Ban the Bag or Bag the Ban? Industry Weighs In

As San Bruno and San Mateo County are gearing up to consider plastic bag bans to battle pollution throughout the area, a separate battle has been taking place throughout the country: a battle against the bans.

Soon after I posted a prohibiting stores from offering customers plastic bags and charging people for paper bags, I got an email from a public relations firm working with Hilex Poly, the nation's largest plastic bag maker, informing me that the plastic bag industry has embarked on a campaign of its own to fight back against these bans.

According to BagtheBan.org, a website created in response to the plastic bag bans being proposed in a number of cities, the bans would actually hurt the environment and the economy because people would be forced to buy reusable bags.

"Studies show that taxes and bans don't keep plastic litter out of the landfill," the site states. "Without plastic grocery bags, people just purchase replacement bags—often made of thicker, heavier plastic—and then send those bags to the landfill, too."

As an alternative to what environmental groups often say—as the county environmental health director told the council at its last meeting—the plastic bag industry has been standing behind its message that there are benefits to plastic bags because, they say, they're 100 percent recyclable.

Industry representatives have also said that cities considering bans often overlook the unintended consequences that an ordinance could have on the economy and consumer health.

Will that effort, however, be enough to convince city officials here that banning plastic bags would be a bad idea?

Already, 75 cities in the U.S. have approved plastic bag bans, a number that has doubled since the end of 2011, according to PlasticNews.com.

It appears the momentum continues to build, especially in California, which has two-thirds of all the plastic bag bans in the country.

Mark Daniels, vice president of Hilex Poly, gave his thoughts on the bans in an interview with PlasticNews.com in May:

“Even though plastic bag litter is a fraction of 1 percent, it is visible litter and lighter than water, so it floats on the surface,” making it an easy target for environmentalists, he said. “Plastic bag ordinances are a perfect example of what happens when city council members base decisions on junk science and ignore the facts.”

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