Originally Posted by Jetée

The one big problem I see with the tax is that it might not aid much with the displacement (or planned obsolescence) of the bags, and the disharmonious effect they have in any one particular environment.

From what I've learned of manufacturing facilities, I doubt they will be producing any less the number of plastic bags (bottles, what have you) from what they produced last year, to fast-forwarding to the next five years. Such identities don't really monitor who their consumers are, just that they have a surplus of product if there should ever be a hitch in their factories maintenance. That last part doesn't really matter, but I still don't see what impact this tax will make, if any at all, on the actual manufacture and distribution of plastic bags. Sure, some might not feel like wasting five cents for every bag, but perhaps many others won't even care, or notice, that this tax is in place (if implemented elsewhere).

I'm not stating that this isn't a good idea, it's that the implementation and supposed benefits might not at all be what they seem.