OMG! Libertarian supports a government ban!

      As everybody knows, I am the world's staunchest libertarian.  I continuously and unceasingly preach the gospel of small government and free markets as the correct path to making the world a better place.  Nearly every single problem that mankind faces nowadays can be traced back to some governmental action.  Sometimes the link is not obvious, and requires an open mind and the willingness to dig, research, and think outside the box. 

      Even environmental problems can be either blamed on government, or better solved with free-market ideas, rather than via legislation and bureaucracy.  Industrial pollution can be more intelligently handled via the courts and tort law.  Pollution from vehicles can be better controlled and maintained if transportation was handled by the market, rather than the government, which attempts to solve all transportation problems by laying down more pavement.  And environmentally-sensitive areas can be better managed for future generations if they are owned by private interests, rather than run by bureaucrats and politicians.
      But there is an ever-growing problem on our planet that has serious and profound consequences for the future.  I have not been able to trace the problem back to any governmental action, or devise a free-market solution to it.

      The problem:  plastic.

      The bizarre dilemma of plastic is that its benefits are what makes it such a scourge.  It's is very inexpensive, and is probably the most indestructible material in the universe.  Even rock, metal, and cement will eventually break down, decompose, or dissolve.  But not plastic.  It lasts forever.  That makes it a superb material for storing, dispensing, and transporting stuff.  But what do you do with it when you're done using it?

      The June 2018 edition of National Geographic magazine devoted most of an entire issue to the growing global problem of plastic.  It included many heartbreaking photos of a world drowning in the stuff.  Here are a few sobering statistics from the magazine:  Worldwide, we humans produce over 500 Million TONS of it every year.  Of that, some 161 Million Tons are used for packaging.  Some 40 percent of all plastic is used just ONCE.  Plastic bags are the worst:  their average "working life" is just 15 minutes.

      Where does it go once discarded?  It's estimated that some 9 Million TONS of it end up in the ocean, most of it carried there by rivers.  It's difficult to calculate exact figures because discarded plastic gets broken up into smaller and smaller pieces that become very hard to detect.  Remember:  these little pieces do not "dissolve" or anything.  Marine life mistakes it for food and ingests it.  The critters then die or get eaten, whereby the plastic in their bodies works its way up the food chain.   Scientists are still trying to figure out how much plastic is in the fish we eat, and what that means for our health.

      So what do we do with it all?  Recycling, at least in theory, seems like it would be a solution.  But it ain't that easy.  The cold hard facts are that recycling - especially plastic - is simply not very cost-effective.  See this article.  Fresh, virgin plastic is so much less expensive than trying to do the recycle thing.  Worldwide, it is estimated that currently only about 10% of manufactured plastic gets recycled, and even that figure is going down.

      As wretched as it sounds, dumping plastic in landfills is actually the best way to get rid of it.  But of course landfills are expensive, and they … fill up.  That requires us to devote more and more land to landfills.  And you still need an infrastructure system to GET the trash from end-user to a proper landfill.

      I was in in Kenya a couple of years ago, and I was horrified at all the trash, everywhere, most of it plastic.  I asked:  why don't Kenyans dispose of their litter properly?  The answer I received was:  there is no place to put it.  Even if there were trash barrels, what do you do when the barrels get full?  There are no trucks to come and get it.  And even if there were trash trucks, where would they dump it?  There are no landfills.

      As individuals, we all can help reduce the scourge of plastic by, for example, smart shopping.  As for me, I absolutely REFUSE to buy water in plastic bottles.  One careless moment of not watching that empty bottle is all it takes, and down it goes, into a ditch or a storm sewer, eventually making its way to the ocean, contributing to the unsightly mess and killing sea critters.  Also, I buy leaf bags made of biodegradable material to stuff in my yard waste.  

      My aversion to plastic leaf bags and water bottles sounds noble, for sure, but:  everything ELSE I buy ONLY comes in plastic.  My refrigerator at home is stocked with drinks and condiments and meat and all sorts of stuff in plastic containers that are used once then discarded.  And at the checkout counter, an unlimited stock of plastic bags are there for my shopping convenience.  I know I should bring my reusable cloth bags to pack my groceries, but … I'm just not that diligent.  And then there are those plastic garbage bags and Ziploc bags I use all the time.

      And there lies the rub.  Plastic is just so … convenient.  I cringe when I see people buying cases and cases of water in plastic bottles, but I can relate:  using them is so easy!  

      Face it, dear readers:  we are destroying the planet one plastic bag, one plastic container at a time because we are lazy and irresponsible.   Or the resources and infrastructure to dispose of trash properly don't exist, because … the people just are not willing and/or able to spend the money.  The animated movie "Wall-E" depicted a future Earth that became uninhabitable from the over-abundance of trash.  Maybe it wasn't so far-fetched after all.

      What do we do?  I have agonized and spent sleepless nights over this dilemma.  There are, evidently, no free-market solutions to the global scourge of plastic.  There are no agencies, bureaucracies, or idiotic laws or taxes that, if repealed, would help solve the problem.  And people are too lazy and irresponsible to be expected to take individual responsibility to save the planet.  And even then, all it takes is one scofflaw litterbug out of a million people to ruin it for everyone else. 
      So with my head hung low and crocodile tears gushing forth, I must conclude that there is only one institution of last resort that must step in:

      Government.  

      Specifically, government must enact legislation to ban or restrict the use and sale of single-use plastic.  

      Without a doubt, under such a ban, many conveniences we take for granted would go away.  Plastic containers for drinks and other consumables.  Plastic grocery bags.  Plastic cups and straws.  I'm certain there are a ton of others that I haven't thunk of yet.  Some manufacturers would be in for some serious re-tooling, but the good news is that there are a host of alternative materials, including metal, paper, cardboard, wood, glass, and the biodegradable material they use for leaf bags.

     There are already some precedents for this type of governmental action around the world.  The city of Islamabad, Pakistan has just instituted a law affecting anyone who uses, sells or manufactures a plastic bag.  To help ease the transition, officials there have distributed colorful cloth tote bags at markets and stores, accompanied by promotions on social media.  And two years ago, the nation of Kenya enacted the world's toughest plastic bag ban (Yay!) with penalties that include serious prison time and $thousands in fines. 

      So what is it about the plastic proliferation issue that caused this hard-core libertarian to "sell out" thusly?  Four things:

      1) The scourge of plastic is a REAL problem, not some made-up "problem", like income inequality, or the evils of smoking marijuana, or too many Mexican immigrants, or the need to protect our "national interests" in some faraway place with tax dollars and live soldiers.  And it's not an American problem or a local problem; it affects the entire planet, and nearly every living thing.  The only survivors will be the rats and cockroaches.

      2) There are absolutely no incentives for individuals, or profit-making businesses, to address it.  As mentioned above, there truly are many valuable incentives to address other environment-related issues using good ole' free market principles - but not this one.  Plastic represents just too much convenience for end-users and too much profit for businesses.  

      3) A ban on single-use plastic will not crash the economy or cause major hardships on anybody.  The major complainers, of course, will be businesses that manufacture it.  But they will adapt, and re-tool to use alternative materials or make reusable plastic items.  Positive public goodwill plays a role here, also.

      4) Odds are good that a single-use plastics ban would actually WORK.  That's a far cry from so many other failed government endeavors, such as:  wealth redistribution, wage and price controls, substance prohibition, vice crime laws, gun control, government schools, and so forth.

      Still, I hope that somebody out there sees the flaw in my logic, and writes back to point out that yes, there IS a non-governmental solution to this global problem after all.  In the meantime, dear reader, do not think for one minute that I am abandoning my libertarian philosophy, which was arrived at via a lifetime of study, research, dialog, and reflection.  If anything, this article proves that my primary goal is, and has always been, to find solutions to problems and make the world a better place - not blind loyalty to any party or person or anything.  

      As for every OTHER problem in our world, the best solution remains as always:  peace, freedom, and voluntary cooperation - not coercive governmental control.