Published on
ecowatch.com By Bill Hickman - July, 31, 2013
Surfrider chapters typically focus their
plastic reduction efforts in coastal cities
and towns since that’s where our members are who see the impacts of
plastic pollution firsthand and want to take action. You have to start
somewhere and as a grassroots organization, that somewhere is our
backyard.
But it’s important to remember that everywhere on land is part of a
watershed that flows to a river, creek or stream that then outlets in a
lake, bay or ocean. So it’s great to see inland cities making efforts to
reduce single-use plastic bags and the latest good news comes from the west Texas city of Kermit where a reusable bag ordinance has been enacted.
In addition to marine impacts, plastic bags can be a big nuisance for
farmers. I recently spoke with some Surfrider activists in Texas who
mentioned that cotton farmers can take a financial hit from plastic bag
litter because it can taint their crop as it is processed by mills:
Bags find their way into farmers’ fields
and then into modules of cotton. The bags go through the gin and textile
mills and have even ended up in finished apparel. One thing that I
would really like to emphasize this fall is to watch for those Wal-Mart
bags in your fields. It’s almost humorous, but it’s dead serious. One
mill in the east quit buying cotton in Georgia and the Carolinas because
of it.
Kermit recently passed
a type of reusable bag ordinance that eliminates plastic checkout bags
at most retailers and puts a small fee on paper bags as an incentive for
people to remember their reusable bag or go without a bag for small
purchases.
The City of Kermit website does a great job to explain the ordinance and why it’s needed:
Q: What kind of plastic bag is banned?
Plastic
carryout bags include any bag made of plastic (from any source), which
is provided to the customer at the point of sale.
Q: What kind of plastic bag is NOT banned?
Produce bags and product bags are bags without handles used exclusively
to carry produce, meats or other food items to the point of sale or to
prevent such food items from coming into direct contact with other
purchased items.
Q: Why has the City of Kermit banned single-use plastic carryout bags?
The intent of the single-use carryout bag ordinance is to significantly
reduce the environmental impacts related to single-use plastic and
paper carry out bags and promote a major shift towards the use of
reusable bags.
Q: How are single-use plastic carryout bags harmful to the environment?
They are consumed in extremely high volumes. They are produced from
non-renewable resources. They are designed to be disposable (rather than
reusable). They are difficult to recycle—less than 5 percent of the 19
billion plastic bags used annually in Texas are actually recycled. They
are a significant and visible component of litter and do not biodegrade.
They remain in the environment as marine, storm drain and beach
pollution for decades. A significant hazard to ranch animals and birds,
which often mistake plastic bags as food.
Q: Is there any exception to this ban?
The
ordinance does NOT prohibit the distribution of plastic product bags
such as those distributed within a grocery store for bagging produce or
meat.
Q: What stores are required to charge 10 cents for each recycled paper bag?
All grocery stores, convenience stores, minimarts, liquor stores, drug
stores and pharmacies are prohibited from providing free distribution of
single-use paper and plastic carryout bags. If these stores decide to
make paper carryout bags available for their customers, they are
required to sell recycled paper carryout bags made from 100 percent
total recycled content with 40 percent post-consumer recycled content
for not less than 10 cents per bag.
Q: Why is there a $0.10 fee on recycled paper carryout bags?
The fee of $0.10 on recycled paper carryout bags encourages the use of
reusable bags. This cost pass-through reimburses retailers for the costs
of providing recycled paper carry out bags to their customers. All of
the revenue from the cost pass-through remains with the store.
Q: How do I avoid paying 10 cents for each recycled paper bag?
It’s easy—remember to bring your own reusable bags to the store. Some
stores will even offer you a credit or gift for bringing your own bag.
Visit EcoWatch’s BIODIVERSITY page for more related news on this topic.
San Jose, Calif.
