Boston’s City Council recently passed an ordinance that bans single-use plastic bags in the city. While such a measure to reduce the use of a less sustainable packaging substrate seems like a step in the right direction, there’s a problem: the ordinance also places a five-cent fee on paper bags with handles.
Echoing the stance of the American Forest and Paper Association (AF&PA), PPC believes that paper bags should be excluded from this and other bag bans in the future. These measures wrongly penalize a commodity that is highly recycled, compostable, and made from a renewable resource. They also place an added cost burden on consumers, particularly low-income consumers.
We are keeping a close eye on the Boston measure and are prepared to act in tandem with AF&PA if this type of overreaching ban becomes a trend.
In the meantime, if you speak to your legislators or other community members on the topic, please refer to these talking points about the ban:
- This disproportionately affects low-income people. Taxes and fees burden everyone, but hit those on the lower end of the economic spectrum particularly hard. Further, this fee will be regressive, increasing the cost of basic necessities for low-income citizens who are dependent on public transit and cannot practically expect to bring reusable bags every time they go to a retailer. Once there is an obligation to pay for bags, those fees are likely to increase over time.
- While it is being billed as a nickel fee, the true cost will be in the millions for Boston’s consumers. Although aimed at incentivizing consumers to bring their own bags, the evidence has shown that revenues have actually increased annually in cities with a similar requirement.
- It is crucial to maintain a free option for consumers. As long as goods have been exchanged in a marketplace, consumers have been given the option of a free container with which to carry the purchases. This takes that away. It is short-sighted and punitive. It will hurt people who can least afford to pay for something that should be free.
- Paper is the most recycled material in the world. The bag fee unfairly targets paper products, implying they are part of the environmental problem rather than the solution. In 2016, more than 67 percent of all paper consumed in the U.S. was recovered for recycling, and the recovery rate has met or exceeded 63 percent for the past seven years. Boston offers curbside recycling city-wide. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more paper (by weight) is recovered for recycling from municipal solid waste streams than glass, plastic, steel and aluminum combined.
- Green customers have shown that they choose paper. Consumers who are sensitive to environmental concerns opt for paper bags. Responding to consumer demands, many retailers have already voluntarily transitioned to paper. Not only are paper bags made from recycled paper, they are highly recycled themselves and are a fixture in community recycling programs throughout the state and the rest of the country.
- It will hurt municipal recycling efforts. Imposing a fee on paper products discourages consumers from using products that are recyclable, biodegradable, compostable, made of recycled material, and reusable. Recycling efforts save an average of 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space for each ton of paper that is recycled, so adversely impacting these efforts will more quickly fill up landfills.
- It will harm small businesses. Hundreds of retail establishments in Boston are located a short distance from the city’s borders. Levying a new fee on their customers can and will prompt those consumers to change stores that offer free bags.
- Nearly every city and town with a plastic bag ban has considered and rejected banning or taxing paper.More than 55 municipalities across the Commonwealth have enacted some sort of plastic bag ban. In every instance but one, they rejected imposing a fee.