plastic bag ban

[11mc22]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2009/01/09/cgy-plastic-bags.html

Vancouver is planning this too i think and so are lots of other cities in many countries

but how is the government going to enforce this? it doesn't seem very humane to fine or lock up people just because they are in possession of a plastic bag.

San Francisco was one of the first city to pass a plastic bag ban

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[MrBogosity]

What's the purpose? Is it something about animals getting in the bags and suffocating? What's the big deal with plastic bags?

[Tom S. Fox]

I think it is about all the petroleum they use up.

[MrBogosity]

Isn't it better to use up the petroleum in a mostly-inert state like plastic than to burn it and put the results into the atmosphere?

[Tom S. Fox]

Probably. Tell them.

[MrBogosity]

Some thoughts on the video:

"All bags must be biodegradable." What's the big deal with biodegradable, anyway? Is this more of that "we're running out of landfull" bogosity?

"Of course it's a David v. Goliath kind of story." Really? I don't remember David getting a whole gang of armed thugs (i.e., government) to do his bidding.

"Making the bags consumes 774,000 gallons of petrolium." Which, as I said, won't be burned and put into the atmosphere.

"Plastic bags pollute the environment" Again, they're mostly inert.

"and are a danger to turtles and other ocean life." Not if they're in a landfill they're not!

[Tom S. Fox]

I'm probably going to be wrong, but aren't landfills bad for the environment, too?

[MrBogosity]

How? They build them with enough surrounding material that the stuff will never leak through in a thousand years, and they trap the methane emissions and generate power with it.

[Andy120290]

Is it just me or is Canada banning a lot of plastic products lately? I seem to remember reading something a couple of weeks ago about a possible plastic water bottle ban somewhere (Toronto, I think).

[MrBogosity]

Yeah, they probably figure it's better to make bottles out of glass (which takes a lot more energy and thus pollutes a lot more than making plastic bottles).

[Andy120290]

My only concern with simply throwing out plastic and glass products into a landfill is that it seems like a waste of raw material. I mean plastic and glass can be re-melted and reused, right?

[MrBogosity]

Yes, but right now it's a lot cheaper to make new ones. (Plus, it takes more energy and pollutes more to recycle them than it does to make new ones.)

Once that changes, landfills will become mines.

[IceSage]

I'm probably going to be wrong, but aren't landfills bad for the environment, too?

No. Actually, landfills are actually the most eco-friendly solution to our trash problem; and recycling in certain aspects of it, can be worse.

There's a good Bullshit! episode on this.

[11mc22]

Is it just me or is Canada banning a lot of plastic products lately? I seem to remember reading something a couple of weeks ago about a possible plastic water bottle ban somewhere (Toronto, I think).

theres a city called naniamo that already banned bottled water
even though i think buying bottled water is a waste of time since tap water is just fine
but banning it doesnt make sense

its a city on vancouver island BTW

[11mc22]

Is it just me or is Canada banning a lot of plastic products lately? I seem to remember reading something a couple of weeks ago about a possible plastic water bottle ban somewhere (Toronto, I think).

that reminds me
schools in Toronto also banned vending machines. Toronto isn't the first city to do this.
i don't see that point at all. so what if students eat junk food?