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Over here there was an EU mandated (I believe) tax imposed on plastic bags, initially just 4 cents and now up to 7, and it dramatically reduced plastic bag usag
by inertiatic 7y ago
Over here there was an EU mandated (I believe) tax imposed on plastic bags, initially just 4 cents and now up to 7, and it dramatically reduced plastic bag usage.
So economic incentives do work, policy does work.
As far as hoping that chain stores are pressured into doing the right thing goes, I don't know if we can afford to wait for this to happen organically.
- Mirioron 7y agoI wonder if the system used for plastic bottles could also work for other types of packaging. Add a cost to the packaging that the consumer can get back when they bring the packaging to some recycling or similar place.
- mumblemumble 7y agoConsidering that, even if you ignore that 90% of what goes to the recycling center doesn't actually get recycled, plastic recycling's value is still fairly equivocal, I think it'd be better to just make it a straight up excise tax. Save the deposit method for the things where returning them leads to a clear win: aluminum cans and reusable bottles. That way you're encouraging reduce and reuse first. "Recycle" was never supposed to be the first resort in waste reduction, and, at this point, it's arguably not much of a waste reduction technique at all, and instead the centerpiese of an elaborate ecological shell game.