By Jay Arthur


You have to figure that the people who represent the plastics industry
have a much harder job than the paper people.
Plastic don't get no respect.
From being the wonder kid of modern civilization, along with the gas that powered  booming economies,  plastic has become the whipping boy.
Paper on the other hand, has gone from the product of dirty mills that polluted lakes to an organic, Canadian-made material that is sustainable.
What happened?
Firstly, people have made the connection that plastic comes from oil. And let's face it, oil is icky stuff. Whenever it is on the news it's bad news. The Exxon Valdiz man-made disaster sent photographs of oil-covered birds and ruined landscapes across the world and every time we have a war in the Middle East someone blows up an oil well and it's show time again.
Add to that the growing concerns about what exactly may be leaching out of some plastics and there are more bad news stories.
The irony here of course is that you really cannot blame all this on the plastic bag.
People don't fight wars to protect their plastic bag source. The ability to make bags was a side benefit of the oil discovery, not a driver.
And what a great product the plastic bag is! There is no denying it.The thing is a work or art. It is cheap. It is light and it is impervious.
If the folks who starred in The Gods Must Be Crazy thought a Coke bottle was a thing of beauty, imagine what they would have had to say about a plastic bag.
Unfortunately it is the very lack of substance that makes a plastic bag so economical is also its downfall. It's lightness makes it a poster boy for litter campaigns.
Now the industry can bury you in facts and figures that show that plastic bags are only small part of litter, but they are the ones carrying the rap.

Litter is very much an aesthetic issue in North America, more of an aggravation and a nuisance.
But in the developing world it can be a major safety hazard, blocking flood control infrastructure and providing a less than nutritious snack food for wild animals, many of whom die as a result of the meal.
How many times this actually happens is not known but it only takes a few pictures of some cute wildlife choking on plastic to enshrine the image forever in people's imaginations.
And we've seen what flooding can do.
At this point, the reality of the matter is not important. Countries in Africa and Asia have taken steps to counter plastic bag usage, so that tends to add credibility to the argument that they are a problem, whatever response industry may come up with.
In this country, we do not have any dire consequences from plastic bags, but they still remain a convenient target.
There is no question that the Ontario Premier's decision to take centre stage in announcing the phasing out of plastic bags at LCBO stores was all about gaining greenie points. (A pretty mundane event in the overall scheme of things, but something has to offset the nuclear power expansion stories.)
Leaning on the LCBO to show some sense on the deposit issue was good leadership given the size of the LCBO packaging budget and its management's tenacious blindness to the environmental benefits of removing booze bottles from the sacred blue box. So it might be argued this is a follow-up to that.
It does tie in with the provincial moves to get the industry to do something about packaging, and the phasing out of plastic bags at liquor stores was likely a good way to show that the Province is serious.
000But you can understand the plastics guys feeling a bit out of sorts and a little paranoid about being picked on so much.
I am not sure, however, that the advice they seem to be getting from their public relations people is serving them well.
Instead of starting a dissing match with the paper industry, they would be better served to build on the good work they are doing to encourage plastic bag recycling through the in-store take-back programs.
Their own studies have shown these programs can be profit centres and if consumers know they can take the bags bag back, they will feel better (and less guilty) about using them.