All Those in Favor of Plastic Bags, Raise your Hand!!!!!!

In response to Lily Ray’s blog posting on July 25, 2014 titled Rant of the Day: Plastic Bag Ban  found on her blog titled Texas Toast, I must respectfully disagree with her opinion that the plastic bag ban in Austin is a good thing.  As a resident of Hutto/Round Rock where there is not a plastic bag ban, I have found myself carrying my groceries out of an Austin HEB in a donated cardboard box due to me not having any reusable bags in my possession and forgetting about the Austin bag ban until it is too late.  Is it inconvenient?  Absolutely, but that is not what I am going to base my argument on.  Life is full of inconveniences, and I can live with that. 

Lily’s blog mentions how plastic bags clog up creeks and cause millions of wildlife deaths.  In my opinion, the blame does not lie in the bag.  The blame lies with the person that threw it on the ground…..littering.  I don’t throw my bags on the ground. I reuse them over and over again as lunch bags.  When I have an overabundance of bags, I take them to the store and recycle them.  They do not go in the landfill, and they do not go around an innocent duck’s neck.

We, meaning society, cannot do away with everything that causes harm or is not handled responsibly.  Let’s take offshore oil drilling as an example.  Wildlife, tourism, and the fishing industry all suffered tremendously when the BP oil spill of 2010 dumped 4.9 million of barrels into the ocean.  Have we stopped offshore drilling?  No.  I realize this comparison is on a much larger scale, but my point is that when people act irresponsibility, you do not have to do away with the item in question. 

In summary, I disagree with the ban bag and believe that education in the form of littering campaigns, organized cleanups, and the addition of more recycling centers would be a better solution.  Elimination is not the only means of keeping the environment healthy.