The fate of the ubiquitous plastic shopping bag continues to generate a lot of interest and correspondence. It's one of those environmental dilemmas everyone can get their fingers around.

Here’s a story in Saturday’s New York Times about the national plastic bag tax (33 cents on each one) in Ireland and how it has helped make the bags about as socially acceptable there as fur coats and failing to clean up after dogs. Other countries and cities have simply banned the bags.

Ireland’s solution is similar to one that had been proposed by a Maine lawmaker. That proposal stalled in Maine, and has now taken a back seat to voluntary efforts to promote reusable bags. It seems a long shot that Maine would follow Ireland’s lead with a tax – no other U.S. state or city has done it – but it may be a matter of time before the idea crosses the Atlantic.

Meanwhile, Suzette Bergeron of Scarborough continues to move ahead with her solution - Bulletin Bags. The simple idea is to sell advertising space on reusable bags so she can make them, print them and distribute them for free. Check out her new Web site here and we’ll keep you posted on her progress.

When it comes to plastics, what goes around sure does come around.
Not only does the stuff tend to live on long after we have any use for it, but we also like to drag it out and punch it around every now and again.

Consider the assault on plastic grocery bags that's become a cause for environmentalists in Maine and around the world.

The bag backlash made news this week when Whole Foods Market announced that its stores will be plastic bag-free by Earth Day, April 22.

A Maine lawmaker and the Maine Grocers Association, meanwhile, are pushing the use of reusable bags as a way to keep plastic ones out of circulation.

It might sound familiar. Way back in 1989, Maine's Legislature adopted a law requiring all stores in the state to use paper bags instead of plastic ones, unless a customer specifically asked for plastic.

It's safe to say China is not known as a world leader in environmental protection.

But this week, the country joined a growing worldwide backlash against plastic grocery bags blamed for wasting oil, clogging sewers and littering streets and waterways. “China launched a surprise crackdown on plastic bags on Tuesday, banning production of ultra-thin bags and forbidding its supermarkets and shops from handing out free carriers from June 1,” according to a Reuters story from Beijing.

China joins several European countries and the city of San Francisco, which passed the first U.S. ban last year, among others. Zanzibar, Tanzania, has even attached a potential jail sentence to anyone using one of the bags.

Will Maine follow?

Rep. Ted Koffman, D-Bar Harbor, could not get a plastic bag bill introduced this year. (It would have placed a fee on the bags to pay for reusable-bag incentives.) But Koffman tells us he is continuing to work with the grocery store chains to create more incentives for shoppers to bring their own bags.

It may just be a matter of time before Maine joins the bag trend – but without surprise government crackdowns or jail sentences.