Press Room

Before you bag it

Channel 9 News
Washington, DC

February 15, 2008

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WUSA) -- Before you bag it, consider this: that carryout sack has about a 20 minute lifespan, between the grocery store and the garbage can. Many don’t even make it that far.

Annapolis Alderman Sam Shropshire holds up three colorful, fabric bags. “This is the emphasis,” he says, “...bags that are reusable.”

Lawmakers want to end the paper or plastic debate in Maryland with House Bill 967, pushing a statewide ban on plastic bags. The bill was introduced last week by Delegate Todd Schuler.

“Everything is bad about plastic,“ says Schuler.

Not so, says Steven Russell with the American Chemistry Council, formerly known as The American Plastics Council.

Russell proudly announces he uses plastic every day. “Plastics use less energy, emits less green house gas emissions and generates less waste than paper bags,” says Russell, adding that plastic is also 100% recyclable.

The problem with that argument is that less than 5% of Americans are recycling those plastic grocery bags. Take a look at just about any pile of litter, and you'll probably find one in the mess.

Russell is quick to say “litter is unacceptable,” that’s why his group is pushing initiatives to get more people to recycle.

Sam Shropshire is the Annapolis Alderman who's been trying to get a citywide ban on plastic bags.

He says the lack of recycling is just one part of the problem with plastic.

“They last between 500 and a thousand years,” he says, “They're piling up in the US at 99 billion a year.”

He’s no fan of paper bags either. It does take more energy to produce paper versus plastic, but he says, “Paper is biodegradable, if drop it in the Bay, it will biodegrade.”

What about the carbon footprint on those ’reusable’ bags? Some of them are made from recycled material or clean fabrics like hemp.

The Chemistry Council claims you'll have to use the ’reusable’ bag about 50 to 70 times, just to match the carbon footprint of one, plastic bag.

Del. Todd Schuler laughs at that statistic. “One bag isn’t even the case,” he says, “you’re typically getting double bagged and three or four bags at a time.” He says reusable bags will easily last through 60 shopping trips, plus they hold more and their comfortable to carry.

Schuler is begging Marylanders not to buckle under the pressure at the checkout counter.

“I challenge you to turn down a bag when your just getting a few items,” he says. He even gets pressure from the clerk to ’take a bag’ when he just has a Mountain Dew and Clarke candy bar.

“I have pockets. You don't need a bag!” he says.

So as Schuler’s new legislation heads to the House, another bag battle at the State House is brewing.

The American Chemistry Council say the answer is ’recycling.’ Maryland lawmakers say the answer is ’reusing’ and getting shoppers used to bringing their own bags to the store.

Last year, when Shropshire pushed a similar ban in Annapolis, he says the Chemistry Council essentially got it shot down, using exaggerated statistics.

“They’re not telling the truth,” he says, “It’s about profit and greed and all [the Chemistry Council] care[s] about is making money,” says Shropshire.

Russell says his numbers are right on and that Americans deserve to have a choice, when it comes to paper or plastic. “Recycling,” he says, “is the better approach and certainly better than bans.”

Both sides are promising to see their fight ’carried out.’

PRESS RELEASE FROM DEL. SCHULER:

Delegate Schuler’s legislation takes aim at reducing the use of these bags that litter Maryland's waterways and roads. The main goals of this legislation are:

· Decrease dependence on non-biodegradable materials

· Preserve landfill space (the average U.S. city holds 5,000 tons of plastic bags in their landfills)

· Reduce litter caused by plastic bags (each year approximately 238 tons of litter is created by plastic bags)

· Protect Maryland’s marine life

· Minimize pollution created by plastic bag production

Del. Schuler is hoping to have all the votes lined up by April 1 to get the legislation passed by the General Assembly.

He says similar restrictions have been initiated in China, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Denmark, France and Taiwan. He adds that England is hoping there will be no plastic bags in the country by the end of this year.