Friday, December 2, 2011

Plastic Bag Bans Spreading

Cities and counties across the country are instituting fees on plastic bags, or even banning them outright, in an effort to prevent pollution and raise revenue for cash-strapped local governments. Four cities in Oregon – Eugene, Corvallis, Newport and Ashland – are considering banning plastic bags at retail stores. The towns would join at least 10 other U.S. cities and counties that have prohibited plastic bags since 2008. “There is no reason a product we use for a few minutes should float in our oceans for a few hundred years,” said Dave Mathews, a preservation associate for Environment Oregon. The trend toward plastic bag bans is not limited to the United States. China enacted a plastic bag ban in 2008, and since then the country has saved more than 1.6 million barrels of oil and reduced plastic bag usage by 66%.