Plastic Bag Ban back in January of 2014.
We'll things definitely have changed. Changed in a big way. Several current members of the Huntington Beach City council got elected with the select purpose of repealing the bag ban.
And they did repeal the ban in Huntington Beach.
Here are a few of the articles out there on the subject
Huntington Beach City Council moves to repeal plastic bag ban
‘Surf City’ First in Nation to Repeal Plastic Bag Ban
Medzerian: Repeal of plastic bag ban is a step backward
All these article bring up many of the same arguments I mentioned in brought up previously.
Some argued the tax angle (10¢ for paper bag), others the fact the bag were being used multiple time (pick up dog poop, trash can liners), others the benefits of less in the ocean etc.
In reality you can find a way to make each and every one of these arguments work.
But, you have to way the advantages verses the disadvantages; the pros and cons.
It looks like the city of Huntington Beach through their elected representatives decided that the cons out weighed the pros when it comes to banning plastic bags.
I got that mostly the Mayor and council feel that choice was missing. People were being forced and the benefits were slim on the long haul. It's one thing to ban the bag and say "we are doing this for an environmental reason" but, to go and say and by the way you have to pay to use what we deem the "environmentally friendly option".
Think of that..... we banned lead in paint, and gasoline. Did we got out and say you will not have to pay a fee or tax to use the new more environmentally friendly paint or gas? We did not. People took their lumps and did accepted the fact things had to change. Not so with the plastic bags.
Too many arguments were available that refuted the "banners" claims. Thus with flimsy proof, minimal scientific research and the like people just did not buy the need for a ban.
If the people that feel this ban is good for society they did not go about it in the right way. They did not use a convincing enough argument to one side or the other. They also decided or needed the "Tax" (pay for bag if you don't have one) as necessary to get the super markets on board.
Remember that only stores selling food had to abide with the ban. The local Home Depot or Joann craft store did not have to restrict the plastic bag. So also it was fairly short sided.....
Pull part of the bags out of the system and expect things to get better. It's like changing only the oil and not the transmission fluid. You solve part of your maintenance needs but, not all.
If your going to effect a change you have to remove all the bag from the system. Removing 20%-40% does not cut it. I brought this up last time. Cut, the bag and force people to by new ones.
Here is some of that shortsightedness.
"You’d think I’d asked readers to sacrifice their firstborn. The responses were varied but shared a similar tone, from folks who wondered how they were supposed to pick up their dog’s poop (uh, buy little poop bags?), to shoppers who went out of their way to avoid cities with a bag ban, to the general “you are an idiot.”
Medzerian: Repeal of plastic bag ban is a step backward
See what I means? The Bags for dog poop don't go away we just have to pay for them now, instead of reusing the ones you had from the supermarket that brought home your groceries. And how about the trash can liners? You get forced to by the ones at the store that are in most cases thicker and will decompose slower at the land fill. Do we win?
So I go back to my original premise. Is the plastic bag ban really the way to fix the problem that is presented? That we need to clean up the effects on the environment from all our modern living.
Unfortunately, I can not say that what has been presented and implemented is the solution. I believe it is far from a good solution. With some changes and such it might become a viable solution but, until then I can't go along with a Plastic Bag Ban in any city or the state of California.
Buiadh - No - Bas
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