This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah state Sen. Jani Iwamoto is sponsoring a bill (Senate Bill 196) that imposes a 10-cent fee on single-use retail bags. The proposed bill is supported by Salt Lake County and several cities that were considering banning plastic bags. The proposal to charge a fee for all bags is because there are arguments that paper bags are worse than plastic bags since paper-bag manufacturing uses more water and the bags take up much more landfill space than plastic bags.
The bill does not place a fee on bags for laundry cleaners, packages of bags, bulk items (like produce and nuts and grain), frozen foods, meat, fish, medical necessities or for non-profit groups.
But the proposal is targeted at a very small problem, specifically plastic bags. Recycling companies asked for a bill to decrease the use of plastic bags that gum up their recycling machines. Iwamoto, during her presentation of the bill, pointed out that countries and cities that implemented the fee have significantly decreased the use of plastic bags. In 2013, the EPA estimated that plastic bags are about 0.4 percent of the average municipal waste stream and 1 percent of the litter. Disposable diapers account for 1.5 percent of the average waste stream. Both single-use bags and diapers are conveniences that save time and are more sanitary.
According to the EPA, in 2010, containers and packaging were about 30 percent of the waste stream, food scraps were about 14 percent and yard trimmings were about 13 percent. We can already recycle yard waste and most containers and packaging. Unfortunately, even though we pay for the recycling (extra garbage cans), it is not cost effective. Recycling companies are losing money because there is a glut of recycled materials. Recycling, disposable diapers and single-use plastic bags are all successful products. Trying to charge a fee seems to be penalizing success.
Since much of the single-use bag use is from grocery stores, the 10 cents fee is a big tax increase on food. If someone buys one or two cartons of milk, or a dozen eggs, it will be like a doubling of the tax! It also would limit competition between stores since some already give a discount for bringing your own bag. Laws should not be limiting competition. People should be able to choose if they want to patronize stores that provide the option that they prefer and not have every store only provide the same 10-cent bag.
The fee also gives stores four cents to keep, which is a government giveaway. The other six cents is given to the county to be used for recycling education and services. Unfortunately, past experience indicates that most of the money goes for increased salaries or for adding more employees. The environment is not necessarily improved.
At best, such a proposal is token environmentalism. It might sound good but when the results are analyzed, there is very little change in the environment. Some would also argue that this is a program of a government run amok. After paying for recycling, we are now told that we put too much in the recycling containers! An education program would be a more effective solution but this bill proposes a new fee to pay for that instead of using the regular recycling fee to educate consumers to keep plastic bags out of recycling containers.
Placing a fee on single-use bags increases food costs, reduces store competition, increases government size, doesn't improve the environment much and inserts unreasonable government rules into our successful American economy. Instead of educating consumers to make better choices, government seems to want to dictate consumer choice. This won't change much behavior but it will add more money to big mother government. Iwamoto, in the past, has been a great public servant, but her Retail Bag Impact Reduction Program bill should be disposed of quickly and hopefully it will not be recycled for reuse.
George Chapman is a former candidate for mayor of Salt Lake City