went
through over 520,000 tons of bags and cups,
sending a mere 50 tons to the recyclers.
This means that slightly over half a million
tons of bags and cups are ending up in landfills,
incinerators or strewn across the state.
But even if people were more inclined to
recycle these single use plastics, it is
a challenge to render them suitable for
use as "post-consumer plastic."
There are, however, alternative methods
to control the number of bags and cups that
leave shopping centers and stores only to
end up as litter.
Assemblyman
Paul Koretz (42nd district) introduced Assembly
Bill 586 in February 2003. The bill would
have put a two cent tax on nearly all plastic
bags and cups. This miniscule charge would
have ended up on the customer's bill unless
they brought their own cups or bags. Fewer
disposable plastics would have been passed
out, and the amount of trash in the state
would have decreased.
Unfortunately,
plastics manufacturers had a vested interest
in ensuring that the bill, which would have
hurt their profits, never passed. Tax-averse
consumers would have driven down demand,
stores would have needed to buy fewer bags,
and the number of bags produced would have
dropped precipitously. With the exception
of the plastics industry, everybody would
have won.
That
is precisely what happened when Ireland
introduced a very similar tax in March 2002.
As reported Aug. 20, 2002 by the BBC, in
the first three months after the tax was
levied, 227 million less bags were given
out. In the course of the first full year
of taxation, overall usage had fallen by
over 90 percent. It's well worth imagining
taking a stroll down a beach and seeing
a tenth as many bags littering the shore.
Feb.
18 is the deadline for bills to be introduced
into the Senate and Assembly. While there
may be those among us who don't mind plastic
bags, if Assembly Bill 586 was passed, California
would be a cleaner and healthier place to
live. All Californians who agree would do
well to tell their legislators to reintroduce
Assembly Bill 586.
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