Archive for Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Mike Lawrence: Paper or ... paper? Plastic bags headed for history
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The recycle bin shown here outside of City Market in Steamboat Springs on Tuesday morning is one place customers can safely dispose of the plastic grocery bags they accumulate while shopping.
There is a pile of ancient artifacts beneath my kitchen sink.
No, I'm not talking about the forgotten potatoes, which - last time I checked - had actually sprouted intelligent life and were planning a revolution against the equally-cultured broccoli in the vegetable crisper.
I'm talking about the plastic bags. The flimsy things you carry groceries in and then shove under the sink soon could be relics of a former time, like eight-track players or vacant lots in Steamboat Springs.
Plastic bags have been banned or taxed for years in South Africa, Kenya, Taiwan, Bangladesh and Ireland. San Francisco began restricting use of the bags in March. Annapolis, Md., is considering the idea.
So is Steamboat.
A week ago, the Steamboat Springs City Council voted, 6-1, to ask city staff to explore the feasibility of an ordinance to ban plastic bags in large retail stores such as Wal-Mart, Safeway and City Market.
City Councilman Paul Strong cast the sole "no" vote, saying the City Council has much more pressing issues to deal with, but City Council President Susan Dellinger said Monday reducing use of the bags would be a step forward for Steamboat's environmental efforts.
"It costs a penny to make the bag and 17 cents to recycle it, because they have to be handled by hand," Dellinger said. "People don't really know that you can't recycle them with the commingled stuff : If we could stop the manufacturing of the bags, it could save the recycling."
The San Francisco Chronicle recently cited the following startling figures from the San Francisco Department of the Environment, and the Worldwatch Institute:
n 180 million plastic shopping bags are distributed in San Francisco each year
n Between four and five trillion nondegradable plastic bags are used worldwide annually
n It takes 430,000 gallons of oil to produce 100 million nondegradable plastic bags
"What it takes in petroleum use to make these polyethylene plastic bags, and the cost to discard these bags, begs the larger question: what are we going to do about the hazards and the environmental adverse effects of these plastic bags?" San Francisco County Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said to National Public Radio in March.
But in a July 2 story in the Washington Post, Safeway spokesman Gregory TenEyck said alternatives to plastic bags could use more fossil fuels, not less.
"It's not a slam dunk, environmentally," TenEyck said. "The choice of paper versus plastic is not one that is one-sided."
TenEyck said it takes about seven trucks to carry the same amount of paper bags as one truckload of plastic bags.
In the same Post article, an environmental official says paper bag manufacturers "generate 70 percent more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags."
"We're opposed to the proposal primarily because our customers appreciate the convenience of carrying home groceries in plastic bags," TenEyck said of the debate in Annapolis. "I think most people would be very opposed to this concept. You can carry a lot more groceries a lot more conveniently in plastic bags."
But the problem might not be the first use. The problem is what people do with the bags after carrying groceries into the kitchen.
"I've been picking bags out of the river and out of the creeks lately," Dellinger said. "I'm just tired of picking them up. They're everywhere."
Deputy City Manager Wendy DuBord plans to meet this week with a San Francisco environmental official who is passing through Steamboat to discuss plastic bag bans and alternatives such as bags made of canvas or biodegradable materials.
Dellinger said whether to apply the ban to small businesses has yet to be decided, given possible financial impacts.
"I'm kind of hoping we can do it for everybody, but we'll see," she said.
Meanwhile, I'm keeping my plastic bags under the sink. Maybe they can fend off the potatoes.
Comments
corduroy (anonymous) says...
plastic bags are terrible! I'm glad that Steamboat is starting the iniative to get rid of them entirely. They don't even hold groceries that well!
It just makes sense all around. Don't like paper? Just bring your OWN canvas shopping bags. Most stores give you $0.05 off for each recycled or reusable bag you bring when you do your shopping!
Come on, sbvor, this isn't about socialism like EVERYTHING is to you somehow, this is saving the environment, and helping to provide a healthy place, not just for us, but for our kids, and our kids' kids!
July 11, 2007 at 12:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dreamriver23 (jeannie berger) says...
Encouraging shoppers to use canvas or net bags seems the best way to go. I have a couple and will start using them again. Just needed a reminder about the terrible waste plastic and paper bags are.
sbvor (does any one know if those initials stand for steamboat voice of reason?) how in the heck do you make everything into a left wing conspiracy?
July 11, 2007 at 2 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kielbasa (Matthew Stoddard) says...
Conservatives advocating conservation? Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!
Plastic bags will be the downfall of humanity as we know it!!!
Pathetic...truuuuuuly pathetic. Next time the light goes on over your head, make sure it's not a Blue Light Special!
July 11, 2007 at 2:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jlkar (anonymous) says...
sbvor says while petting his hairless cat, high above in a tower peering over the insulant members of our society. What an angry little man.
July 12, 2007 at 11:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jlkar (anonymous) says...
That leaves me to still think of your posts as angry and you should know that presenting facts while calling people "idiots", "ignorant clowns","mental disorders", "nut jobs" and yet again, pushing your conservative views on people doesn't do much to get your point across. Just like Ann Coulter, you continuously raise yourself to a higher standard than all of your liberal fellow members of society, which is immature and counter-productive.
Your facts are interesting and I am sure that council appreciates the heads up. I, however, am all for the reminder that bringing your own recepticles to the market is a good, enviromentally sound idea. I would also love to see the windy sky free of plastic bags. So, maybe if you would like to have an adult conversation about the issue at hand you could get some intelligent responses instead of blindly screaming about how the rest of us are diseased morons.
July 12, 2007 at 1:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
spukomy (anonymous) says...
jikar, You nailed it. sbvor is far too pent up not to scream at others. He is far too advaced in thought, too well educated and too rightous to see other's viewpoints as valid. We are all absolutely beneath him, unless you buy all that he's selling, and he needs to rant so we might listen. What he hasn't yet figured out is that being so condescending puts others off. It's a shame, too, because he is full of knowledge and I agree with him on a great many points. But it's his personality and attitude that makes me want to have nothing to do with him. He's just spelled it out for us. The method to his madness is to be negative. Isn't that attractive?
July 12, 2007 at 2:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JQPUBLIC (anonymous) says...
"I've been picking bags out of the river and out of the creeks lately," Dellinger said. "I'm just tired of picking them up. They're everywhere."..... Well, I'm tired of cleaning up dog crap, and it's everywhere, can we ban them too. I reuse my plastic bags for all sorts of things, garbage being first, so now I get to go out and pay for the small garbage bags, or are you going to ban the sale of them too? Are we going to have plastic bag police?
"Dellinger said whether to apply the ban to small businesses has yet to be decided, given possible financial impacts"... there is financial impact to the large businesses also, who do you think will pay for this impact? Dellinger belongs in San Francisco, she fits right in.
July 12, 2007 at 3:46 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
steamboatsconscience (anonymous) says...
sbvor
Leftists do nothing but harm wherever they are found. Always have, always will. Do you see any Conservatives advocating for this sort of counterproductive lunacy?
Meanwhile you "conservatives" are still killing our troops and innocent Iraqi citizens because of your lunatic pigheaded President's ego.
I call that counterproductive.
July 13, 2007 at 9:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
thecondoguy1 (anonymous) says...
sbvor, I read your posts and love um, keep up the good work..... and, I just bend my fat butt over and pick up the damn bag, use it to scoop up sombodys dog crap, now I am looking for my 17cents...............
July 12, 2007 at 7:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
pinepie (anonymous) says...
Okay, okay I'll start using my canvas bags again. sbvor, you're so hostile, just breathe. And FYI, everyone knows that you can't triple stamp a double stamp! What really concerns me, Mike, is those potatoes under your sink. It doesn't seem wise to keep them next to your cleansers. Potatoes are porous and will absorb all the nasty under the sink funk and toxins, not good my friend. Just put 'em all in one of those handy plastic bags and chuck 'em in the river. jk Good article Mike, you've got a fan in Boulder!
July 13, 2007 at 2:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
paddlefisher (anonymous) says...
I've dealt with recycling in this town for a number of years and to be frank it is appaulling the amount of non recyclable item that are thrown into recycle bins..examples:plastic bags non of with are recyclable,heres a good one TVS..I guess they have plastic frames and the tubes are glass,used diapers,plastic bags with dog doo in them,once found 10 yrds of carpet and padding in a newspaper can,skis, ski boots,cast allumminum(spelling)..hello totally different form cans.plastics bags from dry cleaning,cardboard boxes with packing peanuts or styrofoam in them,pizza boxes with food in them,milk cartoons(1 galoon) has wax on it ruins the whole process..and the list goes on I'm all for recycling but some people use it as a means of disposing of thier trash with out paying for it..you see them do it call them on it my 13 year old daughter has and it is quite amusing to see the look on their faces
July 14, 2007 at 7:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
oofcboy (anonymous) says...
telling these guys that ,and it is the truth,is like spitting into the wind .It will come back and hit you in the face.
July 13, 2007 at 2:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wzJohn (anonymous) says...
I like my plastic bags, but does that make me a warmonger? I think not.
It makes me thrifty and resourceful. Bathroom and office trash bins; a couple times a day they clean up hound dog droppings (I'd like to see that done with a mesh bag); they hold wet swim suits; dirty diapers; boot covers on the way to you car when it's muddy; potato peel collector...
Their uses are endless.
July 13, 2007 at 3:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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