We are plastic bag makers who believe in the necessity of more plastic bags. However, we also like to describe ourselves as working families in Seattle and beyond who are incensed by the threat posed to our lifestyle by potentially having to reuse bags or else buy them at nearly two bits per.
There are two key principles at stake in this debate:
1. We supply the raw materials of recycling. We believe that the best way to ensure a strong market for recycled bags is by ensuring that large numbers of bags continue to be produced each and every day. This is how we can guarantee that the raw materials of recycling are always there for the taking — by manufacturing, transporting, using and disposing of millions upon millions of bags every year in a city like Seattle.
2. This is America, which means everyone should have the freedom to use whatever bag they choose. We should reward good stewardship, certainly — not punish people making the choice that’s right for them. And we in the plastics industry have always been good stewards. That’s why plastic production has not caused any environmental impacts whatsoever, ever, ever, ever. You can look it up.
3. Supply & demand is a myth. There is not enough evidence to support this theory of market economics. Perhaps instead we are intelligent price-creators — isn’t that just as likely an explanation for how our bags come to cost what they do? In any event, there’s no reason to believe that raising the price of bags will reduce their use. Markets just don’t work that way. It’s not as if there’s an invisible hand balancing that stuff out!
4. Less than anybody, we in the plastic bag industry would like to see plastic bag use reduced. Our customers demand bags, so we produce them — by the millions and millions and millions and millions. What else would you have us do — ignore the voices of Americans crying to us for a cheap, clean, sanitary, single-use way to schlep groceries?
Plastic Bag Makers for More Plastic Bags 