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Seattle (finally) bans plastic shopping bags
After a groundbreaking measure to discourage consumers from using disposable plastic shopping bags was squashed by voters in 2009, Seattle is back in the bag-banning game in a big way.
Tue, Dec 20 2011 at 10:03 PM
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Photo: How can I recycle this/Flickr
At long last, the Seattle City Council has unanimously green-lighted a wide-reaching ban on disposable plastic shopping bags — not just at supermarkets but at farmers markets, department and convenience stores, home improvement centers, and even food trucks.
Produce, bulk, and dry cleaning bags along with plastic bags used for take-out orders at restaurants will still be provided to customers free of charge under the new ruling which will also require retailers to charge customers a minimum of 5 cents if they require a paper shopping bag. The paper bag fee, which will be waived for low-income residents, will go directly back to the retailer to help cover the costs of stocking the bags. Once signed by Mayor Mike McGinn, the new law is expected to go into effect in June 2012.
As mentioned, the ban has been a looong time coming for Seattle. In 2008, the city became the first in the nation to approve a fee (20 cents) on both plastic and paper shopping bags. That game-changing measure was met by a $1.4 million campaign-of-protest by the American Chemistry Council and was repealed by voters in 2009. In the years since the failed measure, Seattle residents have blown through 292 million plastic bags annually (only about 13 percent are recycled) while other cities both local (Bellingham, Edmonds and Portland, Ore.) and further afield (Washington, D.C.; San Francisco) have enacted similar bag fees and outright bans. The Seattle ban is directly modeled after the ban in Bellingham.
Council member Mike O’Brian tells the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that “the hope is by passing this legislation, we can help shift behavior and get more people to use reusable bags instead of disposable bags.” He adds: "I think we've gotten to a place where it's really going to work for the environment, businesses and the community in general.”
Naturally, not everyone is pleased that Seattle is back in the plastic shopping bag exiling game. Mark Daniels, vice president of sustainability and environmental policy at plastic bag manufacturer and recycler Hilex Poly, laments to The New York Times: “Moving consumers away from plastic bags only pushes people to less environmentally friendly options such as paper bags, which require more energy to produce and transport, and reusable bags, which are not recyclable.”
I hear you loud and clear, Mr. Daniels, but I have to wonder: were there any reusable or paper shopping bags found in the trash-filled stomach of a grey whale that beached itself in Seattle in 2010? Negatory. Also, some folks who use free plastic shopping bags scored at retailers for household purposes such as lining garbage cans and backyard poop scooping have complained about the new measures as well. The ban is fully supported by the Northwest Grocery Association.
Any Seattle residents care to chime in about the news? Here's hoping that the ban is infectious and heads down south to my hometown of Tacoma in the very near future.
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I love how people that are opposed to something use the argument that something else is far worse, so why bother. This is why nothing gets accomplished. Like, why solve assault crimes when we can't solve homicides... that's way worse so what's the point of dealing with this other problem? Ridiculous.
It's a nuisance, but I just have to invest in reusable bags, thus it's a good thing for Seattle.
it about time the cities are waking up. walmart use's about 2 billion plastic bags a year alone. their destroying the earth. the rest of the country should ban all plastic shopping bags. good job settle
I save and reuse my shopping bags. What will the store do if I show up with my own plastic bags?
The plastic water and drink bottles are much worse on the environment.
Rather than creating a negative disincentive, it is normally much more effective to create a positive incentive to use the alternative. Giving a small discount for providing your own bag, for example.
The point of which is what, genius? The point is, plastic bags need to go away. Good riddance to them.
Wrong ! without plastic bags there will be more Health Problems!
I lived thru the Old eras before plastic Bags! You sond way Too in Experienced. CHILD
I wish more people would use reusable bags... it takes government action to force change these days. Go Seattle!
"fee will be waived for low income residents"... so now shoppers will have to prove they are 'low income'??? What does income have to do with using reuseable bags? I've used reueable bags for years, and can assure you that even when theyfinally wear out, my 7 reuseable bags will be way less enviromentally harmful than the 1000 plastic bags I would have used. It's good to see Seattle making this move - dozens of other countries have had this practice in place for years.
My guess is the big black leaf and trash bags that the plastic bags are put into and hauled to the dump are going away too? Really? Or is it that you can't do anything about the pollution from the ship exhaust, which is not scrubbed - those ships put out more pollution per year than all the cars combined. And you worry about a few bags blowing around...
Here in Iowa they will be banning plastic bags in 2012 and I LOVE IT! There are plastic bags hanging from trees, in the gutters, a long side of the highways, in the river. Hate them. Go back to paper, or use the "green" bags that you can buy at the stores. Now we need to get rid of plastic bottles!
And there's dog poop on the sidewalks, and at the parks, in my yard... perhaps we should ban dogs too since their owners can't pick up after them.
Um.......biodegradable bags for dog poop! (cat poop too) BioBags
They sale those at stores. It even says it on the box so you don't get confused.
If that's not the problem then ban the pet owner. LOL
Why would someone put something biodegradable in something that isn't and throw it away.
Carry home a Cold soda or anything else frozen in a Paper bag and have it fall apart on you. Reusable Bags are only good for ONE use then too Germ ridden to use without washing, but the don't last thur a Washing. Plus will you be carrying around Bulky Reusable bags with you Everywhere. Oh maybe you Drive Everywhere You go - Now that is Really NOT Green. Fool.
Thank god, now the planet is saved. Now we can all waste tons of fule/electricy on huge cars, huge homes, iphones, ipads, facebook, and a million other unecessary, wasteful luxuries
If there are so many problems to solve, why don't you GTFO the Internet and start solving them, instead of complaining about people who are?
They should have made it so that all retailers have to provide biodegradable plastic bags if they want to provide bags at all.
You my Friend have hit the Nail right on the Head - BioDegradable!!!!!
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