opinion

Opinion: Plastic bags pose no threat to anyone

Didn’t I make myself clear?

Almost a year and a half ago (Sept. 24, 2018, to be exact) I explained to readers of this newspaper why banning plastic bags is a dumb idea.

Such bans do nothing to "help the environment" or "protect the planet." And they make it harder for unmotorized poor people to carry groceries from neighborhood markets to their homes.

More: If you live in Cincinnati, you may soon say goodbye to single-use plastic bags

The invention of these bags was a marvel. They are strong, light and reusable for other things, as any pet owner will attest.

Alternatives to them (paper, cloth, etc.) have much bigger carbon footprints and are greater threats to public health. (Think of the bacteria that can linger for days or weeks in cloth bags.)

A properly disposed of plastic bag presents no threat to anyone, let alone the entire planet.

For those and other reasons, some local and foreign governments that have imposed such bans on their citizens have repealed them. And still, the anti-plastic bag brigade in this country continues to believe they are doing God’s work. They aren’t. They are misinformed busybodies who enjoy telling other people what to do.

Former New York Times journalist John Tierney has been writing about environmental issues for decades. He recently wrote a piece that was excerpted in The Wall Street Journal that begins:

"Why do politicians want to take away our plastic bags and straws? This moral panic is intensifying even as evidence mounts that banning plastic is both a waste of money and harmful to the environment. If you want to protect dolphins and sea turtles, you should take special care to place your plastic in the trash, not the recycling bin. And if you’re worried about climate change, you’ll cherish those gossamer grocery bags once you learn the facts about plastic."

Just the other day, Cincinnati Councilman Chris Seelbach proved Tierney’s point in a guest column. He is proposing a plastic bag ban for the entire city. Why? Because the "mountain of waste caused by these flimsy bags affects our citizens every day."

Does it? Does it really?

Obviously, a plastic bag on the loose in this world, stuck in a tree or wallowing in a gutter, offends the sensibilities of most civilized people. But let’s not confuse litter with environmental disaster.

Instead of banning all bags, maybe Mr. Seelbach should consider upping the fines for littering. Go from $250 to $1,000, and actually enforce it. Pay citizens to capture litterbugs on their iPhones and turn them in. Put liens on their homes if they don’t pay.

Crazier still is Seelbach’s unsubstantiated claim that such a ban will save taxpayers "millions" of dollars in costs for "unclogging jammed recycling systems, garbage trucks and sorting machines."

Here’s another idea, let’s dispense with all this useless recycling (see Tierney for more on that), much of which ends up in our landfills anyway.

Seelbach brags that the Kroger supermarket chain, which announced it will get rid of plastic bags by 2025, is supportive of his legislation. "Kroger," he writes, "has seen that from an economical and an environmental standpoint, the free flimsy bags we’ve seen for the last 30 years cannot continue."

This is pure baloney. What Kroger has seen is which way the political winds are blowing. There is no economic advantage to force people to pay more for paper or heavier plastic bags to carry their groceries. There is no environmental benefit either. This is nothing but anti-science, moral preening at its most odious.

As Tierney concludes:

"Plastic bans are a modern version of medieval sumptuary laws, which forbade merchants and other commoners to wear clothes or use products that offended the sensibilities of aristocrats and clergymen. Green activists have the power to impose their preferences now that environmentalism is essentially the state religion in progressive strongholds. They can lord it over the modern merchant class and corporations desperately trying to curry social favor. The plastic panic gives politicians and greens the leverage to shake down companies afraid that they’ll be regulated out of business."

Mr. Seelbach claims he wants "feedback" from the public before the city passes such a law. Such feedback, if it doesn’t comport with what he and his fellow activists like, will no doubt be ignored in the name of enlightened green progressivism. It will show what an energized, virtue-signaling minority can impose on less passionate and passive majority.

I say put it to a vote. Make it a ballot issue.

All those in favor of outlawing plastic bags check this box, all those opposed, this one.

And anyone rich enough to own a car to transport their groceries to their homes should not be allowed to vote.

How’s that for feedback, councilman?

Gil Spencer is a Hyde Park resident and member of The Enquirer editorial board.