Caleb Stephens '23
Technology Editor
When I returned from winter break, I had a number of things I had to do. Acquire textbooks, check the mail, do laundry, and, of course, restock on perishable food. As per usual, I visited Sam’s Club, where business proceeded normally. Unfortunately, I had some items I needed to buy elsewhere, so I drove across the street to Walmart. All was calm until I reached the self-checkout, only to be rudely asked how many bags I needed. The screen had the audacity to charge me a whole five cents per bag that I used. Now, I’m not one to begrudge “nudge” methods for getting people to change their behavior. But I do strongly dislike having to pay for something that was formerly free. I like it even less when it’s a tax.
Looking at this tax charitably, it’s intended to encourage reuse of the bags. A Danish study in 2018 looked at a number of alternatives to the standard plastic grocery bag.[1] It’s a fascinating read, but the conclusion was that across most environmental factors, the standard plastic grocery bag had the lowest environmental impact, followed by the standard paper bag. Most reusable grocery bags have to be reused at least forty times to have the same environmental impact as a standard plastic bag. Shockingly, cotton bags are among the worst on this scale, having to be reused over 7,000 times before having the same environmental impact as a single plastic bag.[2] Organic cotton is even more resource-intensive to create, requiring 20,000 uses to match a single plastic bag.[3]
Even aside from the environmental concerns, a change like this doesn’t come without side effects. In a study that examined what happened when San Francisco banned single-use bags, emergency room visits for E. coli increased by one-fourth.[4] Of course, this isn’t a ban, but the bag tax is definitely intended to increase use of reusable bags. Reusable bags are fine, as long as you keep them clean. And by clean, you pretty much have to wash them after every use, particularly if you buy meat or produce, both of which tend to carry contaminants. The problem with this is, first, it’s a pain to remember to do, particularly when you need to remember to put the bags back in the car (not to mention the fact that leaving bags in a car trunk substantially increases the growth of bacteria in the bags).[5] Second, washing bags substantially adds to their environmental cost. Third, it decreases the usable life of the bag, which, again, adds to the environmental cost. Most people simply don’t wash their bags. Which, unfortunately, increases cases of sickness and even death.
Not only do reusable bags cause public health concerns, but even just a bag tax adds 3 percent to checkout time.[6] While that’s not a lot of time, it does add up, particularly when there’s a long line of shoppers. Fortunately, there are exceptions to the tax that the store won’t tell you. Before I explain the exceptions, I have to give the disclaimer that this is not to be construed as tax advice in any way, shape, or form, so if you get prosecuted for tax evasion for following my explanation, it’s not my fault. That said, the Charlottesville website says the tax does not apply to “[p]lastic bags solely used to wrap, contain or package the following types of goods in order to prevent damage or contamination.”[7] This is followed by a list of items that includes ice cream, meat, produce, or perishable food items. Presumably, this is intended to apply to those thin bags on a roll that are provided to put meat or produce in, but the inclusion of ice cream on the list is confusing, and the plain text of the rule provides no description of the bags which would indicate a difference between the bags provided on a roll and the bags provided at a checkout.[8] The intent behind this exception is obvious: to prevent contamination or damage to the products, as the rule says. I suspect this was added to prevent lawsuits for potential E. coli or salmonella cases arising from mingling items in the grocery cart, as that risk was explained above.
So, what’s the conclusion? What should you do? Well, if you want to have the lowest environmental impact, use the standard plastic bags, and try to reuse them as much as possible (reuse as trash bags is highly recommended, and more environmentally friendly than regular trash bags). Recycling grocery bags, while potentially beneficial, is not nearly as efficient as reuse. I recommend getting a bag of bags, a container of some sort to store old grocery bags, and simply trying to avoid trashing the bags unless they’ve been used for meat or something else perishable. Standard plastic grocery bags are great for what they do, and they’re a miracle of modern engineering. I, for one, am incredibly grateful that I can use those bags to line my rubbish bin and avoid the mess of having to clean the inside of a wicker basket.[9] I’ll be doing as much of my shopping as I can at Sam’s or at the Ruckersville Walmart, which is outside of Charlottesville’s jurisdiction. If you want to use the nicer reusable bags, you’re just going to have to eat the environmental cost and wash them. Best practices are to store reusable bags in your home, wash them after each use, and never mix meat and produce in the same bag.[10] Food poisoning is absolutely no fun, and avoiding it should be a high priority.
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cs8ws@virginia.edu
[1] Danish Env’t Prot. Agency, Life Cycle Assessment of Grocery Carrier Bags (Feb. 2018), https://www2.mst.dk/udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-73-4.pdf. The UN also did a meta-analysis of grocery bags, but the Danish study seems to be the most reliable overall. See U.N. Env’t Programme, Single-Use Plastic Bags and Their Alternatives (2020), https://www.lifecycleinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/SUPP-plastic-bags-meta-study-8.3.21.pdf for the meta-analysis.
[2] Id. at 17–18.
[3] Id.
[4]Jonathan Klick & Joshua D. Wright, Grocery Bag Bans and Foodborne Illness (U. Pa. L. Sch. Inst. for L. & Econ., Research Paper No. 13-2, 2012), https://ssrn.com/abstract=2196481.
[5] Cleaning Reusable Bags, A Clean and Vibrant Future, https://www.cleaninginstitute.org/cleaning-tips/clothes/fabric-care/cleaning-reusable-bags, (last accessed Feb 13, 2023).
[6] Rebecca L.C. Taylor, A Mixed Bag: The Hidden Time Costs of Regulating Consumer Behavior, 7 J. Ass’n Env’t & Res. Economists209 (2020).
[7] Disposable Plastic Bag Tax, Virginia Tax, https://www.tax.virginia.gov/disposable-plastic-bag-tax, (last accessed Feb 13, 2023).
[8] Plastic Bag Tax, City of Charlottesville, https://charlottesville.gov/1620/Plastic-Bag-Tax, (last accessed Feb 13, 2023).
[9] Not that I use wicker baskets. I’m not actually an octogenarian, even if I sound like one. I use one-gallon buckets, they’re the perfect size, cheap, and easy to move around or clean in case of incidents.
[10] The American Cleaning Institute has a great guide to bag care available on their website. Cleaning Reusable Bags, American Cleaning Institute, https://www.cleaninginstitute.org/cleaning-tips/clothes/fabric-care/cleaning-reusable-bags (last accessed Feb 13, 2023).