NYC’s potential tax on plastic bags
More details about Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to tax plastic bags and the revenue the tax will generate. Independent of revenue, this seems like an easy issue to assume environmental righteousness about, but as New York Times City Room blogger Jennifer Lee points out:
Some have noted that environmental equation on reusable versus disposable bags is not so clear-cut. The more durable bags require an order of magnitude of more energy to produce. The anti-plastic campaign has drawn a sharp defense from the American Chemistry Council (every product has a constituency). The council argues that a drop in disposable plastic bags means an uptick in the purchase and use of other bags, like garbage bags, since plastic is still needed for trash and pet waste. The council has enumerated what it calls plastic bag myths.
