Paper or plastic?

It’s a question we used to hear often at the grocery store. (Shopping at Wally World, we have little choice...but lots of plastic bags.) Now folks like Australia’s Environment Minister Peter Garret want to ban plastic bags because of their environmental impact on wildlife. But wait a minute, don’t jump on his bandwagon just yet. Not everything you’ve heard about plastic shopping bags is true, even if Mr. Garret believes them to be.

Andrew Bolt (Plastic bags choke Garrett) takes a closer look at the common plastic shopping bag and suggests it may actually be better for the environment than the alternatives. (And far less dangerous to wildlife than ordinary litter in the form of packaging materials or than discarded fishing nets.)

Even representatives from Greenpeace are aghast at the hyperbole being used.

It's this kind of scaremongering -- now seen with global warming -- that dismays even a Greenpeace marine biologist in Britain, David Santillo.

"It's very unlikely that many animals are killed by plastic bags," he said last week. "It doesn't do the Government's case any favours if you've got statements being made that aren't supported by the scientific literature that's out there."

So what is likely to happen if plastic shopping bags are banned?

Fact: Ban these bags and people will probably switch to stuff even worse for the environment, such as paper bags, said the Productivity Commission. A study by Allen Consulting agreed, adding that it took five times more greenhouse gases to make paper bags than it did plastic ones.

Fact: Switching to biodegradable plastic bags could be worse still, said the 2002 Nolan-ITU report. People would probably litter more, thinking it didn't matter, and their bags would release chemicals in breaking down.

Fact: People love plastic bags too much to give them up even if made to pay. Ask Ireland, which imposed a levy on bags only to find more than ever were being used, with only a small cut in the number turning up as litter.

And the Productivity Commission warned a levy or ban wouldn't work any better here: "A cost-benefit study commissioned by the governments shows that the benefits of a phase out or a per-unit charge would be significantly outweighed by the costs."

Keep those last facts in mind when someone starts mounting their high horse and advocates for banning the plastic shopping bag.