Feb, 2008, Keaau, Hawaii As you may have heard, the Hawaii County (Big Island) Council passed a bill August 27, 2008 to ban Big Island businesses from offering plastic bags at checkout. Bill 326 is pending the signature of Mayor Harry Kim who as of this posting is not commenting on this issue. The mayor's office told me has 10 working days from September 5 to sign the bill.
As awareness about the harm done to the environment and marine life grows, more and more cities, counties and countries are passing bills to sack the plastic bags or charging customers for using them. In Hawaii, Maui also recently passed a bill to ban plastic bags at checkout, which their mayor promptly signed.
Maui County's plastic bag ban gives businesses until January of 2011 to comply (allowing more than enough time to use up the ones they have), while Hawaii County's Bill 326 would go into effect one year from the law's passage. Violators would be fined $1,000. The Big Island's bill encourages businesses to offer customers either recyclable paper bags or reusable tote bags made of fabric or other durable materials, and it defines a "recyclable paper bag" as one that contains no old growth fiber, in addition to being 100 percent recyclable and containing a minimum of 40 percent post-consumer recycled content.
I understand paper bags aren't environmentally friendly either, and ideally both plastic and paper bags would be eliminated from store check-outs, but more and more people are buying the reusable totes and for now we have a bill that at least takes care of a big part of the problem.
You'll find the mayor's contact information at the end of this editorial, and I urge you, especially if you are a Big Island resident to tell the mayor you want him to sign this bill.
Here are just a few reasons, and then we'll look at some of the concerns and alternatives:
- Plastic bags are number one on the list of dangerous debris that was found in the 2002 International Coastal Clean-up.
- Globally, up to 1 billion seabirds, sea turtles, whales and other wildlife die each year due to the ingestion of plastic bags or their remnants, according to Lydi Morgan, an educator with the Kokua Hawaii Foundation and executive committee member, of the Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter, Oahu Group.
- More specifically, more than 1 million birds, more than 100,000 whales, seals and turtles; and countless fish worldwide are killed by plastic rubbish every year. These deaths occur through entanglement, suffocation, and starvation by ingestion. A Minke whale found on a beach in Normandy in April of 2002 had approximately 2 pounds of plastic bags and packaging in its digestive tract.
- It takes 450 to 1000 years for most plastic bags to break down, and in our oceans, plastic bags never fully degrade but instead eventually break down to a plastic dust that is ingested by filter feeding fish and whales. The dust and the bio-toxins, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that the plastic dust accumulates, are passed up the food chain from the fish to humans.
- Yes, biodegradable bags do exist. The problem is that they need air and light to break down, conditions which most landfills don't provide. At best, biodegradable bags take months to years to break down and are more expensive than plastic.
- On the Hawaiian atoll, Midway Island, plastic particles from bags and other trash that albatrosses pick up on the open seas and feed to their chicks cause internal obstruction, and the nestlings starve.
- Dr J. Nichols, Director of the Blue Ocean Institute writes:"We find turtles with plastic in their gut, plastic hanging out of their cloaca, plastic blocking digestion, and turtles tangled in plastic bags..."
- One hundred million new plastic grocery bags require the total energy equivalent of approximately 8,300 barrels of oil for extraction of the raw materials, through manufacturing, transport, use and curbside collection of the bags.
- In every square mile of ocean, there are 46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating, according to the
- Eventually most nondegradable plastic litter will find its way into the storm drain system and into the marine environment. Even plastic that gets “thrown away” does not always make it to the landfill, but rather gets diverted by wind. Almost all ocean trash swept by wind or washed by rain off highways and city streets, down streams and rivers, and out to sea.
- Chris Parry with the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco told the San Francisco Chronicle that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, has been growing a brisk rate since the 1950s. This floating garbage patch is 80 percent plastic and weighs more than 3.5 million tons.
In spite of these facts, Mayor Kim is likely hearing much opposition to the bill, primarily from the Hawaii Food Industry Association, which represents most major supermarkets in the isles, and has opposed both Maui and Hawaii bills.
Dick Botti, president of the Hawaii Food Industry Association, was quoted in the Honolulu Star Bulletin as saying: "We'll make it work, but it's going to be higher costs and inconvenience for the consumer. There's going to be a problem with wet and frozen goods."
Ominous warnings to some, especially the inconvenience part, according to most opponent's postings at of the posts at local forums.
Yes, paper is more expensive and inconvenient. But what about all those reusable totes that are offered at every supermarket on the island, as some residents pointed out at the council meeting. (Out of the island's residents who took the time to go to the council and speak on the issue, nine spoke in favor of banning plastic bags compared to two who spoke against the bill.)
Most or all of the island's supermarkets, as well as Long's, Wal-Mart, True Value and others, sell poly bags for $1 to $2, and more costly but more durable and eco friendly canvas bags (running around $7).
Island Naturals Market (Pahoa, Hilo and coming soon to Kona) sells both, plus the popular ChicoBag Reusable Bags, sturdy, nylon bags that wrap up into small pouches to fit neatly into purses and pockets. These are fairly rainproof also. Plastic bags to carry home groceries are not an option.
Here are the most frequently posted concerns about the ban that I've seen on the forums, along with my thoughts.
Our wet produce will get the paper bags soggy – and what about frozen stuff and packages of meat that leak?
In the old days before plastic bags, we placed our produce in small brown paper bags and butchers wrapped the meat in waxed paper. Paper ice-cream bags kept the ice-cream cold. Paper insulates far better than the plastic bags. Today lots of us use coolers or those insulated, shopping bags like KTA sells. I know paper has it's own environmental problems and good point about the meat. However, my understanding is that the ban would only apply to checkout, not to the smaller, thinner bags used in meat and produce sections.
What about huli-huli chicken?
Wrap in waxed paper or foil, and then place in your reusable bag. There's also the aforementioned insulated hot/cold bags (not as environmentally as canvas by a long shot, but much better than the status quo).
What are tourists going to do when they're told to bring their own bags?
They'll cancel their Hawaiian dream vacations for sure... [Fun] Visitors to Hawaii don't need to bring their own bags from home. They can buy bags here. Many of the reusable bags have attractive Hawaii themes printed on them. Resorts, hotels, etc. often give free tote bags. Visitors won't mind spending a few bucks at stores for "Hawaiian shopping bags" (many are attractive) that they can reuse at home. Mainland friends tell me it's like a souvenir they can show off when shopping back home.
I should be able to decide what kind of bag I want to use. We don't need more laws.
Unfortunately, we as a species have not always made the best choices for our environment. Consider the state of our reefs, climate/weather, marine life... We need laws to protect our Mother Earth and other species with which we share this planet. With this law, Hawaii County can have the distinction of joining Maui as a leader, as part of the solution.
I won't have any more free bags to use to line my rubbish containers or to pick up after my pets :-(
Yes, we'll lose our free ones, but isn't it a small price to pay considering the cost of plastic: to our marine animals, to our atmosphere and to our own health. When buying trash bags, look for ones made mostly from recycled plastic and that are degradable.
Paper bags are worse than plastic!
In some ways, yes...
- It takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag.
- In 1999, 14 million trees were cut to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags used by Americans that year alone.
- Paper bag production not only cuts down trees that absorb greenhouse gases, it produces greenhouse gases.
- Toxic chemicals from paper mills contribute to acid rain and water pollution.
- In a compost pile or landfills of the past, paper breaks down faster than plastic, but in today's landfills nothing, including paper, completely degrades because of the lack of water, light and oxygen.
This is why Island Naturals charges .25 cents for their paper bags. It doesn't cover their cost per bag, but it deters most who would otherwise use paper, which is the store's objective. Discarded stock boxes are free.
In the following ways, paper is not as bad as plastic...
- Plastic bags, not paper bags, are the most dangerous debris found in our oceans. (according to the 2002 International Coastal Clean-up).
- Globally, up to 1 billion seabirds, sea turtles, whales and other wildlife die each year due to the ingestion of plastic bags.
- It takes up to 1000 years for most plastic bags to break down, and in our oceans, plastic bags eventually break down to a plastic dust that feeder fish eat and pass on up the feed chain.
Why not Just Recycle?
Many opponents suggest a recycling campaign, but this does not address the use of nonrenewable resources during creation and transportation of the bags. Finding a market for used plastic is challenging, because the manufacturers of virgin plastic have strongly resisted legislation requiring recycled content in their packaging products.
The recycling rate for plastic is growing. Americans doubled their recycling of plastic between 2005 and 2006, according to the EPA. And there is talk that the plastic industry may make recycling easier. However, recycling rates for broad categories that include plastic grocery bags is only at 9 percent, and it currently cost more to recycle a bag than to make a new one.
And in spite of current recycling campaigns and containers at stores such as Safeway, most still end up in the ocean, landfills and in areas near landfills where they sail away to.
The Smarter Alternative
Still, paper and plastic both pose serious problems, making reusable shopping bags the only environmentally friendly choice.
Personally, I find the reusable bags sold at the stores do a very good job of keeping everything nice – much better than the plastics that tear and allow items to fall into jumbled messes, bruising bananas and squashing bread. And if the bag is heavy, the handles are much easier on the hands that then plastic ones. I keep them on the front seat of my car so I don't forget them (took some practice!).
Some reusable bags are much more eco-friendly than others. If you can buy the canvas, hemp or drawstring Chico bags, do so... Most of the cheaper non-woven polyethylene bags (the ones that sell for around a buck) last about two to three years and, according to the Sierra Club, are made of virgin (not recycled) plastic. It is far better to use these than the disposable plastic or paper bags of course because two to three years use means a lot less paper or plastic.
However they are not optimum because they are not recyclable and they'll never biodegrade completely. Take a whiff of one and you'll smell the off-gas! I have a big stack of them (along with one $5 Chico bag http://store.chicobag.com/ ), so I'll use them till they wear out.
The thousands of times you can use the more spendy canvas, hemp and Chico bags easily justifies the prices. But again, purchasing and using the cheaply ones made of non-woven polyethylene bags is a big step up for our aina and marine animals.
UPDATE Contact Info Change.org "Hawaii Chokes on Plastic Bag Ban" has specific instructions on where to call (state level now instead of county) and how to get through. Help save our oceans!
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Resources
More information: Check out this video - Plastic Planet: The Curse of the Carrier Bag.
Also - Message in the Waves.
This is a film for the planet from a Hawaiian perspective. Because of their size, location and social history, the Hawaiian Islands represent a microcosm of the planet and are in a unique position to tell all of us where we are going wrong and what we can do to help put things right.
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