Should St. Pete ban single-use plastic bags?

Share
single-use plastic bags
Plastic bag. By Seán Kinane / WMNF News (July 2017).

On MidPoint Monday we talked about a move by some residents of St. Petersburg, Florida to ban single-use plastic bags; Davey Connor, chair of the Suncoast Rise Above Plastics Coalition, spoke about a St. Petersburg City Council meeting on Thursday (27 July) where a committee will discuss an ordinance to ban single-use plastic bags. They’re calling the effort #BanTheBag. Only one other city in Florida (Coral Gables) has banned plastic bags.

Listen to the show here:

Watch:

 

Here’s information from the executive summary of a study posted on the plastic industry’s website, Plastic Packaging Facts. It compares three single use bag types, but not renewable bags.

“…any decision to ban traditional polyethylene plastic grocery bags in favor of bags made from alternative materials (compostable plastic or recycled paper) will result in a significant increase in environmental impacts across a number of categories from global warming effects to the use of precious potable water resources. As a result, consumers and legislators should reevaluate banning traditional plastic grocery bags, as the unintended consequences can be significant and long-lasting” … for the same carrying capacity, “When compared to 30% recycled fiber paper bags, polyethylene grocery bags use energy in terms of fuels for manufacturing, less oil, and less potable water. In addition, polyethylene plastic grocery bags emit fewer global warming gases, less acid rain emissions, and less solid wastes.”

Plastic bags are messing up local recycling efforts. So much so that several local governments have joined together for a pr campaign to beg people not to put any plastic bags in their recycling bins.

Here’s the Facebook event page for the show. You can see the results of the poll there as well.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

student meal
Next school year Hillsborough public schools are offering free meals

Hillsborough Public Schools are offering students free meals for the...

Correspondence Through Poetry. A Mind-Numbing Week.

Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold...

The sound of change: Music’s influence on anti-war and human rights movements

Throughout history, music has served as a powerful catalyst for...

a man in a tye dye shirt talking on a radio microphone
Recreational pot for Florida is on the ballot this fall—let’s talk about it

In four months, Florida voters have the opportunity to vote...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

Gen X Redux
Player position: