Paper or Plastic?

Back in May of this year, Arizona lawmakers made it illegal for cities to impose plastic bag bans. Tempe has since decided to try and stand up and change this law to allow the banning of single-use plastic bags.
Not only does this law prevent any city in the state from banning plastic bags, it also prevents any city in the state from requiring any type of recycling programs. That’s right, recycling in Arizona is an option not a requirement, one that many businesses choose to opt out.
Arizona lawmakers no longer have an idea of what is healthy for this great state, but would rather impose laws that prevent anything from becoming too much of a hassle.
Thankfully one city council member from one of the cities in the State realized the ridiculousness of this law and how unreasonably it really is. A Tempe city council member plans to fight this law. This member reached out to a judge and asked for the law in question to be voided, at least in the city of Tempe.
Tempe is what is known as a charter city and is given certain rights that allows it to use its own legislature and is not forced to use the legislature provided by the state. That is the loophole Tempe plans on using when fighting this state law.
The ban of the plastic bag is not a new concept. Hawaii went statewide plastic bag free in 2013. In 2014, California also imposed a statewide ban against single use plastic bags, especially in grocery stores. The ideal alternative to both plastic and paper bags is the reusable canvas bag.
Why are plastic bags even an issue today? When did we decide to trash our environment with these single use bags, the answer is simple: cost and ease.
Paper bags can cost up to four times more the cost of the single-use plastic bags that now dominate the grocery stores. Back in the 1960s the plastic bag was introduced to help cut down on the amount of paper that was used every day in creating the paper bags. Ever since then they have been environmental nuisances.
Scattering highways and ending up in the bellies of animals all over the globe, plastic bags have been a thorn in the Earth’s side ever since their origin. Now states are making laws against banning them.
Why are states like Arizona dragging their feet when it comes to being environmentally friendly and pass laws that harm the Earth instead of helping it? Thank goodness for cities like Tempe who are willing to fight for their rights to look out for the environment.