The Real Effects of NYC’s Plastic Bag Ban
As climate change grows of greater and greater concern to us, New York City has been taking initiatives to counteract environmental issues like pollution. One of these measures is reinstating the citywide ban on the use of plastic bags that was originally proposed, but halted. in 2017. Customers would either have to purchase a paper bag or bring a bag of their own.
Environmental impacts of carrier bags are dominated by the resource use and production stages.
In manufacturing, paper bags consume more water and emit more greenhouse gases than plastic bags.
The key to reducing environmental impact is reuse specially for HDPE bags. So it all comes down to a shift in consumer behavior. If we want paper bags to work, consumers must be keen on reusing and then recycling or composting.
Innately reusable bags like cotton bags offer the best solution. They have maximum reusability. Still, consumers must reuse a cotton bag 131 times before it yields climate benefits over HDPE bags.
New York City has taken this into consideration with 5-cent fees.
