The whole story about plastic bags

In a recent Spectrum piece Todd Smoldon spoke out against the proposed plastic bag ban by the City of Wasilla. Mr. Smoldon does not dispute the harm caused by plastic bags. Flimsy plastic shopping bags are a problem in the Valley because they catch every bit of wind, flying out of dumpsters, trash cans, and the landfill. They blow away when they are being loaded onto garbage trucks. We all hate the mess they create. It’s shameful, and it hurts our image as a pristine tourist destination.

The Mat-Su Zero Waste Coalition learned of harm to local wildlife confirmed by necropsies showing that reindeer and caribou from at least three local farms had died from obstruction caused by plastic bags. Moose also eat plastic bags and if they eat enough to block their digestion, they too will die. Necropsies are expensive and rarely done on wildlife, so we don’t know how many moose and other animals we have lost due to plastic bags.

What’s even worse is that all those loose bags will get blown or washed into our waterways and eventually the ocean where they will break down into small particles called microplastics. Plankton eat these microplastic particles, and salmon eat the plankton. In fact, a study of plankton in Coastal British Columbia estimated that returning adult salmon were ingesting up to 91 microplastic particles/day.

We don’t know yet what effects this plastic contamination has on human health. The research is still in its infancy. But the amount of plastic in the ocean is growing at an alarming rate. In the Mat-Su alone, with a population of approximately 100,000 people, if everyone uses 4 plastic bags a week, we will add over 20 million bags to our landfill or our environment each year! Only a very small percentage of these bags get recycled. So the problem will only keep getting worse unless we do something.

Mr. Smoldon does not dispute these facts, but objects to local government’s role in regulating them, believing that personal responsibility should solve this problem. I appreciate that we need to protect personal freedoms and avoid over regulation.

But lets keep this in perspective. This is a very simple Ordinance. It only bans stores from providing the flimsy bags less than 2.25 mil, the ones that require double bagging, fall apart, and are most likely to escape in the wind. Stores are still free to hand out whatever bags they want as long as they are not the ultra thin ones that cause the most damage. Some say we should go back to paper. Well stores are free to hand out paper and customers are free to ask for it. Stores have the option of using a thicker plastic bag suitable for reuse. It should be noted that the stores, which are the target of this Ordinance, are not the ones objecting. Major stores have said they will support whatever the community wants.

Mr. Smolden observed that 95% of shoppers in Wasilla walk out of the stores with plastic bags. He assumes that if the majority of shoppers in Wasilla thought these bags were hazardous they would not be using them. Yet the MSZWC spend three weekends last month in front of Fred Meyers and Carrs in Wasilla with over a thousand reusable shopping bags. Our supplies ran out quickly. Shoppers eagerly accepted these and we watched them leave the store with their new reusable bags loaded with groceries. Will these shoppers faithfully remember to return with their bags every time they shop? Probably not. People are busy and they have a lot on their mind besides their grocery bags. It takes a while before they get in the habit of bringing their own bags. But the Mat-Su Zero Waste Coalition has appeared before Community Councils, Rotary, Kiwanis, Chambers of Commerce, and many other groups in the Valley and has received overwhelming support because people hate those flimsy bags and just want them to go away. Do they all remember to bring their own reusable bags? Some do, but lets face it, most don’t remember to do that. Again and again we hear people say “just get rid of them!”

And while Mayor Cottle is from Valdez, Valdez does not have a bag ban as Mr. Smolden claimed. He may have confused Valdez with Cordova, which does have a plastic bag ban. Cordova is a fishing community and knows what’s at stake, so there is widespread support there for this ban. While the Mat-Su Zero Waste Coalition urges people to bring their own reusable bags when they shop, there is nothing in this Ordinance to mandate that behavior, so there is still plenty of need for personal responsibility to reduce plastic waste, as Mr. Smolden rightfully advocates.

Plastic waste is a growing problem that we will be hearing more and more about, and I suspect it won’t be long before plastic in seafood becomes a marketing issue for that industry. So I appreciate the leadership of Mayor Cottle and the City Council in addressing it.

People tend to resist change at first, but soon it’s no big deal. Remember the days when you walked into a restaurant that reeked of cigarette smoke? I don’t think many of us miss those days, and most will agree that banning smoking in restaurants was a good idea. Similarly, I can’t imagine anyone actually missing those flimsy bags after they are gone. I look forward to a time when break up comes and we will no longer cringe when we look around because our city, trees and waterways will be free of plastic bags.

Carol Montgomery is a retired Nurse Practitioner, and educator. She now volunteers with the Recycling Center (VCRS) and the Mat-Su Zero Waste Coalition.