“The numbers are staggering,” says Mayor Bernie Platt. “Every minute, one million plastic bags exchange hands throughout the world; nearly one trillion are used – usually just once – each year before making their way into landfills, where they’ll remain forever. In the U.S. alone, about 100 billion plastic bags are produced and subsequently discarded by consumers annually. The average family can amass 60 plastic bags in just four trips to the supermarket.”

Several firms in Cherry Hill are actively promoting reusable bags by offering small discounts on bills if customers bring in their own carriers. Target and Wegmans both offer rebates, and other large retailers like Wal-Mart and ShopRite recycle plastic bags that are returned. But managing the plastic that works its way into the environment is a continuing challenge for every municipality; Cherry Hill has chosen to take action.

Mayor Platte: “I’m proud Cherry Hill is the number one recycler in Camden County, these plastic bags are not easily or cost-effectively recycled. In fact, FCR – the facility that processes Cherry Hill’s recyclable materials – can’t recycle the bags, and in fact, considers them a nuisance because they regularly jam equipment.” The city can’t do anything with plastic bags but place them in a landfill. The same is true for the large bags used for yard refuse. The city has enacted a ban on the use of the large, black bags for garden clippings and in the process, says the mayor, saved the city $100,000 per year. There are also recycling bins for plastic bags at City Hall, where residents can drop that steady accumulation of bags that builds so rapidly with trips to the supermarket, the home improvement mart, the hardware store, and every other retail location in town.

Eco Friendly Reusable bags take the recycling issue out of the picture when there is massive participation. But adapting to reusable bags is proving to be a gradual learning curve; some supermarkets have decided that they have made their token voluntary gesture and are resuming business as usual with throwaway plastic grocery bags. It’s going to take a ban to get rid of them and the costs associated with cleaning them up, but for the moment cities like Cherry Hill can make a major contribution by bringing the issue to the forefront and keeping it there.

The country is a political mix of autocratic and parliamentary rule, but in recent years it has developed a 21st century economy which has brought with it the luxuries and curses of the consumer oriented culture. Because of political events in the preceding century Brunei’s 400,000 residents are crowded into a relatively small space. Thus the Minister of Development has instituted the Weekend Without Plastic Bags concept which will launch on March 26th.

Twenty major department store and food market chains are participating in the effort, which will require shoppers to make their rounds with reusable bags on Saturdays and Sundays. Brunei is struggling with a waste disposal problem due to its modernized economy and shortage of real estate. According to the Minister of Development, 16% of all waste going into landfills is plastic. The move towards reusable bags among consumers is a step to combat the prevalence of non-biodegradable materials in public refuse sites.

While our research is incomplete, Brunei may be the first nation to act unilaterally on the plastic bag scourge encompassing this planet. It is interesting that a sensible approach to reducing pollution and reducing litter faces difficulty getting through state legislatures in the U.S. but can be instituted by governmental fiat in other nations. Most sultanates don’t have the core of lobbyists impacting every government decision however, because most sultanates don’t have a legislature. What many do have is a burgeoning economy that leads to cultural changes which bring the environmental challenges of the Western, consumption-oriented retail patterns. Reusable bags have become an iconic and important step in managing the uncontrolled waste associated with today’s shopping and packaging methods.

Get Custom Reusable Bags Here

But the lobbyists aren’t as strong at the municipal level and the interest in litter control remains high in many communities. Cities in Northern California have taken note of the municipal bans on plastic bags, most notably the ban that was enacted in San Francisco in 2007. Recently the City of San Jose, which is in fact the largest city in the Bay Area at 900,000 residents, passed its own ban that will take effect in 2012, banning the use of plastic bags and instituting a ten cent fee for every paper bag used as a replacement. That fee will rise to twenty five cents in 2015. As with every other law regarding retail use of bags, the goal is to convince consumers to employ reusable bags for shopping.

One of the wrinkles that the plastic bag lobby has thrown at cities has been lawsuits claiming that the bag bans have been passed illegally because they were implemented without an environmental impact statement. Cities including Oakland and Palo Alto backed down on their efforts or abandoned them altogether. San Jose was forced to invest $140,000 to meet the plastic lobby’s demands for an environmental impact study to prove the obvious: plastic bags become litter.

But San Jose spent the money, passed the law, and other cities in the area are taking heart. Palo Alto intends to try to strengthen the weak legislation they passed as the result of the lawsuit threat, and Oakland will consider new legislation this year. Fremont, Daly City, and Sunnyvale are all considering bans; the Sunnyvale City Council has signed off on the environmental impact report. And in all of these cities, retailers are seeing increasing numbers of shoppers who have opted for eco friendly reusable bags as a choice that has its own set of conveniences, which include more carrying volume and no buildup of plastic bags in the broom closet, under the kitchen sink or in the garage.

The plastics companies don’t like this notion, for obvious reasons. They have hired swarms of lobbyists and spokespersons to represent them in communities where these laws have been considered, offering up some impressive arguments in favor of keeping the status quo: namely, the use of billions of non-reusable, non-biodegradable plastic bags every year, many of which end up as litter. As you might expect, the arguments against a sensible step towards environmental responsibility can be interesting, if not especially compelling.

One representative speaking before an Oregon Senate committee stated that a nickel charge for a paper bag amounts to a tax. Everyone hates taxes, right? Except that a tax is meant to provide revenue for the government, and this nickel you’d pay for a paper bag goes to the grocer, who can use it for whatever purpose he likes – such as paying for paper bags. The fee that is built into the purchase of every bottle of soda or beer you buy is returned when you recycle it. People got over that concept a long time ago and our streets and beaches are several billion cans and bottles freer because of it.

Another argument designed to appeal to the politics of the moment is the notion that banning plastic bags is a curtailment of personal freedom. According to a lobbyist for plastic manufacturer Helix, the Oregon legislature would be impinging on the (Constitutional?) rights of Oregonians by denying them the right to have plastic bags to throw away when they get home from the grocery store. You probably won’t find anything about this in the Constitution, but it’s a question of what the Framers intended.

It’s likely that the Framers weren’t ratifying the right to ignore common sense. Recently a new Maine legislator introduced a law to roll back the requirement to wear a seatbelt while driving because in his opinion, it is an undue violation of personal freedom. Said legislator declared in the same breath that he always wore a seatbelt, wouldn’t back out of the driveway without one in place. But it should be a matter of personal choice, he declared. After half the police departments in the state and a whole lot of parents showed up to testify on the bill, it was quietly shelved.

Using cool Reusable bags make sense. Reducing litter makes sense. Let’s hope that the Oregon legislature finds some sense in the support for reusable bags that is developing in the other forty nine states.

Some people might feel awkward carrying a bag with a political endorsement on it, but much of that can be dispelled with a message that has some humor to it and that doesn’t take the whole concept too seriously. One message might be to vote for “recycling” an incumbent, or conversely, for “sacking” an objectionable ballot proposition. It’s one of those creativity questions that is best resolved by a collection of smart, energized campaign volunteers. Generally that’s where the best ideas come from.

You’d have to invest in your reusable campaign bags, but with that investment should come a business plan to recoup the cost and add a few dollars to the campaign coffers. Too few campaigns today engage in affordable events that are meant to generate enthusiasm as much as they are meant to create cash flow. One of those balloons-and-tunes rallies where a bag is built into the cost of a ticket would get them into circulation and paid for at the same time.

It would take a proactive campaign to make the investment work, but a lot of legislators at the local and state level engage in a lot of shoe leather politics. Small events where you can offer a reusable bag in return for a small contribution might have some appeal, if for no other reason because of the novelty. But in the right political climate, with the right message, they could be an effective communications tool as well. A “green” message cuts across the political spectrum for the most part; reusable bags are still new enough that they create a positive impression wherever they go.

We encourage inquiries from any candidate or committee, from red states, blue states, and from parties of every persuasion who would like to mix a little green into their red, white and blue. A lot of commercial outlets are having a lot of fun with the art and message that can be placed on the side of a reusable bag. There’s no reason that a political campaign couldn’t do the same. In fact, the political environment in this country is overdue for an infusion of humor and creativity.

However this legislation impacts far more retailers than just grocery stores and supermarkets. The legislation covers most retailers including many that are exempted by the legislation passed in neighboring cities San Francisco and Mill Valley. This bill allows retailers to offer paper bags as an alternative to customers that neglect to bring reusable bags with them, but the store owners are obligated to charge for the paper bags they provide. Purveyors of takeout food are exempted, as are operators of second hand stores such as the Salvation Army. There are also exemptions for plastic bags used to protect meat purchases, produce, and bulk foods.

Opponents have sued or threatened suits in the Bay Area cities of Oakland, Fairfax and Palo Alto over the fact that those municipalities failed to conduct a full environmental impact review prior to acting. Oakland suspended its ban, Fairfax made the removal of the plastic bag option voluntary, and Palo Alto has promised to conduct a complete environmental review should the city chose to expand its ban beyond grocers. San Jose bypassed the issue by conducting an environmental review which apparently concluded that plastic bags do in fact create a substantial litter problem. More and more cities are determined to act on this issue despite inaction from state legislatures and well funded opposition from the plastics industry. Reusable bags and Reusable Grocery Bags aren’t just a good idea; they’re an inevitable part of the future for American consumers.

City Wide Survey

South Texas isn’t a hotbed of environmental activism, but to a lot of Brownsville citizens getting the plastic out of the checkout lane made sense. The entire process began with an effort by Healthy Communities of Brownsville, a private non-profit group in the city that advocates for environmental causes. In March 2009 the organization distributed a coloring book for children that addressed litter problems. That led to an invitation from the Mayor to find a way to reduce the number of plastic bags littering the city.

Healthy Communities responded with a study of existing municipal laws restricting plastic bag use and then conducted a ten question survey with hundreds of consumers at all sorts of retail installations. The survey, conducted over a period of nine weeks, found that most were in favor of reducing plastic bag usage through the introduction of reusable bags. A big boost to the project came from retailers Wal-Mart and H-E-B who agreed to support a restriction on plastic bags if enacted by the city.

Two-Stage Reusable Bag Program

In January of 2010 the City of Brownsville enacted a two-stage ordinance that created a gradual introduction to the reusable bag concept. A “voluntary ban” on plastic bags was implemented, along with a publicity campaign that included signs all over town urging citizens to “BYOB” – bring your own bag. On Earth Day Wal-Mart and H-E-B gave out 150,000 free reusable bags to shoppers and on that day, the Mayor and city councilors worked as volunteer baggers to help draw attention to the initiative.

In January of 2011, phase two of the Brownsville reusable bag law goes into effect: consumers who use plastic bags at the checkout stand will be charged a $1 fee for the service. Part of the fee is returned to the retailer and part of it goes to a city environmental education fund. The reduction in plastic bag use has been gradual over the past year, but city officials report a noticeable reduction in litter. Both factors should increase over the upcoming year in Brownsville.

At the beginning of 2010 Washington DC instituted a nickel tax on the consumer for each disposable plastic bag used for product transport from most food related outlets. Specifically bakeries, delicatessens, grocery stores, drugstores, convenience stores, department stores and any other “business that sells food items” must charge the tax on paper or plastic bags. By the end of a nine month period the city reported a sixty percent drop in the volume of plastic bags being used. A Washington Post poll showed initially that residents were balanced in their support of the new law: about half opposed it and about forty five percent supported. However the level of noise once the law was implemented has been relatively low key for an initially disruptive change in shopping habits.

The principal reason for initiation of this tax in the District is also worth noting. Most of the money that is collected goes towards the cleanup of the heavily polluted Anacostia River, a waterway that passes through the Capital. A penny of the tax is returned to the retailer – or two cents if they offer rebates on returns of their disposable plastic bags. The balance of the tax money is allocated to cleanup of the river, for which the principal pollutant is disposable containers. According to environmental authorities about twenty percent of the pollution material in the Anacostia is plastic bags.

It’s an issue that has been brewing for quite some time. Now the state of California is taking things to the next level, as Assembly Bill 1998 works it’s way through the state legislature. The bill, if passed, would enact a partial ban on the use of plastic bags in the state of California at supermarkets and other retailers. But the movement toward getting people to switch to reusable bags and ditch the plastic bags has not come without a fight.

While millions of people are hoping that the bag ban takes effect, many others have fought against it, not least because those who make all those plastic bags each year will lose money if the bill is enacted. Others who have publicly opposed banning the plastic bag have cited such reasons as a concern that reusable bags may carry germs, since people may not take the time to properly wash them.

As California pushes on toward banning plastic bags, including recently gaining the support of the Governor, many facts regarding plastic bag use have come to the forefront. In California alone, roughly 19 billion plastic bags are used per year, and that averages out to about 600 bags annually for every person in the state. All those bags add up to approximately 147,000 tons of waste each year. Furthermore, the state spends some $25 million per year to clean up the waste from all these bags, which frequently end up clogging the waterways.

If AB 1998 passes, the bags that are still permitted may have a nickel tax imposed upon them. But when you consider the environmental damage related to the use of plastic bags, the money raised by that new tax would be a drop in the bucket. It takes a tremendous amount of oil to produce and ship plastic bags, and far too many end up harming the environment, often making their way into the oceans, where they contribute to immense garbage patches. Such bags have even been blamed for killing sea turtles.

As the state moves closer to a plastic bag ban, there is no doubt that other states will end up following suit. The sooner we all take reusable bags by the handle and get busy using them, the better. And, to avoid any germ-related risks associated with them, simply make them a regular part of your wash-day routine.

Helpful Links:

Mercury News: Plastic bag fee is a tax you don’t have to pay.

California legislature looks to ban the bag.

A growing part of our business, we now have a dedicated page for reusable wine totes, if you buy and drink wine, it is a must have on your eco-responsibility checklist!  Unfortunately, the packaging and transport of wine bottle generates a lot of waste.  If it is not the cardboard box, it’s the combo of a doubled up plastic bag with each wine bottle in it’s own paper sleeve.  A reusable wine bag does away with all that waste, segmenting each bottle from each other.

We have done some cool custom imprinted wine bags for eco responsible wineries that they use instead of that cardboard box.  What a great way to go green!

Get some wine tote bags – they’re cheap and easy to store – and the next time you stock up on your favorite vintages you’ll have an easy and environmentally safe way to carry them home.

And don’t forget to spread the word after uncorking a bottle with your friends and family.