HeraldNet: Plastic, paper bags under attack in Seattle



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Eco Geek

April 3, 2008

Plastic, paper bags under attack in Seattle

Posted at 1:27 pm by Sarah Jackson

That’s right, folks. This is THE green story of the day.

Seattle mayor Greg Nickels and city council president Richard Conlin have teamed up to propose a 20-cent fee on disposable shopping bags at grocery, drug and convenience stores.

That’s per bag, ladies and gentleman, whether it’s paper or plastic.

I’m all for green progress. I’m totally in favor of paying more for greener options. I’m also a huge fan of Conlin’s push to make food waste recycling mandatory in Seattle.

But this move strikes me as a bit extreme or at least premature.

Then again, maybe I’m just not ready to let go of plastic bags entirely.

While I often use reusable bags at the grocery store, I still rely on plastics when I forget them and then, like many people, I reuse them for other purposes, including cat litter disposal, lunch sacks for work and as general trash bags around the house.

I have a friend who relies on the water-proof nature of plastic bags for the disposal and transport of dirty diapers when she and her kid are on the go. In a world without cheap, mass-produced, mass-distributed plastic bags, what are we going to do? Buy high-end new bags for such purposes? How will this impact low-income people who can barely afford to buy groceries?

Is this a Hefty conspiracy?

I could be MUCH greener. I could use flushable cat litter. I could buy something easily washable in which to transport my lunch. I could use Umbra’s tricks for reducing the need for household trash bags.

Still, I think Nickels and Conlin ought to be targeting other issues, not trying to out-do San Francisco on the bag front.

What about the millions of disposable coffee cups going to waste every year in the Northwest? They can’t be reused in 100 different ways like plastic bags. Reusable mugs, though made of plastic or mined metal, last almost forever. Maybe putting a fee on trashy coffee cups wouldn’t impact low-income people quite so much.

And what about retail shopping handle-style bags such as those from Victoria's Secret and nearly every other shop at the mall? They aren't really paper or plastic. Are they even recyclable? I don't think so.

What do you think about all this? Are Nickels and Conlin eco-visionaries or over-zealous Greenzos when it comes to shopping bags?

Please comment below or write me here.

READER COMMENTS
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Bags aren't bad!
The size of the mayor’s “offending” bags is about 18” by 14” by .001”. The plastic sheeting used to make them is very thin. Roughly 2000 layers to the inch. The amount of volume in the garbage taken up by 12,000 of the mayors hated bags would be approximately 1.75 cubic feet. For that he wants us all to pay 12,000 times 20 cents, $2,400!
And what about the extra time we will have to stand in store lines as the clerks have to start figuring out how much extra they should add to each customer’s bill. What are they going to do at the automated check-out stations? The plastic bags are probably the smallest component of our garbage. Getting rid of them will make a miniscule difference. I think this smells more like a tax increase wrapped in green gift paper.
Peter Dudley | Apr 4, 2008 12:51 am | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

charge for bags at the mall
why stop at the grocery store? there should be a surcharge on all bags!

and has anyone wondered what is going to happen with all of these suddenly fashionable re-usable bags, many of which are made out of vinyl or other non-biodegradable/non-green materials?

you've said it before, Eco-Geek, we also have to work on consuming less...
Ruby Re-Usable | Apr 8, 2008 10:04 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

WAY PAST DUE
This is the first time Greg Nickels has done anything I approve of ... this is not premature lady, it is WAY PAST DUE. Pay attention, we are destroying the environment quicker than people who care can clean it up. We need to do something NOW, not at some to-be-decided point in the future.

Every grocery store I've been to takes anywhere from 5 to 15 cents off the bill for every plastic bag I DON'T use. I bought some of my carry bags for .89 apiece and got several free from Fred Meyer so your argument about poor little old ladies (which I am, by the way) doesn't hold water. All we have to do is work on the mindset a little to remember to carry some bags with us to the store. Fancy designer bags at $15 each are totally unnecessary, as a trip to any grocery store will prove. So spending around a dollar is not too much to ask I'd say, to help the planet and the creatures sharing it that we are strangling with our plastic.

You think they ought to be targeting other issues? So do I. This is presumably where they started and there is more to come I hope.

Cheryl Fontaine
Lake Stevens, Wash.
Sarah Jackson | Apr 4, 2008 4:21 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

It's how they do it in Ireland ...
This comment comes from Tina, a woman who works and lives in Everett (by permission):

"Hi Sarah: I had to comment on your entry about the fee for plastic bags. I am actually surprised it hasn't been done here already.

I was taken aback when on a trip to Ireland five years ago, I was asked at the grocery store for my bags. I didn't understand at first, and then told them I didn't have any with me. They pulled plastic bags out from under the counter and then charged me for them. But, it made total sense to me. It would be a slow process to catch on to here, but eventually I think everyone would just get used to bringing their own bags to the store. All of the locals I saw shopping at the stores in Ireland had their own bags.

As for shopping bags at mall and department stores, it makes sense to charge for those, too. I doubt that stores would be in support of this, though. I think the stores use the bags as much as advertising as anything else; they love to have consumers walking around a crowded mall, displaying the name of their store. I do remember a time when Nordstrom charged 25 cents for one of their shopping bags, though. :)"
Sarah Jackson | Apr 4, 2008 3:19 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

The Mayor has lost it!
Here's a comment I recieved via e-mail, posted with permisssion from Warren Brickell, who lives in Normandy Park and works in Seattle:

"The Mayor has lost it! I reuse plastic bags as trash can liners. I will then have to buy trash bags, and either way a bag is going into the landfill. This is a tax on the working poor. You're right about the coffee cups, the latte-sipping elite, and their corporate masters at Starbucks are not going to be happy with you, though. If the Mayor thinks these hare-brained ideas are his springboard to higher office, think again. He won’t be re-elected dog catcher, let alone mayor. He wants to charge me a toll to drive on his pot-hole filled streets on my way to work, so I can be taxed, only half of Seattle school children get a diploma, the viaduct, which diverts 250,000 cars around the city each day falls into the sea, meanwhile, criminal gangs rule the city. Too much."
Sarah Jackson | Apr 4, 2008 9:56 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

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