Moab bans plastic bags

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
Too many sea critters choking on the plastic bags... in Moab. :rolleyes:
The thin plastic bags used by most retailers are not recyclable. Thicker bags are, and those are allowed under the law.

I see no problem with the law. I visit many places that have imposed the same law. Some have switched to thicker plastic bags while others have switched to paper.
 

TRD270

Emptying Pockets Again
Supporting Member
Location
SaSaSandy
I don't have an issue with it, blah blah tree hugger but as many bags as I see flying around the woods/roadway/desert good riddance
 

glockman

I hate Jeep trucks
Location
Pleasant Grove
I see no issues with a town deciding to ban something if it was put to a vote by the citizens of that town. I haven't looked into how this law came about in Moab. I am with Herzog though, I hate statewide or nationwide bans imposed to force us to make better choices. Failure is part of freedom. I realize I pay the price for that by seeing trash all over from stupid free people. It's worth the price to me.
 

jeeper

Currently without Jeep
Location
So Jo, Ut
Remember when plastic bags came out to help save the trees that are cut down to make paper bags?

I must have miracle dirt at my house, because I hear that plastic isn’t biodegradable and will last hundreds of years.. yet the plastic sheets I put down for a weed barrier a few years ago are like a fish net now.

We are going to find out in 20 years that the reusable shopping bags are made from materials that affect the mating habits of the purple horned lizard fish, and they will be banned also.
 

jeeper

Currently without Jeep
Location
So Jo, Ut
Just another thought.. how much water is used to wash the new reusable straws in between each use? If the same 2 billion people who use a straw once a day wash their own straw once a day, is that 100,000,000 gallons a day?? That could go a long way in a place like California or Moab.
 

SnwMnkys

Registered User
Location
Orem, Utah
Americans really are spoiled and will complain about the smallest things that inconvenience them in the slightest.

I stopped buying plastic water bottles overseas if I could and carried a hydroflask with me everywhere i went. Plastic litter may not be a problem here, but ive seen the problem first hand in other countries. Especially in coastal cities, a good storm washes tons of plastic up on the shore line.
 

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
Just another thought.. how much water is used to wash the new reusable straws in between each use? If the same 2 billion people who use a straw once a day wash their own straw once a day, is that 100,000,000 gallons a day?? That could go a long way in a place like California or Moab.

It takes 22 gallons of water to make a pound of plastic so you need to take that into account too. I also can't imagine it takes one gallon of water to wash a metal straw.

I am not saying I am for a bunch of extra laws. Just look at the whole picture. People won't change until the have a reason to change. Some will change out of concern for the environment, some will change when it makes sense to them. Most change when it is more inconvenient to stay the same. There has been bins to recycle plastic bags for a long time now, most people don't use them because it is easy to just throw them away. People thought it was crazy when it became illegal to dump oil and coolant down the drain. Stupid government taking away our rights...... I am really far from being what people consider a "greenie" or "tree hugger", but there are some changes that are good. I am as guilty as most people. We have had reusable shopping bags for probably 12 years now. We hardly ever use them because it is easier to use the ones at the store (plus, what we we use for packing material when we ship stuff). I also get about 147 amazon boxes per day :oops:
 
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D

Deleted member 12904

Guest
I've already made the switch to a couple aluminum straws :hickey: I have been trying to conciously minimize my use of single-use plastics, with intention of eventually being single-use-plastic free completely.

View attachment 115771

"It's only one straw" said 2 billion people, daily

This is awesome! IDK why but I feel compelled to follow your example. I mean why not I usually use 1 or 2 straws a day
 

BlueWolfFab

Running Behind
Location
Eagle Mountain
And as far as the "lawmaking" part of it; it's that enough bad-apples have ruined the bunch. Yeah, not everyone tosses their waste out in an improper manner; but enough people have to make it an issue where the 'government' (the majority of Moab residents, in this case) has had to say that the people that are responsible, aren't doing enough to make up for the people that are irresponsible, and so now no-one gets to"
 

BlueWolfFab

Running Behind
Location
Eagle Mountain
Even in the package that I just sent @Greg, there is quite a bit of plastic in it in the form of bubble wrap. The contents are steel parts, i.e. they really don't need bubble wrap, but I had it on hand and am needing to get rid of it anyways, and in an "ideal world" it wouldn't be single-use plastic anyways because Greg could use it for protecting any items that he ships to the next person, but I realize that would require him to hold onto that bubble wrap until he ships something X-D which I don't expect him to do ha. But, maybe.

Bonus points though, the USPS box was made with post-consumer recycled cardboard :rofl:
 

Kevin B.

Big hippy
Moderator
Location
Vehicular limbo
I'm becoming more and more conscious of my impact on my surroundings. I've always been "green" in a very vague sort of way, but since I started trying to minimize and streamline I've begun noticing what I'm using and what I'm wasting. I don't think I'm in a position to anything very dramatic, or maybe I'm just scared to take that step, but I'm making a concerted effort to reduce reuse recycle.

I'm also cycling more and driving less, which definitely takes more time out of my day but it isn't time wasted because I need the exercise anyway and besides I like it. So I'm killing three birds with one stone there.

I dunno about laws banning plastic bags. The end result of that is some sort of dystopian Utopia where everybody is "perfect" because we're all forced to be, and that's obviously bad. Ideally enough of us would realize our impact and do enough work voluntarily to minimize it that laws of that sort wouldn't be needed. But lets face it, as a society we're a bunch of lazy f***ers that are going to take the path of least resistance nine times out of ten. And the path of least resistance leads to that garbage patch in the ocean and beer cans and plastic water bottles and shotgun shells littering my desert and mountains. Saturday driving home along the MVC, there was a giant crew of 20-30 folks in orange vests filling giant orange bags with trash from the side of the road, and they had piles and piles of full bags. And that sucks too. We suck, as a society, that we have to do that. And the assholes in our society that do that don't care, and won't care, and you're not going to fix them. You will never bring enough positive incentives to the table to make the lazy jerks care about what's going on around them.

So, laws against plastic bags I guess. Don't blame Moab. Blame the jerks. And maybe we should all doublecheck to make sure we aren't one of them every now and again. ;)
 
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