A Stitch in Haste

More self-appointed warm-fuzzy-feeling do-gooders see only what they want to see:

Paper or plastic? It is a question that has long dogged grocery shoppers. But the debate may soon be settled for [Annapolis], where a bill aimed at protecting marine life would ban plastic bags from all retail stores.
...
Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau and director of EarthEcho, an environmental education group in Washington, said, "Banning plastic makes sense for the simple reason that it takes more than 1,000 years to biodegrade, which means that every single piece of plastic we've ever manufactured is still around, and much of it ends up in the oceans killing animals."

Ignore for the moment the facially absurd claim that "much" of our plastic bag refuse ends up in the oceans. Our trash ends up in landfills. There is simply no oceanic "tragedy of the commons" here as there might be with whale hunting or tuna fishing.

Focus instead on the all-too-real economic consequences:

Instead of taking away plastic bags, which cost 2 cents each compared with 5 cents for paper bags, Annapolis should enforce its litter laws, [a supermarket spokesperson] said.

He added that Giant already offered a 3-cent credit for every plastic bag that customers return to the store and that 2,200 tons of bags a year were recycled and turned into backyard decks and park benches.

Paper bags are bulkier to transport than plastic bags, [he] added, and more trucks, fuel and pollution are involved in delivering them to stores.

So not only do these environmentalists hate the poor, by making them pay more for their groceries, but they also apparently hate the environment, advocating policies that would contribute to global warming. Go figure.

The way to deal with litter is with anti-littering laws. The way to deal with trash generally is to make it fee based. The way to deal with externalities — if you can objectively demonstrate that they even exist — is with carefully crafted Pigou taxes.

And the way to maximize "social welfare" is, always, to leave people alone as much as possible to pursue their individual welfare. That is the optimal environment, and therefore the optimal environmental policy.

More thoughts at Hit & Run.