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GreenCityBlueLake is the online home for the exciting people, projects, and ideas creating a more sustainable future in Northeast Ohio. Find out how you can make a donation or become a sponsor of the site.
Reduce the use of plastic bags
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This page will explore ways for retailers to reduce or eliminate plastic bags. We can start by looking at answers to these questions (feel free to post your thoughts and more questions).
- Is a tax on the bags, such as 15 cents per bag (as the Republic of Ireland introduced) to raise money for environmental programs, preferable/more achievable that an outright ban as the city of San Francisco passed in 2007?
- How would you manage a plastax or ban in Northeast Ohio, with all of its individual municipalities?
- What are the options for retailers other than plastic bags?
Ireland's plastax reduced the use of plastic bags nationwide by 93% (from 1.26 billion
to 76.4 million in one year). Australia introduced a voluntary program for retailers to reduce that country's plastic bag use with a target of 50% reduction from 2002 to 2004. As of 2005, the voluntary program helped Australians reduce plastic bag use by 21%, from 5.95 billion to 4.77 billion. Link.
Below, we've started a list of retailers in the Northeast Ohio area who are trying to eliminate or recycle plastic bags:
- Whole Foods has eliminated plastic bags in all of their stores (beginning on Earthday 2008)
- Zagara's in Cleveland Heights and Giant Eagle stores have bins where customers can put plastic shopping bags to be recycled
- Dave's (Cleveland-based grocery chain) has re-usable plastic/canvas bags for $1
- The Save-A-Lot chain charges $0.10 for bags, which are made of a heavier weight plastic
Resources
- Case study for Scottish plastax
- Australia plastax study
- New Delhi, India bans plastic bags, imposes heavy fines
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Recycling is Easy
Carmine Russo Jr. Says:To add to your list of retailers, Giant Eagle stores also have bins where customers can put plastic shopping bags for recycling. These bins are easily accessable to the entries and are always filled.
While making a tax on plastic bags might stop their use, it would increase the disposal of some other sort of bag that is used to transport groceries.
Recycling is possible, but it requires some effort by the community. We should ask for more from our citizens in this effort. I always bring back the plastic bags to the store on my next visit and recycle them. It is not that hard. It just takes some effort. People should care more about their environment, and some new tax is not going to solve that problem.
Just my opinion. Thank you.
BYO bag
Susan Miller Says:Also Zagara's in Cleveland Heights offers a 5 cent credit for each bag a customer reuses. Bring your own sustainable reusable bags and get coins back! Does anyone have similar stories of bag recycling or reuse credits from Dave's, Giant Eagle, Whole Foods, The Food Co-op, Trader Joe's or other stores? Dare I ask, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe's?
The other question is what do we do with these oily things? I use them for picking up after the dog (gotta keep that stuff out of the waterways). Some use them for cat waste, some use them for refuse instead of buying "garbage bags". What do you do with your plastic bags?
When you see them on the street, do you pick them up, watch them dance as the filmaker did in American Beauty or just walk on by? Note: "Alan Ball originally wrote American Beauty for the stage. He saw a paper bag floating in the wind near the World Trade Center plaza and was inspired by it to write the film." From the Wikipedia entry American Beauty. But with so many plastic bags in our trees, shrubs, storm drains, lakes, rivers, streams and oceans, is it really American Beauty or is it American Disregard?