The ease with which the wind blows plastic bags contributes to their widespread distribution in the natural environment. While they can be recycled, only about 5 percent of plastic bags in the U.S. actually are. They fly out of landfills and garbage trucks, and everyone’s heard horror stories of animals dying from eating or choking on plastic. They’ve contributed to the patch of floating plastic in the Pacific Ocean that weighs an estimated 3 million tons and covers an area twice the size of Texas.

In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country to ban plastic bags. Bags were found clogging drains during monsoon rains, causing flooding, and the ban was the final manifestation of a campaign against plastic bags that had been ongoing since the 1980s.

Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania have all recently banned plastic bags, but the follow through remains to be seen.

Many retailers in Uganda have ignored the recent ban of use or importation of plastic bags, saying they were not given enough forewarning to switch over, and the ban in Kenya won’t go into effect until January 2008 to give managers time to clear their stocks.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved legislation to ban plastic checkout bags at supermarkets in November and at pharmacies by early 2008.

Officials estimated 180 million plastic bags are handed out each year in San Francisco alone, and those bags end up clogging storm drains, littering the streets, harming wildlife and jamming recycling machines, according to reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle. City officials hope other U.S. cities will follow suit.

It only takes a few seconds of forethought to avoid contributing to that waste, and an all-out ban on plastic bags isn’t really necessary.

A tax on plastic bags that puts a price on their use has worked in other countries to drastically reduce plastic bag use and encourage people to reuse the plastic bags they do get.

Ireland imposed a tax of 15 cents per plastic bag, or a “plastax,” in 2002. The small tax has cut plastic bag use by 90 percent, the equivalent of more than a billion bags in Ireland alone, and has raised millions of euros in extra revenue that Ireland spends on environmental projects.

I’ve been a big advocate of avoiding use of plastic bags and reusing them for a while now, and I’ve noticed most retail stores in the U.S. toss whatever I buy into a plastic bag without asking, even if it’s only one or two small items.

In Australia, however, plastic bags are generally only given if a customer buys three or more items, and cheap canvas bags are for sale by the register for about $2 AUS.

France didn’t ban shopping bags or levy a tax. Instead the country simply switched to heavier, reusable plastic bags that are easier to recycle and less likely to blow away. They now account for more than half the market.

Paper bags have certain qualities that would make them seem like the better choice in the checkout line, since they’re biodegradable and recyclable. However, simply switching from plastic to paper isn’t the best answer, either — paper bags are bigger and heavier than plastic, take up more space in landfills and cost about four or five times more to produce than plastic.

When the question is between paper or plastic, the answer should be neither — people in the U.S. need to start thinking about reducing their waste by reusing plastic bags, carrying reusable cloth or canvas bags and recycling the plastic bags they do use.

The economics of plastic bags is simple — when they’re given away for free it’s easier to thoughtlessly discard them. People think with their wallets, when an actual monetary value is put on the product.

Liz Kersjes is the State News opinion writer. Reach her at kersjese@msu.edu.