Massachusetts Uses 25% Fewer Plastic Bags!

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and the Massachusetts Food Association (MFA) are excited to "Sack the Bag" too! 

As of Summer 2010, the MassDEP and the MFA issued a press release announcing a 25% decrease in plastic and paper bag distribution since 2007 in participating supermarkets.  There are 384 participating stores among the following 12 chains that have tracked paper and plastic bag use since 2007: Big Y Supermarkets, Crosby’s, DeMoulas Market Basket, Donelan’s, Foodmaster, Hannaford Bros., Price Chopper, PriceRite, Roche Bros., Shaw’s Supermarkets, The Stop and Shop Supermarket Co., and Trucchi’s.

This is a completely voluntary-based approach for both the grocery chains and consumers, which requires training on both ends.  Consumers are reminded to bring their own bags; reminded to recycle their plastic bags; and are provided with cash incentives for using their own bags.  The grocery staff was trained to offer reusable bags and reduce wasteful bag use while bagging groceries.

The partnership between the MassDEP and the MFA aims to reduce grocery bag distribution by 33% by 2013.  However, with already with a 25% decrease just by mere motivation and a little bit of education, why not aim higher?  The truth is, we cannot afford to continue to litter our city and clog our land with continued use of plastic bags.  This effective partnership between the MFA (private institution) and the MassDEP (public institution) could use this successful measure to try other means of waste reduction, such as running trials of no plastic bag distribution, or charging a small fee for plastic bags.

Plastic Shopping Bag Fact Sheet

PLASTIC SHOPPING BAG FACT SHEET

SEPTEMBER 2010

           

           Where do plastic bags come from, and where do they go?

• Made from Polyethylene
• 80% of polyethylene is produced from natural gas: an abundant,  yet non-renewable resource
• Never to be returned to an organic state
• It takes ~500-1,000 years to break down, meaning small particles of plastic are spread throughout the soil, blocking oxygen and normal growth
• Plastic bags can be recycled into composite lumber and other functional items
• BUT, only 5.2% of plastic bags are recycled (2005 EPA research)
• The other 94.8% are put in landfills and drape Boston’s fences, sidewalks, drainage systems, and waters
  

           How do plastic bags affect Massachusetts’ Economy?

• There are few plastic bag  manufacturers in Massachusetts; most bags originate from China
• Retailers in MA provide “free” plastic bags to their customers as a matter of convenience, as has become custom.
• Customers using their own bags means the retailer does not have to fund that convenience, and MA does not have to fund the clean-up and disposal of that product down the road.
• Retail customers currently do not pay to carry their items in a bag after purchase, as it presents no cost, and is included in trash-pick up taxes when they are ready to dispose of that convenience

           What can we do?

• “PlasTax” or plastic bag tax may be implemented:
• Decrease plastic usage: This will discourage customers from using plastic bags wastefully, and encourage them to carry their own reusable bags
• Decrease plastic litter: Will also decrease clean-up efforts, fund clean-up efforts, and prevent more plastic from invading ecosystems
• E.g. Ireland decreased plastic bag usage by 94% in the first months of imposing a tax, and raised 3.5M Euros for environmental clean-up
• “B.Y.O.B. Day” or Bring Your Own Bag Day promoted in Boston, MA:
• People think twice about accepting/giving out plastic bags: Consumers and retailers begin to understand how mindless usage of plastic bags affects the world around them
• Consumers remember to grab their own cloth bags before going to the grocery store: Making this issue top of mind increases likelihood of a consumer remembering to B.Y.O.B.
• E.g. Boston implemented a “Reusable Bag Day” in November 2007, but the outcome was not tracked.  Goals were to make consumers more aware of simple actions
• Ban on Plastic and Paper bags:
• Consumers understand where plastic bags come from and go, motivating to B.Y.O.B.
• There will be an increasing social pressure to curb  plastic bag usage
• E.g.  Bangladesh banned plastic bag use in 2002, after attributing flooding in 1998 to polyethylene choking drainage systems, thereby causing public health and sanitary issues.

What is Boston doing to reduce plastic bag waste?

Boston has considered plastic bag legislation in the past, most notably gaining momentum in 2007. Boston City Councilor of District 5, Robert Consalvo, sponsored a ban on plastic bags that was endorsed by 9 of the 12 councilors in April of 2007. However, the proposal seems to have died before passing through the Committee on City and Neighborhood Services for reasons seemingly unpublished.

In November of 2007, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and the Massachusetts Food Association (MFA) initiated a state-wide "Bring a Reusable Bag Day" where consumers and retailers alike were encouraged to consider the implications of the plastic bags they so thoughtlessly accept or give out every day.

In 2009, the MassDEP and MFA partnered to set a mutual goal of reducing by one-third the number of paper and plastic shopping bags distributed by MFA’s 500+ member grocery stores and supermarkets by the year 2013.

Government officials remain wary of implementing a tax on plastic bags so as not to detract from tax payers' pockets, especially in the midst of a recession. Avoiding the tax, however, is as easy as bringing your own bag!

There have been many success stories supporting either a tax or a ban; these countries recognize the benefits of purging their landscapes and waters of the plastic bags that drape fences and trees, and choke the internal waterways of urban environments. These countries include:

Italy: passed law taxing plastic shopping bags in the 80's

Bangladesh: Imposed a ban on thin plastic bags after linking plastic clogging sewage systems to the floods of '98+'99

Ireland: Imposed a tax, reducing plastic bag usage by 96% in the first 3 months

Eritrea: banned plastic bags in 2005

Rwanda: banned plastic bags in 2005

Somalia: banned plastic bags in 2005

Tanzania: banned plastic bags in 2006

Kenya:  in mid-2007 banned thinner plastic bags and imposed levies on thicker ones.

Uganda: in mid-2007 banned thinner plastic bags and imposed levies on thicker ones.

China: Ban reduced plastic bag use by 60% in first 6 months

Taiwan: banned free light-weight plastic bags in March 2003

Belgium: imposed a tax on free bags in July 2007. 

Switzerland: requires supermarkets to charge shoppers for bags.

South Australia: bans lightweight checkout bags as of 2009

UK: the town of Modbury in Devon became the first place in Britain to outlaw plastic bags in April 2007.

India: Mumbai banned plastic bags in 2000 and the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh made thinner bags illegal in 2003.

Boston too can see a decrease in plastic bags fluttering through streets and in clogging up our land-fills, if we encourage people to BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag).

In the time that Boston has not passed legislation to change plastic bag use, how many more million have made their ways into landfills? The U.S. EPA estimates Americans use about 380 billion plastic bags per year, while recycling just 1% of them. Boston represents 0.2% of the U.S. population; if Boston uses an average number of plastic bags, we are throwing 760 million bags away each year. There are 24 active landfills in Massachusetts, collecting a total of 2,251,402 tons annually. Throwing plastic bags "away" actually means hauling them to neighboring towns, where they can sit around for centuries.

Contact your city councilman to ask what's being done in your district.