Tag Archives: unintended consequences

California’s Plastic Bag Ban and California’s Health Crisis

October 16, 2017Environmental Impacts, Public Safety Impacts, Reusable Bag Health Hazards, Reusable Shopping Bags, Statewide Bag BanHepatitis A Outbreak, Plastic Bag Ban Health issues, Reusable Bags, unintended consequencesAnthony van Leeuwen

Lassen Manzanita Lake – By Smack (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Several articles have been recently published suggesting a potential link between California’s Plastic Bag Ban (Proposition 67) and the Hepatitis A outbreak among the homeless populations in California where more than a dozen have died and more than 400 have contracted the disease. The articles are as follows:

“Plastic-bag ban led to a hep A health crisis?” published in the San Diego Reader and authored by Marty Graham, Sept 8, 2017.
“Did California’s Plastic Bag Ban Cause Massive Hepatitis A Outbreak?” published by zeropointnow on Oct 11, 2017.
“PSA: Homelessness and California” published in San Diego Homeless Survival Guide on 23 Sept 2017.

While the above articles do not provide conclusive proof of a causal connection between the plastic bag ban and the Hepatitis A outbreak among the homeless in California, the articles do document a link between the once plentiful plastic bags and hygiene and sanitation issues associated with the homeless. Hygiene and sanitation issues also associated with the Hepatitis A outbreak. Rather than summarize the above articles herein; the reader is urged to read the above listed articles instead.

One notable quote from the article Plastic-bag ban led to a hep A health crisis? by Marty Graham is as follows:

“Plenty of people discounted the plastic-bag theory but San Diego County Public Health Officer Wilma Wooten was not one of them. “Yes, absolutely, we know people use the bags for that,” she said. “We know people don’t have bathrooms and they can put bags in cans and buckets and maintain good hygiene. That’s why we put plastic bags in the hygiene kits we’re handing out. That’s what we expect people will use them for.” (Graham, 2017)

The above articles demonstrate that California’s bag bans are responsible for exacerbating hygiene issues for those living on the streets or in homeless encampments.

In a previously posted article, entitled “Bacterial and Viral Health Hazards of Reusable Shopping Bags”, the author identifies the health hazards with the use of reusable shopping bags to the public and the homeless. For example, reusable bags must be maintained in a sanitary condition by regular washing or cleaning. Those who live on the streets and in homeless encampments simply do not have the means of washing or cleaning reusable bags. In addition, reusable bags that come into the grocery store from an unsanitary or disease laden environments (e.g. a homeless encampments or a home where there are communicable diseases) poses a public health hazard to shoppers and store clerks. For details read the cited article. (van Leeuwen, 2013)

Have you noticed how many grocery clerks are now donning plastic latex gloves? If you noticed this, then you must ask yourself: Why? Could it be that handling a customer’s reusable bags poses a real health risk to store employees, a health risk not encountered with store provided paper and plastic bags? The answer is obvious.

Bag Bans don’t solve problems, they just exchange one problem for another.

Bibliography

Graham, M. (2017, Sept 8). Plastic-bag ban led to hep A health crisis? Retrieved from San Diego Reader: https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/sep/08/stringers-plastic-bag-ban-led-hep-health-crisis/

van Leeuwen, A. (2013, June 2). Bacterial and Viral Health Hazards of Reusable Shopping Bags. Retrieved August 10, 2013, from Fight The Plastic Bag Ban: https://fighttheplasticbagban.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/bacterial-and-viral-health-hazards-of-reusable-shopping-bags_rev_1.pdf

Stop Statewide Plastic Bag Ban – Contact Your Legislator

January 29, 2014Carryout Bag Fees, Freedom and Liberty, Local Ordinances, Statewide Bag BanAB 158, California State Legislature, landfill, litter, new welfare benefit, Paper Bags, Reusable Bags, SB 405, shopping bag costs, unintended consequencesAnthony van Leeuwen

California State Legislators are at it again. Although past efforts to pass a plastic grocery bag ban by the state legislature have failed, it may be different this time. AB 158 and SB 405 are going through the legislature. We urge you to contact your state legislators in the California Senate and Assembly. Let them know you oppose a statewide plastic bag ban.

Click on the following link: Find Your California Representative

Some Talking Points Follow:

Plastic bag litter (all sorts of plastic bags) comprise only 0.6% or roadside litter. In comparison, fast food litter is 29.1% of roadside litter. A plastic bag ban will at most eliminate 0.6% of roadside litter leaving the other 99.4% waiting to be picked up. A plastic bag ban will not reduce litter and make for a cleaner city.

AB 158 and SB 405 is not equally applied to all residents. AB 158 and SB 405 creates two different classes of shoppers, one class that is able to receive free paper bags and another class that is required to pay for paper bags. AB 158 and SB 405 creates a new welfare benefit for WIC and SNAP participants. The benefit is provided at the expense of shoppers who pay for paper bags or at the expense of the retailer who will pass the cost of free paper bags on to all shoppers.

The indirect cost of plastic shopping bags for a family of four is less than $20 per year. The cost of paper bags at 10-cents each is about $78.00 per year. The cost of reusable bags is about $250 per year when you include both out of pocket expenses and the cost of a person’s time in handle bags including the time required to wash reusable bags.

Plastic bag bans end up with cutting down more trees for paper bags and actually increase the amount of plastic, paper, and reusable bags ending up in the landfill. In fact, a bag ban increases the amount of material (plastic, paper, and reusable bags) headed for the landfill by as much as factor of four.

Furthermore, based on plastic bag ban results in Santa Monica and San Jose, shoppers rejected reusable bags by choosing paper bags or no bags over reusable bags by a ratio of two-to-one. Clearly, using reusable bags is the wrong solution.

California Landfills Impacted By Bag Bans

January 3, 2014Carryout Bag Fees, Freedom and Liberty, LandFill Impacts, Paper Carryout Bags, Plastic Carryout Bag Ban, Plastic Carryout Bag Disposal, Plastic Carryout Bags, Recycling Impacts, Reusable Shopping BagsAB 2449, bread bags, curbside recycle bin, double bagging, dry-cleaning bags, landfill impacts, plastic wrap, post ban/pre ban ratio, reusable bag proliferation, Santa Barbara, SB 1219, State of California, unintended consequences, Ventura CountyAnthony van Leeuwen

The Single-Use Carryout Bag Ordinance has a detrimental impact on landfills that has not been clearly identified. While the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) identifies that plastic carryout bags currently end up in the landfill, unbeknownst to proponents of the ordinance is that the amount of material deposited in the landfill after the ban has been implemented is far greater than before the ban. Landfill impacts for both the State of California and for Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties are presented in Tables 1 and 2 respectively. While landfills can absorb the additional material with no problem, an unintended consequence of the single-use carryout bag ordinance, it is California’s Zero Waste Goal that suffers a setback that will have to be made up through other waste reductions!

To read more click on the following link: California Landfills Impacted By Bag Bans. This article is an update of the article previously released and titled “Fact Sheet – Landfill Impacts” originally released 16 April 2013. The new article includes the California statewide impacts in addition to the impacts to Santa Barbara and Ventura County landfills.

Plastic Carry-Out Bag Ban – More Plastic Headed To Landfill

April 8, 2013LandFill Impacts, Plastic Carryout Bags, Recycling ImpactsAB 2449, ban, bread bags, curbside recycling container, dry-cleaning bags, landfill, plastic, plastic carryout bags, plastic wrap, produce bags, SB 1219, unintended consequencesAnthony van Leeuwen

One of the unintended consequences of banning plastic carry out bags is that more plastic will be headed to the landfill the exact opposite of what proponents of the plastic carry out bag ban want.
California state law (AB 2449) requires retail stores that issue plastic carry out bags at the checkout counter must have a recycling container in or outside each store. This recycling container not only accepts plastic carry out bags, but also other plastic bags and shrink wrap. These include produce bags, dry-cleaning bags, bread bags, newspaper bags and shrink wraps from paper towels, bathroom tissue, napkins, and diapers. Continue reading Plastic Carry-Out Bag Ban – More Plastic Headed To Landfill →

Bibliography

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