Livingston s Disposable Bag Initiative ANJEC Environmental Congress October 9, 2015 Shawn R. Klein, MD & Renee Resky Livingston Recycling & Reclamation Committee
Goal: Reduce disposable bag use Americans use and dispose of 100 billion plastic shopping bags each year Source: (Wall Street Journal) http://www.inspirationgreen.com/plastic-bag-stats.html Avg family takes home 1500 bags per year Source www.nrdc.org/media/2008/080109.asp We feel that Livingston and New Jersey need to take the lead on this
Goal: Reduce disposable bag use Outright ban not politically tenable 10 fee on paper and plastic disposable bags Create a culture of reusable bag use which will spread to all areas
Plastic Bags are a petroleum product with the following negatives: Pollution - created at three points at source of oil: oil spills, landscape destruction at oil refinery after use: as litter in our local streams, leading to rivers and oceans and ultimately one of the 5 ocean gyres such as the Pacific garbage patch Oil consumption worsening carbon footprint Oil consumption bad for US geopolitical interests
Pollution in Livingston Less than 5 percent of plastic grocery bags are recycled in the U.S. Source: (US EPA) http://www.inspirationgreen.com/plastic-bag-stats.html In 2007 in the U.S., about 31 million tons, or 12.1% of total municipal waste, was plastic Estimates vary from 3.2-5.2 cents cost per bag for municipal clean-up Source: National Center for Policy Analysis http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/st353.pdf If 1500 bags/family x 7400 families in Livingston x 3.2 cents/bag = $355,200. Lets say that Livingston uses half the normal amount per family still looking at $177,600 cost at the lower estimate of bag cost
Paper Bags are not the answer either! Source: Paper vs. Plastic Environmental Disadvantages of Each http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/paper-plastic1.htm Paper bag production: Emits 70% more are pollution than plastic bags Emits 80% more greenhouse gases than plastic bags and uses trees that could be absorbing carbon dioxide Results in 50x more water pollutants vs plastic bags Consumes 4X energy vs plastic bags Uses 3x the water vs plastic bags 91% more energy used to recycle a pound of paper than a pound of plastic Paper bags generate 80% more solid waste
The answer is.a washable, reusable bag!
Pigovian Concept If we charge people for behaviors which are bad for society, they are incentivized to do them less smoking Something that we are not charged for has no value; placing a cost on a bag makes people simply consider for second whether they are really needed The amount of the tax is small and not meant as a hardship; if you really need a bag, you will still get one
Precedents in other Countries Plastic bags banned in South Africa, China(!) Source: China launches surprise crackdown on plastic bags http://uk.reuters.com/article/2008/01/08/environment-china-plastic-dcidukpek25589820080108 Plastic bag fees have existed in Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland for years and begin 10/6/15 in England! Plastic Bag usage has dropped 79% in Wales since 2011. Source: Charge for Plastic Bags in Britain Draws Applause, Anger and Humor http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/world/europe/plastic-bag-chargeengland.html?referer=&_r=0 Bangladesh and Rwanda have had bag fees since 2002 and 2008 Source: Charge for Plastic Bags in Britain Draws Applause, Anger and Humor http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/world/europe/plastic-bag-chargeengland.html?referer=&_r=0
Precedents in the USA California plastic bag ban Plastic bag tax being discussed in NYC Disposable bag fee vs ban being discussed in Baltimore Source: Baltimore City Council changes bag fee bill to ban; Mayor threatens veto Mayor, others want public hearing on matter before changes go through http://www.wbaltv.com/news/city-council-passes-amendment-to-ban-plastic-bags/29644918 Disposable bag fee in Boulder, CO bag use down 68%; revenue to city was $137,000 in 2013 Source: Boulder: Disposable bag use down 68 percent in wake of 10-cent fee Bag fee more successful at reducing bag use than city anticipated http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/eci_25299673/boulder-disposable-bag-fee Disposable bag fee in Washington DC bag use down 75% Source: Boulder: Disposable bag use down 68 percent in wake of 10-cent fee Bag fee more successful at reducing bag use than city anticipated http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/eci_25299673/boulder-disposable-bag-fee
Municipal Fees In NJ, towns are not able to tax items unless there is an associated service provided we cannot just place a soda tax to help keep people in shape Our argument: Collected fees would be used toward the clean up of disposable bags in town Using the lowest possible estimates, we figured that bags cost Livingston $176,000 This number was arrived at using a 3.2 estimate from NCPA, a conservative group arguing against bag fees, who provided this number to refute higher estimates
Fee would be Revenue Neutral Revenues collected by charges for bag, will be subtracted from property tax so government is not getting bigger This an optional fee if you don t want to pay it, don t use the disposable bags; use reusable bags ACTUALLY, would be better than revenue neutral 50% of shoppers at Shop Rite and Kings are from outside of Livingston Disposable bag fees come off of the property tax The net effect is this: our taxes will be lower because shoppers from West Orange and Roseland will be paying our taxes for us
Benefits to the stores Chance to tout their greenness good for marketing Would get portion of fee collections to offset initial costs Would gain sales of new reusable bags Would avoid the significant cost of disposable bags they provide now a small retailer will pay 2-5 cents for plastic bag and paper bags cost as much as 5 to 23 cents each Source : Opinion: Plastic and paper bags hide costs as well as groceries http://www.nj.com/south-jerseyvoices/index.ssf/2013/07/opinion_plastic_and_paper_bags.html
WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN Less pollution Doing our part to increase climate security Good for USA More $ in our pockets
Getting the message out: Livingston s Bag Initiative Educational Campaign Kicked off Educational Campaign on Earth Day co-sponsored screening of Bag It with 4 other groups at the Livingston Library Made presentation to town organizations such as the Old Guard
Getting the message out: Livingston s Educational Campaign Bag Challenge given out at well-attended electronic recycling events LivingstonNJ.org search for Bag Initiative
Getting the message out: Livingston s Educational Campaign Booth presence in town wide events: Youth Appreciation Week National Night Out Welcome to Livingston Picnic
Getting the message out: Livingston s Educational Campaign Twenty-Five Reasons to Go Reusable ad in local newspaper sent to every household
Getting the message out: Livingston s Educational Campaign hugely supportive editorial in West Essex Tribune, our town paper
Barriers Businesses Feel they may be at competitive disadvantage compared to surrounding towns Psychological incentive to not use the extra bag people may purchase less Political A new tax Too forward thinking Ideological Initially used geopolitical message to engage conservative Livingston residents. Specifically that plastic bags creates demand for oil and high oil prices help to fund international extremist groups. However, this framework was not well received and we had to edit our slide show on the town webpage.
Plan from here Continued education (e.g., Municipal Stormwater Public Education requirements, EPA has guidelines on Developing Municipal Outreach Programs at: http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/npdes/swbmp/developing-an-outreach-strategy.cfm Every 4 years, townwide questionnaire put out we asked Would you be willing to pay a disposable bag fee if it helped to lower your property tax? Livingston business summit to reach out ask stores how they can put policies in place Reach out statewide to help to gain momentum
For more information: Livingston Recycling & Reclamation Committee Bag Initiative Subcommittee Councilman Shawn R. Klein sklein@livingstonnj.org Renee Resky - Chairperson rresky@livingstonnj.org (973) 992-5000 x5405 For more information go to www.livingstonnj.org and search for Bag Initiative Laurie Babij Karen Garber Missi Kimmel Walter LeVine