Logo by Emma Bezilla.
By Stephanie Chorney, Daniel Harris and Bainy Suri
We are pleased that the Princeton Merchants Association and Princeton government has joined the fight to curb the detrimental effects of single-the use bags on our planet’s ecosystem (Princeton Merchants Association column, last month’s Princeton Echo)—chiefly, pollution and global warming. As we have all publically agreed on this goal, we embrace continued dialogue to attain it.
The manufacturing of single use bags requires huge emissions of methane, a chemical known as a chief contributor to global warming. Paper grocery-bag manufacture (United States: 14 million trees per year!) requires even more energy.
We, a group of local activists, strongly believe the best approach to solving this problem is to reduce consumption of new plastic and paper bags, and not to focus on recycling. In the worldwide slogan and sign, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,” recycling comes last—it is the least useful in saving the planet from natural resource exploitation and subsequent devastations.
Recycling encourages the uncontrolled manufacture of new plastics and paper. Increased recycling collection can help, but that alone is not the answer.
Plastics already overload landfills, where they release poisonous gases, and they pollute our oceans and marine life. While recycling bags to TREX for plastic decking (as in PMA’s current plan) extends the life of plastic, it does not lead to a reduction of it. While 62 percent of paper bags are recycled, their production generates more greenhouse gases than plastics.
Since 2011, residents interested in this issue have tried various ways to reduce waste associated with plastic and paper single-use bags, from a voluntary BYOBag campaign with merchant collaboration, to a draft ordinance calling for a 10-cent charge on both plastic and paper single-use bags. The voluntary efforts garnered some momentum among residents and businesses, but did not generate lasting change in single-use bag reduction.
We nevertheless support the voluntary PMA program, despite knowing that the voluntary BYOBag program, with educational outreach alone, did not succeed. That failure we understand as a confirmation of strategies that don’t work.
Worldwide legislation and practice, from Ireland to China, California to Washington to nearby Westport, Connecticut, demonstrate that the most effective way to achieve reduction is either through outright bans on usage or by small fees to make end-users of single-use bags realize the cost of environmentally dangerous behavior. In November 2014, Mercer County’s referendum on bags showed that Princetonians (by a resounding 3:1 margin) support bag fees to secure significant change. Our proposed draft ordinance used that specific approach and was thoroughly reviewed by the town’s attorney. Significant change in this area will most likely require such an ordinance—as in hundreds of other locations. Why should Princeton lag behind the world?
In a collaborative spirit, we offer our recommendations to make this educational program succeed, although the end goal must be reducing use of all single-use bags.
1. Maintain measurements on the reduction of single-use bag use achieved, not the amount of bags recycled. Collect and publicize baseline and ongoing measurements of merchant costs for both single-use plastic and paper bags purchased/used annually and (for recycled bags) given away or sold. Set a goal of 50 percent reduction of single-use bags over the next 1–2 years.
2. Offer a strong “Ask First” phrasing with an incentive to encourage people to change their behavior. (Some merchants already offer an incentive, includingWhole Earth, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and McCaffrey’s.) The script used to retrain salespeople at checkout in most stores should convey an expectation and offer an incentive: “Have you brought your own bag? We offer a discount if you bring your own bag; please consider that for next time.”
3. Include single-use paper bags in the program. Provide merchants with resources to find more environmentally friendly paper bags created from 100 percent post-consumer paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
4. Create signage that stresses this program’s first stated goal: to reduce the use of single-use bags. Signage must be visible outside the stores as well as in the pre-register area; catch people at the right time to bring their own bag.
5. Offer reusable bags prominently at or before the register, either for free or for purchase.
We are delighted that our 2011 initiative to reduce and control abuse of plastics has finally brought a community consensus. Recycling, a confidence-building first step, should soon lead to more rigorous approaches to decreased use of single-use bags.
The writers are members of the Princeton Bag Ordinance Group.
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