Deep sigh... Portland missed out on another first - Again.

San Fransisco was the first to ban them.

Now NYC is one of the first to require stores to recycle them.

Back in April we reported that the San Francisco City Council voted to ban petroleum-based plastic bags from large supermarkets.  After Mayor Newsom signed the ban, San Francisco became the first American City with such a ban.  Plastic bags were replaced with paper and corn-based plastic bags that can be recycled through San Francisco's city-wide curbside compost program.

I'd like to take a moment to remind you that similar bans already exist in South Africa, Taiwan, and Bangladesh. 

The New York Times reports that the NYC Council overwhelmingly passed a sweeping measure today that would require stores to collect, transport and recycle the plastic bags they issue to customers. This puts New York City at the forefront of a growing movement to curb plastic bag use.

Read the article here.

I appreciate that many local stores have taken the first steps to make plastic bags obsolete. Promotions for reusable bags abound. But this is not enough. Plastic bags can still be waving in trees or sailing in the air on a windy day (a performance I see frequently through my office window).

Our original post asked if the Portland City Council will one day take on this issue, after all it doesn't seem unreasonable with our current city council.

The waters have been tested. The public will is there. We just need our leaders to act.

 

Comments

[Michael D]

Of course, in Ireland, they found that paper bags were leading to more pollution -- because of all the fuel needed to transport them. Perhaps we should ban all non-reusable bags?

[Peter W]

It seems to me that the simplest and most effective way to help the environment in this case might just be to require stores to do what they usually do: charge people for what they take... and have that include bags.

I went shopping at Ikea and they charge like 10 cents for a bag, and the cheapskate in me was upset that I forgot to bring my own bag, so I just carried, bag-less, the few things I bought that day. FYI, Ikea uses the money people spend on bags to support a reforestation program I believe.

Point is: make people pay for it, and then they have the option of using it, but a lot of people won't want to pay unnecessarily so they'll bring bags. That reduces both paper and plastic waste (and/or reduces energy that would be spent on recycling).

Remember: reduce, then re-use, then recycle.

[Tess Fields]

I think stores should stop supplying bags period. The only time I remember to bring a cloth bag from home is when I remember that the store I'm frequenting does not have bags.