In July, Portland passed an ordinance to ban plastic bags at check-out stands of major grocers and some big-box retailers. The new ordinance will go into effect Oct. 15, 2011.
Plastic bags, once revered for their convenience, are no longer our friend. Their long-reaching negative impact on the earth’s wildlife and environment can no longer be ignored. Sure, they have made shopping convenient, not to mention have served as my garbage bags for years. But, those days are soon to be over.
Or are they?
While the ban means that grocers who earn $2 million or more in gross sales and pharmacies with 10,000-sq.-ft. or more of space – think Target and Wal-Mart – won’t be able to use plastic bags, plastic will still be used for produce, meat and the bulk food section. Some local Fred Meyer stores have already started instituting the ban – both in the city and on the Oregon Coast.
The Portland Farmers Market is still able to use plastic bags, although they prohibit the sale of water bottles. Seems a bit confusing, right? Pharmacists can also use plastic bags if it protects a customer’s privacy. Although, I’m not totally sure how that works. Isn’t plastic usually sort of see-through?
So, the “ban” is more like a reduction in plastic bag use. Will it have an impact? Customers will still be able to use paper bags without a fee, so there will continue to be an environmental impact, along with the plastic bags that are still allowed to float around.
While I love the direction this is going – retailers becoming even more involved in smart, sustainable usage practices – I think Portland (and you know I love you) isn’t taking the stand it really could and should be taking.
It’s exciting to see this kind of shift occurring, I just wish it was going to have more of an impact.
Do you just say no to plastic bags? Think the Portland ordinance will have any real impact? And how does this ban affect retailers? Let’s get this conversation started! Leave your thoughts below.
-Heather Strang
*Photo By Trosmisiek (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Heather – The city of Brownsville TX of all places has also passed a no plastic bag ordinance that caused a lot of confusion last year. It seems that in the end, they will allow plastic bags that are reusable to be used as long as they are a minimum of 4 mil in thickness. Orlando also considering but still a long way off. I import reusable grocery and retail bags should you care to post a link. Thanks
Hi Heather-
Say No to Plastic Bags sounds like a good idea but I feel that there is a better logical order.
A better first step is:
How do we better promote use of reusable bags?
A better second step is to reduce the use of the paper bags which are more harmful to the environment than plastic bags. To understand this you have to look at the whole life cycle of paper vs. plastic.
A better third step is to reduce the use of plastic bags. To do that go to Step 1.
Here is to improving the environment.
Regards,
Ed Rowland
Love the comments Ed & Rob – thank you for your insight!
Ed – you bring up a very valid point. We've got to educate consumers about why reusable bags are important or otherwise we'll just end in the same place all over again.
But, how do we do this? How can retailers be part of this process? Start charging fee's for paper bags? Or even better – giving credit when reusable or no bags are used??
Keep the comments coming!
-Heather
The best idea I have heard of is Whole Foods offering a discount on your purchase if you bring your own reusable bags.
Honestly, when I lived in LA I thought the whole plastic bag thing was sorta trendy. That's until I moved to the Northeast and saw all the plastic bags hanging from trees – particularly in the dead of winter. I get the bans happening in stages but is the issue really how thin they are? I think it is that they are all so lightweight they end up in all sorts of places paper bags don't.
@Ed – I LOVE that idea. Retailers providing a discount when consumers bring their own bags. Let's set the intention for more of that.
@RetailDoctor: Plastic bags somehow end up everywhere – in the ocean, in our wildlife's mouths, on the freeways – it's terrible. I think you're right, it's far worse than paper and paper can biodegrade, right? Maybe I'm wrong here, but it feels like a better option than plastic. Ultimately though, I think we have to be focused on reusable bags only.
Thank you for sharing your insights!
Heather
I read somewhere that the production of paper bags is actually worse on the environment than plastic. Just a thought.
@Michelle – I don't know anything about that. If you find some research re: paper bags, definitely send it my way!
-Heather
During their life cycle, plastic bags require about one-third less energy to make than paper bags.
Below is the link to the whole article.
http://www.iapd.org/environmental_issues/environmental_issues.cfm
More information about plastics
http://www.plasticsindustry.org/AboutPlastics/content.cfm?ItemNumber=797&navItemNumber=1124
@Ed – thanks so much for sharing this! Why the ban on plastic and not paper then? Is there an agenda running that we're missing? It seems like we want to eliminate as much as possible that is going to negatively impact the environment.
With the information that you've shared and other folks have contributed it really feels like the answer for retailers is to give consumers credit of some sort when they bring in reusable bags. Like 5cents or something – but something to encourage folks to go this route.
Thank you for all the great comments and helpful information. Diva readers ROCK!
-Heather