More on plastic bags:

An EcoGeek reader commented Thursday that banning plastic bags, as discussed here may not be the answer.

“San Francisco’s ban has done nothing to curb the city’s litter woes. Ireland’s much touted tax did reduce checkout bag use by 90 percent, but sales of packaged bags went up 400 percent, resulting in a net gain in bag use. Way to go!”

He also mentioned that Pacific Northwesterners generally recycle at high rates, and use those cheap grocery store bags for a variety of things, such as cleaning up after the dog on walks and lining trash cans.

The argument is that plastic bags, used along with reusable bags, can be a good thing – if we conscientiously recycle them.

What about you, dear readers? When you don’t bring your Trader Joe’s tote to the grocery store, what do you do with the plastic bags?

A way to compost

My landlords are saints, but they’re concerned that I’ll attract all the neighborhood critters if I compost.

Too bad we don’t live in Berkeley, CA, where the city provides a green food scrap bin that’s collected alongside the trash and recyclables. From there, the city composts the scraps. People who sign up even get a free bag of compost.

But we don’t live in Berkeley.

I’ve seen worm composting bins. What other options do I have as an Everett resident? Any ideas?

Only in America

When I see tidbits like this, it’s hard not to smile.

It seems a group of San Franciscans want to change the name of a prize-winning water treatment facility to the “George W. Bush Sewage Plant.” They hope to get enough signatures to place the initiative on the ballot in November.

Whatever your political leanings (and of course, I officially have none), this should make you proud to be an American. It’s nice to have the freedom to needle our country’s leaders once in a while.

I’m not comparing our president to the guys below, but think about the options:

The Aleksandr Lukashenko Federal Dump?

The Robert Mugabe Voting Inkpad Production Facility?

The Kim Jung-il Center for Rudimentary Farming?

Didn’t think so.