Activists Claim that Banning Plastic Bags Won't Hurt Anyone

Plastic Bag Bans Like CA AB 1998 Are Job Killers! 

Did you know that the plastic bag manufacturing and recycling industries directly employ between 8,000 and 15,000 people in the United States?  Of those 2,300+ direct jobs are in California many in areas with the highest unemployment rates. 

Did you know that the manufacturing and recycling of plastic bags indirectly creates between 15,000 and 30,000 jobs and helps to accelerate local commerce?

While many people claim that banning bags may not hurt you, it would impact more than 30,000 hardworking families and communities!

At a time when national unemployment is between 9-10% it just doesn't make  sense.  

Read and Share Our Jobs Fact Sheet

Most US cities and States are looking to ban or tax plastic bags.  

To date the only large city to ban plastic bags is San Francisco.

Only Washington DC has elected to tax shoppers that receive plastic bags.

No state has banned plastic bags

No state has taxed plastic bags

When presented with the option to ban or tax bags all other large cities and States elected to enact recycling programs or voluntary reductions programs.

• New York State—Recycling
• New York City—Recycling
• New York City--Elected not to tax plastic bags
• California—Recycling
• California—Did not enact proposed tax laws in both 2008 and 2009
• Los Angeles County—Recycling
• Virginia—Rejected ban
• Colorado—Rejected ban
• Chicago—Recycling
• Oakland, CA—Passed ban but thrown out by courts because paper causes more environmental damage than plastic
• Rhode Island—Recycling
• Delaware—Recycling
• Tucson—Recycling
• Missouri—Did not pass proposed bag ban in 2009...reviewing recycling
• Illinois—Enacted pilot recycling program
• Phoenix—Voluntary Recycling
• Boston--Voluntary Recycling
• Annapolis--Volutary recycling
• Seattle—In 2009 the voters of Seattle voted against a referendum that would have taxed plastic bags.
• Dallas--Voluntary Recycling
• Austin, TX—Voluntary reduction

How many bags are used every year according to National Geographic and the EPA…

"Data released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency shows that somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year."

The EPA and National Geographic Never Said This

What was really said in the National Geographic article…

”According to Cobb's calculations extrapolated from data released by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2001 on U.S. plastic bag, sack, and wrap consumption, somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags”

…Cobb was an entrepreneur selling a reusable bag.

The slide never mentioned the quote may have been inflated for monetary gain, he even notes his work may be off by 50% and he never gives a method of calculation.  This quote is now touted as fact by many publications and groups without scientific debate or documentation.

Only a small fraction of plastic bags are recycled each year.

"Less than 1% of bags are recycled. It costs more to recycle a bag than to produce a new one."

This a quote used by many proponents of plastic bag ban for mroe than 10 years.  But technology and times have changed since then.

In the past few years many recycling plants have come online and industry capacity has grown more than 1200% and it continues to expand year over year.

This 1% rate, often reported isn't an error, rather it is a quote that is almost 10 years old. 

Recently rates were at >12% of total bag production and 25% of available bags...with most others being used for bin liners and disposed of properly.  It is important to date studies when quoting so relativity can be seen in context.

It is Economically unviable to recycle plastic bags.

“There’s harsh economics behind bag recycling: It costs $4,000 to process and recycle 1 ton of plastic bags, which can then be sold on the commodities market for $32.”

One ton of plastic bags returned to a grocery store has a true market value of between $300 and $500. The same amount of new plastic would cost about $2000.

In San Francisco Jared was referring to plastic bags’ impact on consolidated collection. Since bags are customarily returned to stores the quote was not relevant to the debate presented.

- As an experienced recycler, that has not been our experience at Hilex Poly LLC

Most bags end up as litter.

"Bags get blown around…to different parts of our lands…and to our seas, lakes and rivers. Bags find their way into the sea via drains and sewage pipes." 

The vast majority of bags are actually reused or disposed of properly.

The Australian government pointed out that ”60% of bags taken home are reused as bin liners or waste bags, lunch bags, and general carry bags.”

Plastic bags are the most common beach litter.

"Plastic bags account for over 10 percent of the debris washed up on the U.S. coastline."

When we found the reports, they actually showed lower levels by count and much lower levels by weight.  Additionally other items accounted for more litter and threats to the environment.

The Ocean Conservancy’s 2007 International Costal Cleanup Report notes that among litter 8% of the items picked up were plastic bags. Bags even trailed cigarette related items at 27.2%, food wrappers at 9.6%, and caps and lids at 9.1%. This illustrates that act of littering is a problem and not the item itself. Of the 3,899,528 pounds or 7,238,201items of litter cleaned up in 2007 only 8817 pound or 587,827 bags were collected. That is only 0.002% by weight. (Note* 66.6 bags equal one pound).

Plastic Bags Are Toxic.

"Plastic bags photodegrade: Over time they break down into smaller, more toxic petro-polymers, which eventually contaminate soils and waterways. As a consequence microscopic particles can enter the food chain."

Although CNN did say that…they have never provided a link to a study…and no mainstream report can be found showing that plastic bags are toxic.

When we contacted CNN requesting the source of their report that plastic bags were toxic they did not reply.

Actually the FDA has several non-objection letters authorizing food contact with containers and bags that are made from plastic and recycled plastics.

Plastic Bags are the number one litter threat to ocean wildlife.

"The effect on wildlife can be catastrophic. Birds become terminally entangled. Nearly 200 different species of sea life including whales, dolphins, seals and turtles die due to plastic bags. They die after ingesting plastic bags which they mistake for food."?

Although banning bags may make us feel we are taking action it would be reasonable to see it providing no relief to wildlife.

We always stress that the act of littering is never acceptable. Yet rather than education  plastic bag bans are often seen as a way of ending these this challenges. Actually in perspective, the 2007 Ocean Conservancy’s International Costal Cleanup Report stated the following, “Discarded monofilament fishing line is perhaps the single-most dangerous debris item and accounted for 65 percent of entanglements found during the ICC. In fact, derelict fishing gear – which includes fishing line, nets, rope, lures and light sticks, and crab/lobster/fish traps – represented 72 percent of all entanglements.”

Plastic bags kill 1,000 of marine mammals and sea turtles every year.

In the marine environment, plastic bag litter is lethal, killing thousands of whales, turtles and other sea life every year.

(When contacted by our researchers the World Wildlife Fund replied that they could not determine the orgin of this quote)

In 2006 the Australian government corrected claims that thousands of animals were being killed by plastic bags.

Note: In September 2006, the report was revised to correct an error on page 30.

The sentence:
'A figure of 100,000 marine animals killed annually has been widely quoted by environmental groups; this figure was from a study in Newfoundland which estimated the number of animals entrapped by plastic bags in that area from a four-year period from 1981-84'.

Has been replaced with:
'A figure of 100,000 marine animals killed annually has been widely quoted by environmental groups; this figure was from a study in Newfoundland which estimated the number of animals entrapped by plastic debris in that area from a four-year period from 1981-84'.

In response to the question, "Is it true that 100,000 marine mammals and/or sea turtles die each year due to marine debris/plastics/plastic bags?", the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  responded by stating "We were able to find no information to support this statement."

Many environmental groups and articles repeat the claim that Americans use 380 Billion bags per year without ever providing a link to a study.

Reusablebags.com claims that the EPA stated this withouth a link to a study or method.  Many environmental groups now cite Reusablebags.com as the source without ever noticing it had no source citation.

The United States International Trade Commission in 2003 reported that Americans used only 87.5 Billion imported and domestically produced bags.

With the growth in GDP and introduction of reusable bags it is likely that this number is still similar.

Although a large document it can be found at

 Please see page IV-12 of publication 3710 at the USITC website.

Ocean going vessels are filling our oceans with plastic bags.

"A study in 1975, showed oceangoing vessels together dumped 8 million pounds of plastic annually. The real reason that the world’s landfills weren’t overflowing with plastic was because most of it ended up in an ocean-fill."

No quote from the National Academy of Sciences Report can be located that says land fills weren’t over flowing because we were ocean dumping.

-In 1975 plastic bags were uncommon in grocery stores.

No report has linked ships to an epidemic of retail bag debris.  The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) even states that 80% of marine debris comes from the land.  The UNEP has posted a Greenpeace report titled “Plastic Debris in the Worlds Oceans” that presents the following:

• When addressing entanglement items they stated “The most problematic debris are fishing nets and ropes, monofilament lines, six-pack rings and packing strapping bands” the report did not list bags in problematic debris.
• The report did mention plastic bags can be debris, but not as a focus issue