Phasing Out Plastic Grocery Bags

by ARTHUR VIDRO
WHAT IT’S WORTH
By Arthur Vidro

Gov. Janet Mills of Maine earlier this month signed legislation, already passed by both houses of the state legislature, to ban single-use plastic bags from grocery stores by the year 2020.For which Maine deserves credit.

Maine was already the first state to ban single-use food and drink containers made from polystyrene foam.

Plastic bags, and the plastics derivative used in foam, fill up our landfills and pollute our oceans and seas. Basically they do not decompose, at least not to the extent of the materials they replaced.

As a society today we look back in disgust and disappointment at how our ancestors were enamored of the seemingly wonderful asbestos industry, which had its heyday from the late 1800s until about the 1970s. Because of asbestos, we could fireproof practically anything. The material had other uses too.

But eventually we came to regard asbestos as a cancer-causing evil, to be avoided at nearly all costs. I can recall living in a rented house where only one company was brave (or foolish?) enough to risk traipsing into the asbestos-peeling cellar to deliver heating oil. Nowadays only a few of the developed nations in the world have not banned asbestos; the United States is one of those few.

I predict our descendants will look back with the same disgust and disappointment on us and wonder how we could have been so enamored of plastic.

Part of the answer is that we love new products. Plastic bags in the groceries and supermarkets were the new kids on the block at one time, making folks like me who preferred paper bags seem like old fogies.

At first, many stores eliminated paper bags entirely. Their reasoning is understandable, though not laudable. The customers were not paying for any bags, the plastic bags have always been cheaper, and in the USA we somehow equate cheaper with preferable. Or at least those of us making decisions for big corporations think so.

I never cared for the plastic bags. They have no shape. Items spill out of them and roll all over the car floor. They’re not strong. Face it, they’re flimsy. Ever try walking a mile or so with some plastic bags full of groceries? I tried, back in my college days. The canned goods inevitably created holes in the plastic and then everything toppled to the sidewalk. I ended up performing a sort of triage by deciding which items to sacrifice and which to continue to lug in the plastic bags that hadn’t yet split apart.

Even nowadays I still prefer paper bags over plastic, but have taken to usually bringing my own cloth bags into the shops.

So is this the end of the ubiquitous plastic bag?

Not by a long shot. First of all, the ban in Maine covers only grocery stores and supermarkets.

More important, not every state will follow Maine’s leadership.

In Florida, a bill reached Governor Ron DeSantis’ desk that would have prevented local governments from banning plastic straws. The governor vetoed that bill, so Florida’s local governments are still permitted to ban plastic straws. The fact that such a bill was passed by the legislature, though, shows a significant anti-ban force is out there.

The new law in Maine is the only statewide ban for now, but many municipalities have similar bans. Salem, Oregon is already adjusting to life without its now-banned plastic shopping bags. As can be expected, some applaud the ban while others are outraged by it.

What next? Probably plastic straws will be swept into oblivion in the developed world. I remember the switchover from paper straws to plastic. I preferred the paper.

Perhaps someday we’ll shake our heads in disgust at the damage caused by batteries in so many of today’s products – including products that were doing just fine before it became possible to make them operate by batteries. For instance, wristwatches. My watch is an old wind-up that’s been working just fine since Regan was president.

Someday, perhaps, when we realize how many watch batteries get replaced and trashed, and how much damage occurs from the leaked chemicals they contain, wind-ups will make a comeback too.

But for now it’s plastic bags that are on the way out. Paper bags are coming back in. And cloth bags will be encouraged.

That’s a good small step for the environment.

And perhaps some of you who grew up with plastic bags and prefer them to bringing your own bags will someday look back in fondness at the years when stores cheerfully bagged all your purchases in plastic.

Then it will be you, not me, who will be the old fogy.

If you have consumerism questions, send them to Arthur Vidro care of this newspaper, which publishes his column every weekend.