Banning/Reducing the Use of Plastic Grocery Bags

Hi Gillian

See these sites in Australia; www.planetark.com/campaignspage.cfm/newsid/100/newsDate/95/story.htm
On the left site of this page under "topics" are a range of ideas and case studies. http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/how-green-is-your-bag/2005/04/24/
1114281452076.html?oneclick=true http://www.theage.com.au/news/in-depth/green-and-clean/2006/06/04/1149359604089.html These media articles helps keep it all in perspective. The best thing about this issue is the public awareness raised about the environment. But the solutions are still only mediocre...........

Melissa Hellwig

Gillian,

We discussed this on CRRA (http://www.crra.com/) a few months ago. Forwarding a thread from the discussions. Not exactly a success story but some relevant info.

Raj Lathigara
City of San Jos
[email protected]

In 2002, Ireland imposed a 15-euro cent levy or surcharge on plastic bags provided by stores and shops. It is estimated that this has reduced the use of plastic bags by 90 per cent. The revenue raised goes to an Environmental Fund which plans to spend 35 million euros on recycling centres. The introduction of the so called PlasTax scheme has been backed up by public awareness campaigns. In Australia, IKEA put a 10 cent charge on its plastic bags while also providing a re-usable alternative. It reports a 97 per cent drop in the use of plastic bags. In 2003 South Africa banned plastic bags thinner than 30 microns and introduced a plastics levy some of which goes to a plastic bag recycling company. It has witnessed a decrease in bag litter, a reduction in the manufacture of plastic bags with some layoffs and a growth in alternatives such as canvass bags. Kenya is proposing a ban on the 30 micron or less bags and a plastic bag levy. Kenya has also linked plastic bag litter with malaria. The bags, when discarded, can fill with rainwater offering ideal and new breeding grounds for the malaria-carrying mosquitoes. (not sure if we have any studies conducted on similar link with the mosquitoes carrying West Nile Virus ?) http://www.unep. org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=424 &ArticleID=4734&l=en Improper disposal of plastic bags has caused several hundreds deaths in India/Bangladesh by clogging the storm drains that resulted in urban floods last year. Several states in India/Bangladesh have since banned the use of thin plastic bags (less then 20 microns). http://www.msnbc. msn.com/id/9085301/ msn.com/id/9085301/>

Raj Lathigara
Environmental Services Department
City of San Jos 200 East Santa Clara Street, Floor 10
San Jos, CA 95113-1905
Phone: (408) 975-2526
Fax: (408) 292-6211

It seems to me that one excellent approach (in many countries) would be to work with grocery stores and drug stores to change the question the checkout clerk asks from "Paper or plastic?" to "Cloth, paper or plastic?" If the stores sold cloth bags with their store logo on them (for a dollar or a euro each), then I think that many shoppers who wouldn't go out to hunt down cloth bags on their own would start to buy and use them. Our friends in the fast food industry have learned that simply asking customers a simple question at the time of purchase (e.g., "Would you like fries with that?") many customers will say "yes." I also think that once somebody has half a dozen cloth bags with the logo of store XYZ on them, they would be less inclined to shop anywhere else. There is no such benefit with plastic or paper bags that are not reused. Grocery stores where I live seem very interested in attracting repeat customers through the use of loyalty-based marketing, and I think that cloth bags would be very appealing to big chains and small chains alike.

Best Regards,
Bruce Karney

[email protected]
+1 650 450-0332 (mobile)
+1 650 964-3567 (home office)
+1 650 903-0954 (fax)
833 Bush St.,
Mountain View, CA 94041 USA

Some interesting summaries of the results in banning plastic bags. My understanding is that in Ireland there was certainly an immediate drop off in the use of plastic bags at the point of purchase but this has now crept up again quite significantly. There was also no study done in Ireland before banning plastic bags to determine the amount of plastic bags being discarded incorrectly and causing problems to the environment so there is no way to compare what impact the charging for bags has had on the environment as a result. Also there was a substantial increase in the purchase of plastic bin liners which are considerably thicker, and use more materials; as people no longer had the free bags from the shops to line their bins and for putting out other rubbish, picking up animal doings etc. Of course without bin liners we would be using precious water to wash our bins more often to prevent the spread of germs and disease. I wonder if the plastic in the bags are the big problem or the fact that people aren't taking responsibility for their own behaviour and disposing of them properly?

Food for thought
Prudence
 

There are several communities in Alaska that have banned the use of plastic grocery bags, particularly in northern regions. Here's a link to the SWAN program-Solid Waste Alaska Network. Hopefully it will provide some contacts and information. http://www.ccthita-swan.org/main/index.cfm

Brenda Duty

Project Coordinator
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
Fairbanks, Alaska

Not exactly what you asked for, but possibly of related interest... Lake County, Illinois is working to pass legislation to require all stores that "give" customers plastic bags to accept plastic bags for recycling. Their website is http://www.co.lake.il.us/swalco/

Marta Keane
Will County Recycling Program Specialist

Hi Gillian,

The Republic of Ireland introduced a tax on plastic carrier bags in March 2002. For background information please check out the site below...there are relevant publications and press releases at the bottom of the article that document the progress. http://www.environ.ie/DOEI/DOEIPol.nsf/wvNavView/Plastic+Bags?OpenDocument http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3070942/ Overall it has increased environmental awareness in Ireland and an attitude of 'what more can we do?' in my experience.

Best Regards,
Sharon Sugrue

The Irish bag tax is now 22 cents, to try to stem increased demand for bags (rising from 83 million to 113 million in 3 years). The big drop from 1.2 billion followed imposition of the fee, but the increase suggests that shoppers become inured eventually. Is anyone aware of studies documenting cloth bag reuse frequency? John Davis [email protected] Mojave Desert and Mountain Recycling Authority Story follows from Irish Examiner November 11, 2006 Roche to hike plastic bag tax to 22c in new year Environment Minister Dick Roche was due to hike the 15c tax to 19c earlier this year, but he has decided to increase it by 47%. When the levy first came in, the numbers of carrier bags sold in shops dropped dramatically, an official said last night. But recently, the demand has started to rise again so Mr Roche wants to refocus minds and get the environmental message across to shoppers and stores. Irish shoppers were using 1.2 billion plastic bags in the year before the environmental levy was introduced in 2002. In its first year, that figure dropped to 83 million, raising 12.7m towards environmental projects. Last year, however, the number of bags sold by shops rocketed to 113m, netting 17.5m in revenue. The latest figures for this year show that 5.9m carrier bags were sold in the five months to May, generating 8.8m. Mr Roche is to introduce the hike in the New Year to deter shoppers from asking for plastic bags and persuade them to re-use carriers or get paper ones instead. Mr Roche is on record as saying he will raise the levy as high as he is allowed, the official said. Mr Roche had initially planned a rise to 19c in accordance with what officials believed was the maximum allowed by law. Officials thought that Mr Roche would need new laws from the Oireachtas if he wanted the amount to go any higher than 19c. But last night officials said they had spent months studying the legislation and said the existing law in fact permitted a rise to 22c. Theres evidence that usage of plastic bags had been going up and Mr Roche also had anecdotal evidence that some retailers werent enforcing the law and were giving away carriers for free, said the official. Mr Roche wants to raise the levy to refocus minds again. We dont have a date yet for this rise but it is unlikely to be before the year end itll be in the new year. The department said the levy had reduced the number of carrier bags littering the country and had also generated crucial income for environmental projects.

Folks might be interested to read what's been happening with efforts to reduce or eliminate plastic bags from San Francisco grocery stores. There happened to be an article on it this week. You can read it online at http://www.examiner.com/a-530244~Fighting_our_way_out_of_plastic_bags.html

Ilana Gauss

SFDPH Green Programs Specialist
Phone: (415) 252-3922
Fax: (415) 252-3910
www.sfdph.org/eh/Green.shtml
www.sfgreenbiz.org

The following link is a report commissioned by the Australian Environmental Protection and Heritage Council reporting on the state of affairs in the use of plastic grocery bags in the country. It provides a number of conclusions which may assist in mapping out future solutions: http://www.ephc.gov.au/pdf/Plastic_Bags/Plastic_Bag_Use_2002_04_interimr pt.pdf

Otto Lechner

Senior State Development Officer
State Development Centre
Ipswich/Springfield
Phone (Ipswich) +(07) 3280 1951
Fax +(07) 3280 1945
[email protected]
Ipswich: 26 East Street
Ipswich Springfield: World Knowledge Centre (Lvl 5)
Education City Sinnathamby Blvd Springfield
Mailing Address: PO Box 280
Ipswich Queensland 4305 Australia

Hi all,

Sustainability Victoria, a Government agency in Australia, provides support to 33 towns, shopping strips and markets to become plastic bag free as part of the Plastic Bag Challenge. We have developed a 6-step model for communities to become plastic bag free, targeting both retailer and shoppers. This model is outlined on the following web page http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/1880-just-say-no-community -campaign.asp My opinion is that the key to achieving long term change is through securing the support of retailers in the community to become plastic bag free, and to provide their customers with alternatives such as reusable bags and boxes. We require that the funded communities secure the commitment of retailers to stop distributing plastic bags by signing a MOU. This change to way the retailer operates ensures that people can't return to old habits after the initial focus lapses. One other important observation is that there needs to be a focus on behaviour change, rather than substituting the habit of consuming excessive amounts of plastic bags for consuming excessive amounts of an alternative, such as paper bags. The priority messages need to be "Do you really need that bag" and "Remember your reusable bags". Where a retailer chooses to provide their customers with alternatives to plastic bags, we strongly encourage them to charge for them so that shoppers recognise that bags of any kind have a value and shouldn't be consumed thoughtlessly. We are currently in the process of developing a web based 'toolbox' with case studies, sample promotional materials and other templates and tools. This will be built up over the next few months and available on the Sustainability Victoria website. In the meantime though, please feel free to contact me directly if you'd like further information or access to any of the working documents.

Regards,
Rebecca Cain

Community and Customer Service,
Sustainability Victoria
T: 03 8626 8714
F: 03 9663 1007
Level 28, Urban Workshop
50 Lonsdale St, Melbourne 3000 |
www.sustainability.vic.gov.au

Having the stores offer cloth bags for sale is an excellent idea. I think it would also address another problem, one that I have observed with my wife. She refuses to use cloth bags because it makes her feel 'different' from the other shoppers. The idea of advertising on the bags is also excellent and would reduce the cost to consumers. Have any bag manufacturers used this idea to market their product to retail stores?

Having stores sell bags with logos on them is a viable option. This info is from the DC area. One large chain store (appropriately enough called Giant) used to sell very sturdy plastic mesh bags emblazoned with their logo for $5. I got one 8 years ago and it still hauls 3-4 plastic bags worth of groceries, but they seem to have discontinued the practice. They continue to offer a 3 cent rebate deducted from your bill for every bag you supply. But you have to remind most cashiers to hit the button to do this. One other chain, Whole Foods, sold somewhat smaller cloth bags around the holiday season this year for $2.00 each. The bags contained a logo from a local food bank and the proceeds from the bag sales were donated to the charity. Finally, a local organic market sells bags with their logos for $5 and offers 20 cents back each time you re-use it. Given the nature of the customer base, I often see customers using these bags or their own bags (for which there is no rebate) at the checkout counter there.