Posted by: johnny_a
in MyBlog on Oct 29, 2009
Press Release
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Today non-profit, government and business groups joined together to kick off the "Got Your Bags?" campaign - a public education and outreach effort aimed at encouraging Californians to use reusable bags for shopping and bring plastic bags back to the store for recycling.
Posted by: johnny_a
in MyBlog on Aug 19, 2009
Strike up another victory for the plastic bag lobby. The city of Seattle was to begin a 20 cent fee per non-reusable plastic or paper bag distributed at the checkout counter beginning January 1. The deep-pocketed Progressive Bag Affiliates, which "promotes the responsible use, reuse, recycling and disposal of pastic bags" (huh?), pumped $1.4 million into a campaign to bring the issue to a referendum. The law was voted down by the people today.
Progressive Bag Affiliates and savetheplasticbag dotcom (I won't link to them here) have been chasing down proposed "plasti-taxes" and bag bans across the country, helping to get many of them overturned. "Save the Plastic Bag" has launched a strange-logic campaign based on comparisons between plastic and paper bags, with little or no mention of reusable bags in their analyses.
Posted by: johnny_a
in MyBlog on Aug 07, 2009
The Highland Park News reported yesterday on a public hearing over a proposed citywide ban on plastic foam packaging and single use plastic bags. Local restaurant and retail owners spoke out, claiming that such a law would place undue economic hardship on their businesses. 
Claiming that (unspecified) "alternative" packaging would cost three times more than current materials, one restaurant owner stated "I'm afraid if we raise our prices we're just going to drive people to the bordering communities where (those restaurants) don't have these pass-through expenses." Other opponents said that any new required containers would create the same litter problems, and advocated for better recycling programs.
Posted by: johnny_a
in MyBlog on Dec 16, 2008
Press Release, Dec. 13 2008
Governor David A. Paterson today announced he has signed legislation to increase the collection and recycling of plastic carryout bags. Under the new law, A.11725 (Sweeney)/S.8643-A (Marcellino), which will require collection and recycling to begin on January 1, 2009, retail establishments with more than 10,000 square feet of retail space, or those that are part of a chain with more than five stores (each with more than 5,000 square feet of retail space), must provide bins for the collection of used plastic carryout bags, recycle the returned bags, and keep records for three years describing the amount of plastic bags collected and recycled.
Posted by: johnny_a
in MyBlog on Aug 23, 2008
Add another city to the list of those that are helping to eliminate the waste of plastic bags that are just dumped in the landfills. Does anyone old enough to remember know how we possible could have gotten along without these things thirty years ago?
From the Pacific Business News-
Posted by: johnny_a
in MyBlog on Aug 21, 2008
Only about 4% of plastic bags used in the U.S. end up being recycled. We congratulate Trex, the recycled deck components manufacturer, for providing Solana Beach, CA with a baling machine that will compress plastic bags left off in municipal recycle bins into tidy 50 lb. bales. After picking up the first 30,000 lbs., Trex will pay the city fifteen cents per lb. for the plastic.
Kudos too, to Edco, Solana Beach's commercial waste hauler, for transporting the bags from the recycle bins to the city public works yard (where they'll be compacted), for no charge.
