Plastic bags on the verge of extinction

Food, trash and pet poo seem to only have one common denominator -- plastic grocery store bags.

The plastic bags we have come to know so well just may be on the verge of extinction.

In 1977, the plastic grocery bag was introduced to the American market. However, the idea of plastic in the supermarket was not a new idea.

According to the Society of Plastics Industry, 1966 brought plastic produce bags on a roll into grocery stores. The plastics industry trade association, founded in 1937, has monitored the bag’s overwhelming evolution, making note that in 1996 four of five grocery bags used were plastic.

Now environmental advocates and ordinary people across America are working to wipe the plastic bag we all know so well completely off the map.

Because the handy reusable bags aren’t biodegradable, they have become a major pollution problem. Animals often mistake them for food, landscapes have become littered and waterways have been plugged up simply because of the polyethylene totes.

Los Angeles became the largest city in the nation to ban plastic bags at supermarkets after the City Council voted to phase out the newest environmentalist nightmare over a 16-month period. The major change, strongly fought for by clean-water advocates, came at a time that city officials said the state was using an estimated 2.7 billion plastic bags a year.

To put the number in perspective, say every other state -- most half of the size of California -- used 1.3 billion plastic bags a year, the nation would be going through about 67 billion plastic bags annually.

But California isn’t the only state cracking down on the plastic pollution. Cities across the nation have even imposed local bans in Connecticut, Washington, North Carolina and Oregon.

Many college students have experienced the bag ban first-hand, including Rachel Marie Pacquin, an Iona College student.

Pacquin, a senior double majoring in political science and TV production, said she first ran into the ban when she was studying abroad in Rome last summer and had to pay for bags at the grocery store. Now, back in New York for school, Rye, a neighboring community to New Rochelle where Iona College is located, has banned plastic bags as well.

“When it comes down to it, plastic bags are a completely unnecessary object,” Pacquin said. “Canvas and fabric bags have been in existence for much longer and do a much better job at supporting and moving products.”

Adjusting to the changing times, Pacquin said she now carries a reusable bag with her the majority of the time just in case she may need to stop and grab something at the store.

“From all the people that I’ve talked to about it, they’ve been very happy about it,” Pacquin said. “There are people who aren’t happy with the ban, but it’s just like any habit where you have to break it and you’ll get used to it.”

With more and more grocery shoppers bringing in their own reusable bags in an effort to be eco-friendly, it seems that the ban has quite a bit of ammunition on its side. Those resisting the movement, can expect to fork up about 10 cents per paper bag instead of bringing in their own each shopping trip, a tab that can add up quickly.

Shoppers aren’t the only ones making an effort to go green with groceries, as the majority of supermarkets have recycling available for plastic bags.

“This is a gateway for sustainability,” said Leslie Tamminem of the Clean Seas Coalition, a group involved with the L.A. bag ban in a previous Paste BN story. “This is meant to change consumer behavior and expand consumer consciousness.”

Dayle Duggins is a Summer 2012 Paste BN Collegiate Correspondent. Learn more about her here.

This story originally appeared on the Paste BN College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.