L.A. Bans Plastic Bags, Misses Larger Point

Last month, Los Angeles banned plastic bags. That's good for the environment. Ask any seagull. It's also fairly coercive.

You can already see where this is going: No money in the world can buy plastic bags legally. Bag peddlers get pushed out on the street, start an underground economy, and charge exorbitant amounts of money for bags of dubious quality. Cartels and bag gangs form. Conflicts ensue, tearing at the very fabric of society.

Not quite. This is plastic bags after all. Still, the L.A. ban effectively puts an infinite price on plastic bags. Disposable plastic bags have real costs. Again, ask any seagull. But infinity seems like a high price to pay.

There are some clear limits to markets. But even Nicholas Kristof's review of Michael Sandel's latest book, on the limits of markets, makes an exception for pollution. Pricing pollution appropriately -- through a pollution tax or an outright cap -- is most often the better choice.

Ireland decreased its plastic bag use by 90 percent, a billion bags a year, through a 15 Eurocent PlasTax in 2002 (since raised to 22 cents). Washington, D.C., similarly has had a five-cent fee since 2010, leading to large decreases. Those fees may well be too low to be optimal. But I can't imagine the true environmental cost of the average plastic bag to be more than, say, a buck.

There's also a much larger point here. We are talking about plastic bags here. Even if the world embraced the smartest possible plastic-bag policy -- an Ireland-style small fee and fundamental global shift in norms -- the planet would notice, at best, a baby step.

But perhaps some of these rather non-intrusive PlasTaxes with huge environmental benefits can show the way for much larger environmental problems, like carbon pollution. Banning carbon is out. We could do a lot worse than use well-designed PlasTaxes as as way to point to how environmental policy done right can work in practice.

 

 

 

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Comments

[riverhouse]

04:15 PM on 06/09/2012

It's not that hard to keep a stash of tote bags in the trunk. This is LA. We drive to Ralph's and Gelson's.

[bamboozled]

11:16 PM on 06/08/2012

I totally disagree. In fact, we have plenty of proof that banning something changes behavior better than taxing it. Take smoking. Banned in L.A. restaurants and it actually created a stigma on smoking, people realized that it made for a better environment and the ban spread to other major cities. Meanwhile, Australia doesn't have an outdoor smoking ban but taxes heavily--and I mean, it's $17 for a pack of cigarettes. Yet smoking is much more commonplace.

I appreciate that L.A. has taken a stand against frivolous waste and needless pollution. You say it's a tiny step, but L.A. contains at least 3% of the U.S. population, more like 6% if it spreads to the suburbs (some of which already banned them). That's not a small step, that's a good start.

It might even save us a few bucks on our groceries. And I guarantee other cities will follow suit.

[HollisHoHo]

11:12 PM on 06/08/2012

How does banning plastic bags make sense considering the tons of plastic containers, wrappers, etc. that are still in use in the supermarkets? Think about it the next time you fill your paper bags with a container of milk, fresh meat, ice cream, etc.

[SoCalDan]

09:03 PM on 06/08/2012

Weak argument made for banning plastic bags. The point is to stop using disposable bags, not reduce the use of disposable bags. The writer should show evidence that bans do not work. Or how banning plastic bags is less effective than taxes placed on plastic bags. All this is weak speculation on the part of the writer.

[BriS]

05:46 PM on 06/08/2012

The concept of reducing plastic bag usage via a surcharge is, in theory, a good idea. But I still think an outright ban is more effective. You can't choose when you don't have a choice. I know that sounds counter to our love of endless choices/options, but in this instance there are two choices. Paper bag (.10c) or bring your own. If you include a plastic bag option, I think people will choose plastic over paper. That would eliminate the desired effect of zero (or near zero) plastic in our gutters, rivers, beaches and landfills.