July 13, 2010

Central Point lawmaker Jason Atkinson is helping lead a legislative effort to outlaw disposable plastic bags in the state in 2010.

The Oregonian reports the effort is led by Sen. Mark Hass of Beaverton and Atkinson. The two introduced a plastic bag ban in February's special session. Hass says he's been working with grocers and environmentalists and others since then to encourage the use of reusable canvas bags.

Opponents of a ban says people can prevent plastic bags from becoming litter or going into landfills by simply recycling them.

— The Associated Press

Ok, i confess, I am not exactly an environmentally concious idiot, but at least I use cloth grocery bags and recycle pop cans. I abslolutely will not buy water in a bottle and I don't dump toxic waste into the rivers. So my big problem with this news story is this...in a state with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, is this really what our representatives have been elected to do? Is this what they are spending their time on? And what happens to the people who produce these plastic grocery bags? They now join the ranks of the unemployed because obviously this will mean less production for their company. Mike says it won't do that because they still make garbage bags and stuff...I say he is wrong. If a company stops producing a product (any product) they need less people. It's like newtons law or murphys law or something. And then what about the cost of groceries. I read that a plastic bag cost a store 1 cent and paper bags are 4 cents. Multiply that by thousands a day and that adds up too something (I'm not going to get my calculator out to try and figure it out). Anyway, my point is just that this seems like a non isssue in a state where there are much bigger issues...like unemployment, health care (or lack of), lack of school funding, high taxes. Maybe they will do what some other countries do...they tax plastic bags, I heard. And then where does it stop? I walk my dogs on the bike path everyday and there is some jerk out there who always picks his dog poo up in a doggie poo bag and then leaves it on the trail??? I mean, what the hell? Doesn't this person realize that dog poo is biodegradable but the little crapper packs (which also are) will take a much longer time to go away. Why not just make the grocery bags out of the crapper pack bag stuff so they biodegrade if you don't reuse them? Like I said, it just irritates me that this is what some elected officials are worried about when so many others out there are just wishing for a job so they actually could buy some groceries and have to decide on paper or plastic.