Yes! You heard that right. Indiana has had a ban on banning plastic bags since 2016. Originally proposed by Ron Bacon, the bill states that a city may not “regulate, or adopt or enforce an ordinance or resolution to regulate the manufacture, distribution, sale, provision, use, or disposition or disposal of auxiliary containers” among other things [1]. What was their reasoning? The ban on plastic bag bans was passed in response to efforts by Bloomington to place restrictions on the use of plastic bags. The environmental group “Bring Your Bag Bloomington” was campaigning to ban single-use plastic bags in the city, and according to co-founder Libby Gwynn, the effort was gaining traction. At the time of this state law being passed, no municipalities in Indiana had actually banned plastic bags yet. Representative Ron Bacon, the author of the bill, said that one reason for the law was to unify regulations at the state level. “What we’re trying to do is de-regulate what the cities and towns and counties and municipal governments are doing on an individual basis and not have a patchwork of different rules and regulations throughout the whole state of Indiana,” he said. Economic concerns were another reason for the law. Plastic bag bans are often opposed by local businesses, such as supermarkets and manufacturers of the bags. Bacon cited the manufacturing of plastic bags in Indiana as a reason for his law, saying that bans on plastic bags could have economic consequences, such as loss of jobs [2]. What could happen? On the one hand, this state law had very little impact, because no cities in Indiana had actually banned plastic bags. However, the law did stifle the efforts of groups like “Bring Your Bag Bloomington”, who were campaigning to ban the bags in Bloomington. If their efforts had been successful, it is possible that the campaign would have spread to other liberal cities in Indiana, such as West Lafayette and Indianapolis, which would have resulted in a substantial reduction in the number of plastic bags being used, so this law did have a negative effect on the environment. The law had a positive effect on Indiana manufacturers of plastic bags, such as Four Star Plastics and Ameripak, who saw a potential threat to their business neutralized. The law was also good for supermarkets and businesses who use plastic bags and would like to continue to do so. Other Opinions of the Ban We talked to Mark Hinton, a candidate for Indiana House District 39 out of Carmel whose main issues are on women’s rights, redistricting, improving jobs, and education. We asked him how he felt about the ban on plastic bag bans, and he felt that the measures were an overstretch of government power over cities. He felt that local cities should have more power to create their own policies. He says that when the state government has something “they don’t like, they ban the local cities from doing it.” He even compares the plastic bag ban to RFRA, stating that “that’s exactly what RFRA was. It was them telling the locals that you cannot have, you cannot offer, a wider net of protection against discrimination… The state really has no reason to say you cannot do that, just because we do not like it.” We wanted to find out what local residents felt about this law, so we asked two local students what they felt. Nikita Prabhakar, a Purdue student, said she originally “didn’t even know about” the ban. When we explained that Indiana had passed a law banning plastic bag bans, she said that it was “good for the environment,” but upon clarification that this wasn’t a ban on plastic bags, she stated that it was “bad, obviously, because a ban on plastic bags would have been good.” Another Purdue Student, Tomasz Parzadka, responded that the ban is “obviously bad. I don’t even know how to answer. How can you ban something that bans other things?” Success of Bans Currently, plastic bag bans have been effective in numerous cities in the United States. One of the most notable is the statewide ban of plastic bags in California. This ban prohibits all grocery, convenient, and drug stores from distributing plastic bags and encourages shoppers to bring reusable bags. Paper bags are still available, but there is a minimum 10 cent charge added to each bag. Other states such as Florida, New York, and Oregon (to name a few) have issued similar sorts of bans or fees to prohibit or reduce the distribution of single use plastic and paper bags. The effects of such bans can be seen from a case study done in San Jose, California. After the ban of plastic bags was put in place, it was observed that 75 percent of shoppers either brought their own reusable bag or simply opted for no bag at all [4]. Decreasing the use of plastic bags by issuing bans is feasible and is possible. Outside of the United States, countries such as Australia, China, Ireland, India, most of Western Europe, some of North Eastern Africa and many more have successfully issued plastic bag bans. Results have been favorable, including an increase in natural resource conservation, increase in national wealth, and a decrease in overall pollution. Impact of Bans on Indiana, United States, and the world
Banning plastic bag bans would not be good for Indiana or the world. While some sources point out that plastic bags cost and require less natural gas to produce than paper bags, nearly 1 percent of the total 500 billion plastic bags produced each year are recycled. Thus, they continue to pose a severe threat to the environment despite being better for the United States economy, which is dominated by big oil and fossil fuel companies. Additionally, banning plastic bag bans is a threat to local governments as it takes away their power to make and enforce regulations. This would be detrimental to the state of Indiana if the government of the United States decided to prohibit state and city governments from issuing plastic bag bans because it would decrease local sovereignty. This would also be a detriment to the world because the United States is a large contributor to the plastic pollution in the oceans, so nations other than the United States would likely be the ones impacted the most. Smaller nations would not have enough influence and power to right the pollution done by plastic bags from the United States, so it is imperative to allow smaller governments to enforce plastic bag bans should they deem it fit for their community. Considering plastic bags are made from oil and natural gas, having the ability to ban bags could save countries massive amounts of natural resources. For example, China has saved nearly 1 million tons of oil since banning the bags [3]. While the ban of plastic bag bans would increase the power of the United States, it would severely restrict the state of Indiana and severely impact the world. References [1] House Enrolled Act No. 1053, 2016, https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2016/bills/house/1053#document-d2328d28 [2] Downing, Kendall. Bloomington group outraged at Indiana’s prohibition on “plastic bag bans”. March 25, 2016. http://fox59.com/2016/03/25/bloomington-group-outraged-at-indianas-prohibition-on-plastic-bag-bans/ [3] Plastic Bag Bans in the World. (n.d.). Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.reusethisbag.com/reusable-bag-infographics/plastic-bag-bans-world.php [4] The Proliferation of the Plastic Bag...BAN. (n.d.). Retrieved March 04, 2018, from http://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/the-proliferation-of-the-plastic-bagban
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AuthorsThese blog posts are written by students in the POL 327 Spring 2017 class. Archives |