The Plastic Grocery Bag

Whip. Flap. Flap. Whip. Whip. What's that noise? Just a plastic grocery bag stuck high in a tree in our backyard. How long has it been there? Quite a while. Where did it come from and how did it get so high in the tree?

Drive down Eastchase. Exit onto Division. As you take the loop around, try to count the number of plastic bags you see. It may take you a few hundred trips to be able to spot them all.

Cleaning up these plastic bags costs the city over a million dollars every year. Who pays for that? We do.

Thankfully, Arlington is discussing banning the plastic grocery bag. I am all in favor of it. Paper bags would be easier to recycle and easier to control if littered. To go one step further, we could bring environmentally friendly bags with us to the store each time we shop. If we provided our own bags, that's less cost for the store to provide the bags, which may be passed on to us in savings. So this proposal to ban plastic bags makes sense economically (for the city, for property value, and for our grocery costs) and environmentally (both for recycling and neighborhood litter).

With that said, how's the best way for the city council to handle it? Before they just make the decision themselves, I think receiving public response and educating the public as to the benefits would be very wise. Some like the handles on plastic bags, thus objecting to the change. However, the canvas bags that can be re-used have handles as well. Also, many places have paper sacks with handles (Braum's for example). Encouraging local supermarkets to voluntarily remove plastic bags while publicly praising the ones that do (free advertising) might make the transition smoother. If they won't budge, then the council should move forward to do what's best for the community. But grocery stores shouldn't be given a lot of time to comply. Wal-mart, for example, shouldn’t need much time to remove their plastic bags. If they are able to move the merchandise they do, they can move out the plastic bag as well.

Unfortunately, many people view all environmental improvements as some conspiratorial agenda by "liberal evil forces." Forcing the issue right away just feeds that irrational fear. (As an aside, mentioning San Francisco as an example the city is following doesn't help with this group either.) But, I think through partnering with grocery stores and educating the public as to the economic and environmental benefits, perhaps the fears of those opposed to anything "environmental" can be alleviated, and we can take a step to make Arlington a cleaner, more attractive place to live.