Charleston's efforts to protect sea turtles has so far been fruitful.
Fun With Plastax!
“Plastax” is a tax on those testy little plastic shopping bags that fly around your kitchen whenever you open your cabinets. Now how could paying yet another “tax” possibly be fun for Charlestonians? Well for starters, because we don’t have to pay them if we don’t want to. We only pay them when we use plastic bags. So not only am I saving $$$ with my sassy, stylish, little brown bag; but I’m also doing the Atlantic Ocean and the Sea Turtles a big favor.
Yes, the ocean. And the turtles. Most of us have heard of the gigantic mass of trash in the Pacific gyre at this point, but I’ll give a quick review here anyway. The Pacific gyre is where the notorious plastic garbage “island” is located. It’s not actually an island, but rather a swirling mass of plastic garbage that is estimated to be twice the size of the state of Texas, located between California and Hawaii. Air and water currents have caused plastic bags, bottles, cups, etc. to migrate to this particular territory, or gyre, in the Pacific. Plastic is not biodegradable. It breaks up into tiny particles which omit PCB’s and dioxins into the water, into the phytoplankton, and into the fish. We eat the fish, therefore we eat the plastic. The gyre is thought to be the Pacific’s largest breeding ground of phytoplankton. (Phytoplankton are microscopic plant-like organisms that live near the ocean’s surface. They are the base of the food chain for most ocean dwelling species.) Without phytoplankton, we have no fish in the sea. It is estimated that 80% of the ocean trash comes from land. Plastic bags are like kites, they fly. Cups and other items fly from beaches and boats and even from landfills. Debris travels from rivers into the sea. Nations around the world are tying to figure out if it is even possible to clean this disaster up. The great mass of plastic debris was only discovered a decade ago and has been growing ever since.
As far as the Sea Turtles are concerned, it is estimated that over 1/3 of the turtles around the Carolinas have ingested plastic inside them. Because plastic bags in the ocean resemble jelly fish, they are eaten by Sea Turtles. In spite of Charleston going to great lengths to save Sea Turtles via nesting grounds and “lights out” propaganda, there is still the issue of the bags. Charleston County’s web site on Sea Turtles states that “Plastic bags are a frequent source of injury or death to sea turtles and other marine life.”
So as far as the Pacific “garbage patch” is concerned, I started to think that there must be one in the Atlantic as well, since the Atlantic also has a “gyre” where water and air currents swirl around. So, I did a little research and, you guessed it, the Atlantic has its own gigantic mass of swirling plastic. It is located in the Sargasso Sea which is a territory in the middle of the North Atlantic. The Atlantic’s plastic swirling mass has not been well researched or sized yet and we know little of it, other than that it definitely is of significant size, spanning a huge section of the Atlantic gyre. Like the Pacific gyre, the health of the Sargasso Sea region is imperative to the health of the entire Atlantic Ocean. The great mass of plastic in the Pacific is estimated to weight between 3 and 3.5 million tons. As for the plastic Atlantis, we’ll have to wait and see.
Bags in particular are a nuisance to the sea for a lot of reasons. The EPA states that only 1% of plastic bags actually get recycled. We take them to the recycling center where they are often just discarded into the landfill, since recycling the bags is such an expensive and complicated effort. Between 500 billion and a trillion plastic gags are consumed world wide each year. Solutions? Decrease the use of plastic. Everyone in Ireland pays a 15 cent tax each time they use a plastic bag. As a result, Ireland has cut plastic bag use by 90% and raised millions of euros in revenue which is being used for environmental projects. China is following suit and has actually outlawed the manufacture of certain types of plastic bags. Many forward thinking cities in the U.S. have completely banned the use of plastic bags. If Charleston were to pass a “plastax,” could this mean for Charleston what it has meant for Ireland? Sure, why not? The county could use the revenue generated for any number of environmental projects, such as funding research into cleaning up the Sargasso mass (and therefore making the fish that we eat healthier.)
So, I’m all about the plastax and my super hip cool brown canvas bag. Now for all you Charleston Tea Party tax evaders, I have a confession: I hate paying taxes as much as you do. And like any good American, I look for any and every little loop hole in the system come each April. However, given the chance to participate, I’d go right out and vote for the plastax. I eat a lot of fish. And after all, most of us won’t be paying it!
Great sites for more info on the gyres:
www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/debris/
Great sites for more on the Sea Turtles:
Great article! I’m in favor of the plastax!
And what’s up when baggers double-bag?
By: Gina Perez on October 28, 2009
at 5:38 pm
Yes, great and timely article.. Even Mexico City has outlawed plastic bags! Why is the US so far behind the times. Wish there were a plastax in my part of the world. I’ll pass this article on to friends.
By: Polly Salvati on November 11, 2009
at 11:37 pm
I’m still in favor of my own crocheted bags, or the nylon Chico bags…but if you have to take a bag, yes, you should get taxed.
Awesome article!
By: Isa on November 12, 2009
at 12:50 am
Paris also has a ‘Bring your own bag’ rule, which used to be the norm all over France, until the advent of plastic. All of Germany is very much into recycling, even separating glass by color. They collect into a special bag all packaging materials which is picked up bi-weekly. Garbage is picked up only once a month. That is how much real trash a household is expected to generate. They have huge trash burning plants used to generate hot water, which is then pumped through insulated pipes to heat houses in the winter. They even receive trainloads of trash from China for this purpose. C’mon America, get with it.
By: Thomas on November 12, 2009
at 11:17 am
I remember seeing a TV report quite some years ago, of Trash Barges hauling off mountains of garbage and corpses of unclaimed homeless and dumping it all off the coast of NYC, supposedly into some whirlpool out there. Their concern at that time was that the sharks would accustom themselves to eating humans, thereby endangering the living ones wallowing in closer to shore. I imagined, at the time, sharks dosing themselves on alcohol, heroin, cocaine and disease saturated bodies. Moral? Playing with sharks could be damaging to your well being.
By: Thomas on November 12, 2009
at 11:28 am
Yet another tax. Well it does seem to be many peoples answer to alot of things. If we need to rid ourselves of plastic bags and bottles, why tax, make them illegal to use like Mexico. Another tax is just another transfer of wealth from the working class. Poverty and taxation cleans up nothing.
By: B on November 12, 2009
at 2:53 pm
I agree completely. I’d much prefer a ban to another tax. But then, how do you convince the county to agree to the ban? They are more likely to agree to a tax first, and the ultimate issue here to get rid of the plastic via whatever means works best.
By: Miriam Allen on November 12, 2009
at 3:02 pm
Those gyres are truly daunting. Make one wonder about all the other dramatic things we are causing that are out of our view.
By: Bruce Hauman on November 12, 2009
at 5:31 pm
Great article…and I confess I am going to burn in hell for using plastic bags after reading it. I need to re-train myself. The USA is so far behind in so many ways.
Here’s a link to a company where you can get a reusable bag with the words, “My reusable bag makes me better than you” printed on it.
http://www.mcphee.com/shop/products/Better-Than-You-Shopping-Bag.html
By: Tom Dudley on November 12, 2009
at 9:07 pm
Do I really have to be cool when I use my own grocery bags? Cant I just use my bags and still not be cool??
Attempting to improve someone else’s “cool” factor is a misguided directive if the aim is to break the American dependance on convenience. Dont make it cool–make it inconvenient. Coolness will follow.
By: Hyang Widhi on November 20, 2009
at 3:28 am
what’s the positive side of plastic? it is a light weight,opaque,translucent, or transparent material for keeping non edible items from getting wet, moldy, or rusty, and for airline travel …these plastics should be limited and willed to the next generation…the tax is a good start if it can lead the way to the decrease of plastic production…but no worries… the planet will surely survive the plastic plague…it’s the humans that will not… so what about all the humans… dont you think there’s just too many of us?
By: toni manos on November 24, 2009
at 11:24 pm
Wow. littlefishblog.com is the shit.
By: Roosevelt on March 8, 2010
at 5:56 pm