Governments shunning plastic bags means big business to paper bag manufacturers

Last weekend in Bellingham, Washington I was faced with a new situation – a Walmart with out a single plastic bag to bag up your purchases in. Instead you were suppose to bring your own bag from home, go without the bag or buy a paper bag for five cents. An employee explained that this was not Walmart’s policy but rather a new law by the Bellingham government.

The current hatred to plastic bags is nothing new. Just yesterday Fort Collins in Colorado decided to consider joining the list of bag-free cities. Even developing countries like Uganda and India are thinking to completely ban the distribution of plastic bags.

While reusable bags initially were the big benefits of the environmental movement away from plastic bags. They have increasing received bad press for unhygienic growth hubs for bacteria and inconvenience. Being able to be made up of recyclable material and fully compostable after use, paper bags have been the benefiting the most from the bans.

A recent India Times article confirms this with literally hundreds of new paper bag manufactures sprouting up around Delhi after a city-wide ban of plastic bags. The new law while ruining some plastic bag businesses has become a boom for paper bags. It will be interesting if this new competition will be able to get paper bags down to a cost naturally competitive with plastic bags. This shows the profound effect government regulations have on a economy.

sources

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-10-20/news/34606531_1_paper-bags-plastic-bags-premier-bags

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/11/13/fort-collins-joins-list-of-cities-considering-plastic-bag-ban/

http://articles.kspr.com/2012-11-01/reusable-bags_34863109