I think it's an important question to ask, whenever we're looking to ban or replace something. What are the practical implications? What's the impact on the economy and jobs? A report just this week cited the figure that every tonne of plastic that ends up wasted costs $33,000 to marine industries, tourism sectors, the municipalities. It's one of those questions you probably had from citizens who may look at their tax bill and say, “It's costing me $6 a month for recycling. Why am I paying more in my tax bill?”
Particularly if you can take $6 off your municipal waste cost for the diversion out of your landfill.... Anyone who wants to see large numbers should talk to a municipal leader when they're having to plan a new landfill. What is the cost of retiring the old one? I would always put these questions. A proper approach I think is full cost accounting, not simply the one moment in time, but the life cycle cost of anything we're talking about, the current product or the replacement we're considering.
If we just take the cost of a paper straw to produce and the cost of a plastic straw to produce and one is 3¢ and the other is 1¢, we say that clearly we should do the cheaper option. My question would be, what does it cost for the entire life of that straw? That's all. I've seen industry move dramatically in the last 15 years from a place of maybe not considering full cost to a place now where the implications are better understood. The analysis should be done completely—not in the one moment of time in which you put that straw into the cup—and then we should decide what the cost actually is.