Ban Plastic Bag - Now or Later?

In some cities around the world there are already movements to ban the use of plastic bags especially those that are not biodegradable. San Francisco claimed that it is the first city to ban non-bio plastic bag and replace the them with bio degradable plastic bags or recyclable paper bags. The ban of plastic bags in general will give positive impact to the environment. plastic material is based on oil which is non renewable resource. the manufacturing of plastic will certainly deplete the oil reserve although might not be as fast as car burning it. Normal plastic will not bio degrade and they just photo degrade. It means plastic will not rot. Normal plastic will turn into small pieces tiny enough to contaminate water and soil. If taken into the body, the plastic particles will contaminate the body and do harm to our health. Burning normal plastic will also not solve the problem. Burning plastic will emit toxic gases that eventually pollute the air and harm people.

In Indonesia, the plastic bag culture is very very dominant. Every time someone goes to market (either traditional or modern market), he or she will bring plastic bags home. The stuff is already packed in plastic container then to bring them home people use plastic bags. Even those bringing their own grocery bag still prefer plastic bags to contain and separate stuffs before putting their groceries into the grocery bag. Paper bag is not yet common in Indonesia. Maybe paper bag is still considered as expensive. Banning plastic bags in Indonesia is surely very challenging since people, most of people, does not have any other alternatives to wrap and to contain stuffs. There are people who argue that plastic use less energy to produce, emit less pollution to the atmosphere, create less solid waste and also emit less carbon emission than paper. It is true that paper has such characteristic, however to the environment in general paper is slightly better (at least from renewable point of view - paper needs wood that can be replanted). So the idea to ban the use of paper bag is generally not accepted.

Anyway, I actually prefer to use canvas bag/specific grocery bag to do grocery and to wrap stuffs people can use used newspaper or even banana leafs (like what they do some times ago in Indonesia especially in traditional markets). Banning plastic bags in Indonesia might not be a wise solution now when people still do not have any other options. Maybe the government can start banning, but in reality we still do not know. Maybe the fate of the policy is just like other policy (e.g. obligation for vehicle owner to do emission testing that eventually not followed by people). When government can do enforcement well then they can start banning things they do not like.

For further reading one can visit http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/02/16/more-cities-and-stores-banning-plastic-bags/.