Blog entries tagged Plastic Bags

Florida Considering Phase-Out of Plastic Shopping Bags

John Allegro — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:49:24 +0100

Here's a video from Capitol News Service. The report tells us that Florida could be the first state in the nation with a plastic shopping bag ban. Their Department of Environmental Protection has developed a five year plan that would either ban the bags or charge a fee for their use.

Good segment about the free market influence; a local food coop removed plastic bags as an option in order to raise awareness.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBJx8D2IuBs&featuRead More...

Got Your Bags?

John Allegro — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:51:17 +0100

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.

California state law (AB 2449) requires grocery stores and pharmacies with more than 10,000 square feet of retail space to provide bins for the collection and rRead More...

CVS Pays You Back to Say "No" to Plastic Bags

John Allegro — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:36:48 +0100

CVS pharmacy has come up with a clever program to encourage shoppers to cut down on the use of single-use plastic bags. They've introduced the GreenBagTag which pays back their ExtraCare program members for declining plastic bags when making a purchase. The GreenBagTag is available for purchase at any CVS store, all of which participate in the program. There's no charge to join the ExtraCare program, which gives 2% back on most store purchases.

Here's how it works: The GreenBagTag,Read More...

Save the Plastic Bag and the False Dilemma - #1

John Allegro — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Had savetheplasticbag.com put forth only reasonable and provable arguments in support of plastic shopping bags, the site would be more helpful to those that wish to make good decisions in the "paper vs. plastic" debate. But then, we'd be deprived of the tragi-comic relief that it provides us with through its faulty logic and incomplete assumptions. That the nature of the site is based solely on the "paper vs. plastic" issue leads us to question whether it is bRead More...

Seattle Votes Down Bag Tax... and Save the What?

John Allegro — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:00:00 +0100

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.

ProgressRead More...

Fairfield CT Weighs Plastic Bag Ban

John Allegro — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Plastic bag ban update:

The Hartford Courant recently reported that Fairfield is a step closer to enacting a ban on plastic shopping bags. The town board will be voting next week on an ordinance that was passed unanimously by the Reusable Bag Ordinance Committee.

The Connecticut Post followed up today with a brief, no-nonsense editorial in support of passage of the ban, pointing out that even if plastic bags are "reused a few timesRead More...

To Go?

John Allegro — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 05:00:00 +0100

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, onRead More...

NY Governor Signs Legislation to Promote Plastic Bag Recycling and Reuse of Bags

John Allegro — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:00:00 +0100

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), musRead More...

Hawaii County Plastic Bag Ban Fails

John Allegro — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:00:00 +0100

From the Honolulu Advertiser (September 20):

"Big Island acting mayor Dixie Kaetsu yesterday vetoed a bill that would have banned plastic bags, citing "philosophical issues" and concerns over the measure's language on public involvement."

According to the report, Kaetsu felt that the bill did not give nonprofit organizations enough time to "comment" on the bill, and that the one-year timeline to the ban was insufficient.

Had the mayor signRead More...

Quebec Begins Charging for Liquor Store Bags

John Allegro — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:00:00 +0100

The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ), the state-owned corporation responsible for the trade of alcoholic beverages in the Canadian province of Quebec, moved ahead today with its plan to charge customers for single-use bags in its outlets. Customers who now ask for a paper or plastic single-use bag will have to pay five cents for a one-bottle bag, ten cents for a two-bottle bag, and fifteen cents for a four-bottle bag.

According to SAQ, in a press release dated Read More...

Thumbs Up: Frank Sousa

John Allegro — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 05:00:00 +0100

Outdoor sports columnist Frank Sousa wrote this pointed column about the United States' falling behind third world countries regarding policies on plastic shopping bags. It turns out that we are behind Bangladesh and Botswana, both of which have plastic bag bans in effect.

What I like about this piece is that it's honest and from the heart. Sousa helps us see that we don't need statistics, scientific data on the degradable properties of plastic bags, or politics to just know when wRead More...

The Incredible (?) Plastic Bag

John Allegro — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:00:00 +0100

Stephen Joseph, counsel for savetheplasticbag.com, provides his counterpoints to a proposed 25 cent fee for all plastic and paper bags used by consumers in the state of California in his op-ed piece in today's LA Times.

I've never heard of the fact that plastic bags don't decompose in the landfills referred to as "a blessing", but Joseph manages to work it into this article. This is a rather comical statement coming from one that accuses his opponents on the issue of spreading "misinforRead More...

Maui Plastic Shopping Bag Ban to begin in 2011

John Allegro — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 05:00:00 +0100

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-

"Maui County is banning plastic shopping bags.

Over the objections of businesses, the Maui County Council on Friday passed Hawaii's first municipal ban on plastic shopping bags. The law takRead More...

Some are on the right track about reusable bags, but...

John Allegro — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 05:00:00 +0100

Those 99 cent reusable shopping bags that you can buy in the supermarkets and big-box stores look nice with their brightly-colored "fabric". They're also a great impulse buy, positioned right at the checkout lines.

Sure, reusing these non-woven polypropylene (plastic) bags is better than taking the filmy plastic bags and throwing them out right away. But what's going to happen when they get torn up by the kids or family dog, break, or just plain get thrown out?

I rRead More...

New Plastic Bag Recycling Option for Solana Beach, CA

John Allegro — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:00:00 +0100

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 binRead More...