Yesterday on January 1st, the “Bag Law” went into effect in Israel. At the grocery or supermarket people who want a plastic bag will pay 10 agorot per bag. This is supposed to lower use of plastic bags and lower the pollution in our environment. Plastic bags are not bio-degradable so they don’t break down in landfills and unfortunately can be seen strewn across our seven seas.
The theory is that the price will deter people from using the bags and lower plastic consumption in Israel therefore lowering plastic waste. Former Chief Scientist of the Education Ministry, Dr. Gabi Avital thinks that is not true. He said the law is the end result of 40 years of environmental groups pressuring and intimidating the government. “Why impose on me and ask me to buy bags through this law? So that I will use less of them? According to this logic, they should be charging a shekel and a half (about 40 cents). Then I'd think twice [about using plastic bags].” Dr. Avital added. He doesn’t accept that the bag law is to protect the environment, because the authorities already collect the plastic bags from the trash to protect the environment. It should be noted that most of cities in Israel have a well-developed recycling program.
Meanwhile the whole idea of bags being evil is an environmental marketing ploy. “The image of the dirty bag is meant to promote things. It isn't important. In truth, it represents less than one percent of all the garbage which will not be recycled. They talk about the decades in which the bags are not biodegradable, the issue “of their biodegradability is fiction; not one can name the real [amount of time the bags last]. But assuming that it is correct it is the job of the environmentalists to find a solution for the bags and for other things of that nature. Humanity has progressed and there is now technology that didn't exist in the past.” Dr. Avital told Arutz Sheva.
This campaign against plastic grocery bags is similar to other environmental campaigns. “In [19]93 they said that bromide factories caused 5% of the hole in the ozone layer. It is all about intimidation, not about scientific methodology. It is all lies and deceit. I have written quite a lot about it. It is one of the biggest canards in scientific history, if not the biggest.” The solution to any potential environmental problem caused by plastic bags is to use technology to find an alternative to plastic bags, not to reach into the pockets of the average consumer.
Perhaps a bag recycling initiative would be more effective and prove to be cost effective too. Intimidation and greed don’t solve the problem.