The Global Sociology Blog

A couple of Christmas ago, I went back to France for the holidays. My mother and I went shopping to a supermarket and finding a parking spot was a pain until we spotted a couple putting stuff away in the trunk of their car. It was taking too long, from my perspective until I realized they were putting stuff away item by item. I started to complain loudly to my mother that “these morons had forgotten to bag their stuff” (yeah, I was being my usual charming self) and my mother told me that supermarkets no longer gave plastic bags for environmental reasons. Customers now purchase big, strong, recyclable bags. That made me proud of France (doesn’t happen very often these days… but that’s for another post).

It seems there is a global trend at work regarding plastic bags, at least according to Georgia Smith in the Guardian.

“As one of its new year’s resolutions, China has pledged to put a stop to its 3bn-a-day habit, and ban the use of free and flimsy plastic bags by introducing levies. As of June this year, plastic bags must be paid for, and they will be banned from all public transport, airports and scenic places. “

Of course, we have known for some time now, that plastic is an environmental nightmare.

“Depending on the thickness, plastic bags take between 20 and 1,000 years to break down in the environment. They release toxic gases when they burn; they create stagnant pools which can become a breeding ground for malarial mosquitoes; and they suffocate or disrupt the indigestion of animals that accidentally consume them.”

Yes, that bad.

Do bans work? In France, yes, it does. In South Africa, under the tutelage of the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), it seems to be working as well. South Africa banned light plastic bags and only allows thicker and stronger ones and enforces the ban through stiff fines and possible imprisonment. The article also underlines the economic benefits of the ban: before, the price of manufacturing the bags was integrated in food prices. Now, as a result of the ban, food prices have gone down.

However, according to Smith, there are also failures: Bangladesh, Kenya and Somaliland are cited as failures in the sense that these countries have visible problems with plastic bags but have not enacted bans, sometimes on the grounds that jobs would be lost if a ban was put in place.

Finally, customers are culturally used to having and using plastic bags. However, if the French can make the switch, so can other rich countries!