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Old 05-11-2010, 10:27 PM   #22 (permalink)
hiredgun
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetée View Post
But it is realistic. Manufacture of products worldwide is not ideally fit to what consumers demand. There is gross surplus and waste produced each year for any and every corporate product, of the consumer product itself, not to mention the energy, resources, and unusable "run-off" to create it, and what remains. If they have extra inventory, they might export it at a slight discount, but in higher quantities, to areas that have yet to implement this tax. There's also another thing to note: now, nearly 45% of all of North America's own plastic shopping bags are manufactured in Asia (China predominantly, but there are also numerous other plants in other Asian countries, Taiwan, for instance). This has increased from 25% just a decade ago. What does a factory in China care about our own domestic relations and politics? Bottomline is the only real thing the Chinese industry is concerned with (not as a whole, but as a generality of the majority) and whatever helps them increase that in the most efficient way possible, that's the route which is followed.
Sorry, I still don't really follow. I'm sure that there is some degree of waste and that there will be surplus plastic bags for some period, but I don't understand the argument that a radical decline in demand will somehow have no impact on production.

I also think that you vastly overstate the danger that the demand shortfall in the US would be made up by increased exports to other countries with different policies. The demand for plastic bags is not particularly price-elastic. If plastic bags were cheaper tomorrow than they are today, do you think consumers would find new and inventive uses for them? As far as consumers in most countries are concerned, plastic bags are already free.

As far as Asian countries and the bottom line, I don't see why a foreign manufacturer of bags would need to care (or even know) about our internal policies in order to respond to shifting demand. I'm not sure I understand the objection; it's not as if someone can sell us more plastic at the point of a gun.

Leaving aside the international implications for just a moment, it's also irrefutably the case that at the very least, we would be dumping less plastic into our immediate environs (rivers, landfills).

Quote:
I also came across a website that has a unique and opposite stance to the issue here: Save The Plastic Bag
(it's more targeted towards the West Coast, which you might prefer)

It's a stark contrast, of course, and I'm not in agreement either way or the other, but at least they use relevant statistics and current anecdotes as to why plastic bags are beneficial / harmful.
FWIW I'm in agreement with the site that shifting from plastic to paper isn't really the goal. This is not what has happened in DC, by and large; most people are either using reusable bags, or bringing their own bags, or making do with fewer bags.
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