Plastic Bags

I was listening to NJ 101.5 (radio station) a few days ago and they were discussing plastic bags. A proposal was suggested to tax an extra 5 cents/ bag. However, such as plan would be quite ineffective because A) plastic bags are only a small percentage of other junk including bottles, caps, etc and B) 5 cents is no economic deterrent and is a incentive to use the bags in a worst case scenario.

Consider the following scenario, a daycare center charges a $ 4 fine if a child is late in attempt to decrease the amount of late children. However, as noted in a Freakonomics chapter, the amount of late children skyrocketed because the economic payment replaced moral incentives. It evoked a feeling as if they were compensated fairly and that lateness must not be a significant problem if the fine is a small $ 4 rather than a serious $ 50 dollar fine.

Thus such a proposal is quite ineffective. A more appropriate proposal would be to ban tradition plastic bags, water bottles, and force biodegradable plastic for use in all products. The biodegradable plastic technology has been around for a long time but their was little incentive for the companies to use them. Biodegradable plastic also cost around the similar price range as standard plastic and obviously are biodegradable. If population grows at 1.5% annually, we could expect a similar trend in plastic bags; before you know it the great pacific garbage patch will double in size.