I will be frantically busy for the next week, so blogging will be light. One last thought before the blackout:
A few months ago, I argued against the very vocal campaign to ban plastic bags in Austin. I argued that the save-landfill-space argument was dumb. I argued that the reduce-petroleum-and-therefore-greenhouse-gases argument was dumb. No one offered a convincing rebuttal, and I still believe these are flimsy arguments at best.
Plastic bags do end up as litter sometimes. But I didn't see any particular reason to treat plastic bags differently than other litter in waiting. If we want to impose a tax on bags to discourage their use, we ought to do the same with fast-food sacks and sandwich wrappers.
That never sat right with me, though. After thinking about this issue in the shower for eight solid months, I've concluded that there is one difference between plastic bags and other forms of litter:
Property owners do not have an incentive to pick up plastic bags.
The main externality from litter is that we have to look at it. Fortunately, property owners usually have an incentive to clean it up. Heavier litter usually stays where it falls. If I find a beer bottle on my property, I will pick it up, because I know it will be there the next day, and the next, and the next.
Plastic bags are different because they will simply blow away. I know that, so even if a plastic bag lands on my property, why take the time to pick it up and put it in the trash (other than altruism)? I won't have to worry about it after the next breeze.
A case in point: About two months after my plastic-bag piece, I spotted a plastic bag stuck in a tree in front of my house. I thought that was funny, so I snapped a picture and posted it. In my excitement, I forgot to pull the bag out of the tree. It occurred to me a few days later that I had never thrown away the bag -- and, of course, by then it was gone. Someone else's problem, I guess.
