AUSTIN, Texas – The the American Progressive Bag Alliance believes that the ban on plastic bags is hurting job growth.
“8,800 Texan jobs are threatened by the proposed ordinance to ban and tax plastic bags,” the group wrote in a statement issued yesterday. Plastic retail carry-out bags are 100% recyclable and made from clean natural gas by American workers. Those in Texas interested in reducing litter and protecting the environment would be far better served supporting a statewide reduce, reuse and recycling program rather than a regressive tax on grocery bags. The truth is singling out one product that makes less than one percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream will have no meaningful impact on reducing litter. Instead, it will result in forcing consumers to use products such as reusable bags, which are mostly imported from China, made from foreign oil and are not recyclable.”
“Plastic bags are 100% recyclable, and nine out of ten Americans report reusing them for other household uses. In 2010, nearly 900 million pounds of used bags and wraps were recycled according the EPA. The Austin City Council has the opportunity to show real environmental leadership and enact a comprehensive recycling plan that actually reduces litter, protects Texas jobs and preserves consumer choice.”
While plastic bags are recyclable, only a small percentage actually are recycled. Plastic bags made of polyethylene, which dominate the market, are non-biodegradable and are made from crude oil and natural gas, both nonrenewable resources. They can be recycled, but are mostly discarded.
The E.P.A. estimated that only 5.2 percent of the plastic bags and sacks in the municipal waste stream in 2005 were recycled, compared with 21 percent of paper bags and sacks.
In a study by the United Nations Environment Program, an estimated 46,000 pieces of plastic litter were found floating in every square mile of ocean. The Ocean Conservancy found that 9 percent of all seaborne waste found on American shores consists of plastic bags.
Plastic bag manufacturing may create jobs, but the waste produced from not recycling it harms or kills millions of marine animals and birds each year, through consumption or becoming entangled in the garbage. The long term threat to humanity is as great, as food sources decline from eating sea-borne plastics.