Posted on 01/23/2008 5:34:32 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Looking out his office window Tuesday, Mike Dailey spotted something hanging in a tree.
It was a plastic shopping bag.
"Maybe that's part of the problem," said Dailey, an engineer with the city of Madison and adviser to the city's Commission on the Environment. "They're out there blowing all over the place."
Difficult for some cities to recycle and a trash collection nightmare, plastic bags have made it on the environmental hit list of some cities, and now retailers.
Whole Foods on Tuesday announced that it would end use of plastic in all of its stores. Stores will deplete inventory by Earth Day this year, April 22. Whole Foods stores will instead offer shoppers a reusable "Better Bag" for 99 cents made of recycled material, as well as paper sacks in a variety of sizes.
"I think it will be well received in the Madison market," said Madison store team leader Paul Sigmund, noting that about half of its customers already use reusable bags.
Madison's Commission on the Environment last month put the plastic bag issue on its list of topics to discuss in 2008 after hearing about other cities that have enacted laws to end or curb plastic bag use, including San Francisco and New York City.
The committee will gather information to help it consider recommending that the city enact some sort of plastic bag ban or retailer recycling requirement, or provide city recycling drop-off points.
"Only 1 to 2 percent get recycled, and the rest goes into landfills," said commission chair Jon Standridge. "They're difficult to deal with because they blow around and are considered escaped garbage."
In addition, most plastic bags are not made from renewable resources, Standridge said.
Although they can be recycled, Madison Recycling Coordinator George Dreckmann said Madison does not collect plastic bags for recycling because they wind themselves around the sorting equipment. Disposed plastic bags come primarily from retailers, but also newspaper wraps and dry cleaners, Dreckmann said.
There are environmental reasons to choose plastic. They're cheaper to transport to stores -- one semi of plastic equals seven truckloads of paper bags, Dreckmann explained.
But telling retailers they must stop offering plastic bags could be tough.
Wisconsin Merchants Federation President Chris Tackett said it's illegal. Recycling laws enacted in the 1990s pre-empts municipalities from going beyond state law, which does not call for such restrictions, Tackett said.
"More credit to Whole Foods for what it's trying to do, and along that line we do support what they're trying to do," Tackett said. "But we're trying to be consistent and don't want to have a hodgepodge of laws."
Dreckmann said you could argue, however, that plastic bags are not covered under the law.
"There's going to be a legal battle no matter what you do," Dreckmann said of an outright ban. "But I don't think there would be anything preventing us from enacting a law or ordinance to require those who distribute these bags to take them back and get them recycled."
A number of large retailers with stores here already voluntarily collect plastic bags for recycling, in addition to offering low-cost reusable bags. Roundy's Inc. has plastic bag collection receptacles in its Copps and Pick 'n Save stores and, soon, Kohl's will have collection bins in many of its stores.
Other grocers, like Madison's Willy Street Co-op, has never offered new plastic bags at its registers. The store has new paper bags and used paper and plastic bags for customers. But it encourages shoppers to bring their own bags, be they paper, canvas or plastic, or carry away groceries in backpacks, according to store general manager Anya Firszt.
Dreckmann agreed, saying the best solution to the plastic problem is not to use disposable bags at all.
"We're toying with the idea of getting some quantities of reusable bags to distribute because that's the best option," he said. "That's the kind of thinking I want people to get into."
Jobs for everyone along the way, and profits for the businesses publishing them.
Win-win-win-win!
Winter heat lamps, water considerations(heat tapes and submersed heater), lighting, louse control, building maint, and replacement costs(raising chicks to adult layers), and laying ration all cost too much. But the eggs taste the best and we prefer them over store bought.
It’s called malallocation. Not a desirable economic mechanism.
We could also put people to work stacking and then unstacking tombstones and print money to pay for the labor.
Not what you want to do.
I stopped at Whole Foods this evening on my way home from work and saw the signs about eliminating platic bags. What a major inconvenience. Plus paper bags use more storage space at home and in landfills. I don’t shop at Whole Foods to save the environment, I shop there for the convenience of getting a level of food quality I can’t get anywhere else in one place. Next they want to replace the plastic bags in the perishable and bulk departments. Looks like I’m going to have to start shopping at Wegmans.
Paper? How about putting some canvas bags in the back of your car, like some of us have done for the last 20 years. I dodn’t mind the plastic or paper folks if they pay for the bags.
>>Its called malallocation.<<
Actually, it’s called ADVERTISING, and it is highly effective in selling goods and services.
Laying Hens versus Meat Hens, SILLY! :)
I go to the store and first buy a case of beer. Atop the case I stack the necessary food groups - cigars, bourbon, chocolate fudge, burgers, potato chips and ammo. Then I carry it out to the SUV. I don’t need plastic or paper bags.
Exactly. And how many trucks does it take to deliver food all over our nation? If these hippies in Madistan are TRULY into Saving the Earth, they’d adopt the “100 Mile Rule” and not eat anything that is trucked in from further away than that. And they’d support LOCAL farmers and marketers exclusively, of which we have hundreds. And they could learn to bake their own bread. Or chop a head of lettuce versus a packaged bag of already chopped.
Fer Pete’s Sake! Look at the PACKAGING that foodstuffs already come in. Look in the average cart and see how much packaging waste there is, then tell me that banning a few plastic carrying bags makes one bit of difference in the long run.
My problem lies with a Federal Ban on ANYTHING. Let the Free Market (consumers) decide and let business owners decide. The hippies and the local Geen Dictocrats need to shut up and quit being a bunch of hypocrites, telling the REST of us how to live, when your average schmuck like me lives more lightly than they could ever DREAM of living.
You da MAN, Sergeant Dave! :)
“I keep laying hens.”
Sounds painful.
I have shopped at the Whole Foods here, in Birmingham, many times although I prefer our local grocer for most things. Whole Foods (Whole Paycheck) is a nice store, but you can’t do all of your shopping there. However, when asked I always insist on a paper bag. Plastic bags suck. If the eco-weenies don’t want paper (it is recycled by the way) let them buy some of the reusable cloth bags there at the store.
We should conserve things where we can in the Teddy Roosevelt fashion and we should be good stewards where we can. The eco-weenies have never gotten it because liberals don’t believe in personal responsibility.
ditto! hooray for you. i grew up on a farm too.
i lived in austin for a year and observed their worshippers
shopping at whole foods.
they’re all posh, upscale leftists and their wannabees.
the wannabees don’t have the money that the others have
and they’re left holding the bag, so to speak.
Party at Dave’s!
********************
Cynic. :)
I agree.
Meijer is getting smart. They’re now selling reusable shopping bags at $.99 each. Not only are they attractive — a nice, bright blue with a green leaf — they’re well designed. They hold your 2-litres upright, are very sturdy and have a pocket in the front. I bought three my last visit and will probably buy a few more. The plastic bags, imho, are a nuisance. They’re good for holding a gallon of milk (in case it leaks) but they multiply like rabbits in the trash.
I do use the plastic bags to line small trash cans around the house, and I pile them up, too, and take them to the recycling box at either Walmart or Kroger or wherever one is available from time to time. They ARE a nuisance for carrying groceries, though. - I like the paper bags with handles that Wild Oats will put groceries in if you ask (or at least did). - I saw some of those reusable 99 cent bags at Kroger, but I didn’t buy any because I shop at other grocery stores besides Kroger and those had the Kroger name and logo on them. - I read somewhere that they also accept the plastic newspaper sleeves and plastic dry cleaning bags in the Kroger recycling boxes, but don’t know for sure.
I try to recycle to some degree. We have an organic garden and have composted for 22 years. We save up newspapers for auctioneer friends who use them at their auction house for people to wrap their purchases and we shred paper in the office and use it for mulch. (It piles up so bad I’m thinking about asking the local animal shelter if they want it for bedding.) I can’t get my husband to fool with recycling aluminum cans and glass, so I guess it’s good we don’t have too much of that kind of stuff in our garbage.
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