Battle of the Bags

When San Francisco became the first U.S. city to prohibit large grocery stores and pharmacies from distributing disposable plastic bags in March 2007, it appeared to have sparked a trend. At least a dozen other cities, counties and states were soon considering proposals to ban or severely restrict distribution of what many environmentalists consider a wasteful and harmful product.

The plastics industry had no intention of allowing the San Francisco model to spread without a fight, though. It quickly and quietly joined with retailers and other business interests and launched a successful counterattack, using lobbying muscle to quash proposed bans. In the face of the onslaught, the cities have instituted voluntary recycling programs that proponents of the bans say are ineffective and likely to remain so.

And in at least two instances, plastics interests have turned the tables on their green adversaries by filing lawsuits on environmental grounds in an effort to prevent bans from taking effect.

"The plastic industry … will try to win local battle by local battle," says Marc Mihaly, director of the environmental law center at Vermont Law School. "They will intimidate where they can. If they can't intimidate … they will try to influence legislators."

Plastics industry representatives attribute their successes to a growing realization that plastic bans are misguided.

"The trend is that cities who are taking a look at what San Francisco did … are all taking a step back and going toward recycling," said Donna Dempsey, a spokeswoman for Progressive Bag Affiliates, which represents plastic bag makers.

The so-far scattered skirmishes are part of a grander battle over bags, a conflict in which plastic and paper industries are fighting for supermarket supremacy while fending off an ecological newcomer: the reusable fabric bag.

Plastic bags winning in marketplace
Plastic bags have established the clear upper hand. Nationwide, grocery stores and pharmacies go through about 92 billion plastic bags a year, compared with about 5 billion paper sacks, according to paper and plastic industry estimates.

That success also has made the light, strong polyethylene sacks a prominent target for critics. Their manufacture requires large quantities of petroleum. And, once discarded, they tend to take flight in a puff of wind, snagging in trees and fences or floating in bodies of water, where they can choke marine life and birds. As litter, a plastic bag's life expectancy is far greater than a human's — 1,000 years or more.

In Philadelphia, one of the cities that drafted legislation to ban plastic bag distribution by large retailers, they also have a habit of choking the city's antiquated sewer system.

"It was a common-sense issue," said Brian Abernathy, a legislative aide to the proposal's sponsor, City Councilman Frank DiCicco.

But while the ban had popular support, Abernathy said, proponents were ill-prepared for the industry opposition they encountered at the first public hearing on the plan in October. Among those who spoke out against the proposal were the Philadelphia-based petroleum and chemical company Sunoco; the state's food merchants association; bag wholesalers and distributors; the American Chemistry Council, which represents plastic and chemical companies; and the Progressive Bag Alliance, as the plastic bag makers trade group was formerly known.