The Mail

Ian Frazier illustrates the town-by-town, city-by-city battle that is under way to diminish our reliance on single-use plastic bags (“The Bag Bill,” May 2nd). The very properties that make single-use plastic bags attractive are the same ones that cause environmental harm: they are light, flexible, extremely durable, and, above all, cheap. In theory, these bags can be recycled, although the fifteen-per-cent rate that Frazier quotes, which comes from the American Chemistry Council, is misleading. This number includes other kinds of recycled waste—not just the single-use shopping bags in question. Most experts agree that the actual rate for post-consumer shopping bags is dramatically lower. According to calculations using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data, the national rate is less than three per cent. Furthermore, the bags cause major problems for even the most sophisticated recycling facilities. As someone with more than fifteen years of experience in the field of recycling, I can attest that a small fee has been shown again and again to be the most effective way to reduce their use, and the problems they create for recycling facilities and in the natural environment.