In honor of the month of February, I’ve just changed my relationship status with plastics to, “it’s complicated”. It’s the best I’ve felt about plastics in a long time. Here’s why.
We must be willing to accept that not everything is black or white, good or bad, right or wrong. Quite a bit of grey area exists within many of these more complex situations, and you know why? Because it’s extremely complex.
It’s still common to be at the register paying and to realize that we forgot our reusable bag. From August 3 the prohibition of plastic bags will extend to all businesses in Chile. Now the cloth bag is going to be even more part of our daily routine.
In 2018 Chile implemented the law that forbids the delivery of plastic bags (http://chaobolsasplasticas.cl). This milestone turned Chile into the first country in Latin America to ban them. Since the law was taken into effect, 5 billion bags have been avoided, according to the Environment Minister, Carolina Schmidt.
El domingo 1ero de marzo fue el gran día. La prohibición de las bolsas de plástico desechables entró en vigor en el Estado de Nueva York.
Una suerte de.
Sunday, March 1, was the big day. New York State’s ban on single-use plastic shopping bags went into effect.
Well, sort of.
“Plastic bags help the environment” – According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, by John Tierney. While catchy, it’s also wrong … just as blaming others (fishing industry, other countries, etc.) and pointing fingers at their plastic usage is not a good way to address the situation, especially since we are still producing and throwing away tons of plastic every day.
But how could plastic bags possibly help the environment, you ask? Let’s see what they have to say.
New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order on Wednesday, February 6, banning the sale of single-use plastic beverage bottles on city-owned and -leased properties. The move also bars city agencies from purchasing or selling beverages packaged in single-use plastic containers.
As a researcher in the field of plastic pollution, and as Plastic Oceans International’s Director of Science for North America, I get my fair share of messages telling me how full of it I am about several aspects of the plastic pollution epidemic. Fair point, we can all be wrong sometimes. But I think it’s important to address some of these concerns in a segment that I would like to call … Myth Me With That.
