Paper, Plastic or Planet?

San Francisco has banned plastic grocery bags. Oakland is trying to ban them, pending an expensive lawsuit (the industry's new favorite tactic). San Jose is considering a ban. China has gone negative on plastic bags. Whole Foods just phased them out. This is cause for celebration, right? 

The plastic bag ban trend is definitely a major victory for the environment. Californians used 27.5 billion plastic bags last year that took 3 million barrels of oil to produce and cost cities millions in clean-up costs. We’ve all seen these flimsy urban tumbleweeds flying through the air, and tried to chase them down.

Going Undercover

Now that the plastic bag ban is in place in San Francisco, are things better?  To find out how the plastic bag ban was going, I went undercover and visited the local grocery stores. Here are the results of the investigation.

Safeway: At Safeway, the new paper bag assembly line seemed to be running smoothly. When asked how it was going, their veteran checker said, “I'm still getting used to the new paper bags, but I really like them. They are bigger than the plastic ones.” The Safeway paper bags contain 40% post-consumer recycled content, the minimum required by the new law. And they sport the words “Reusable and Recyclable” on the bag. Great!

On the positive side, I didn’t see any plastic bag violations obviously, because they are now illegal. That is pretty cool. Safeway is pushing its black reusable bags for 99 cents, but they seem too small to be that useful?  In an ironic twist, Safeway has upgraded its plastic bag recycling receptacle. “Recycle your plastic bags here!” it pronounces in front of the store. Thanks to the ban, there will be a lot fewer bags to insert into that hole.

I even saw one girl (wearing a green sweater) bring in a Nature Conservancy canvas tote to Safeway. “Nice bag,” I yelled. She smiled. I had never seen that before. It would have made Al Gore’s day.

On the flip side, I only saw that one person bringing her/his own bag. Everyone else was opting for paper bags. And lots of them. What have we done?  Is this better?  I didn’t see any messages at the check-out counter encouraging people to bring their own bags. Where is the sign that says, “Bring your own bag and receive 10 cents”? One sign could go a long way. People are motivated by money, even 5-10 cents.

Lucky’s: The Lucky's hotly-promoted new reusable plastic bag is perplexing. That's right, plastic. Its picture even made its way into the San Francisco Chronicle as the example new bag. I was baffled because I thought we were supposed to be banning plastic bags. Should we love or hate this bag?

Off to Lucky's to investigate. Well, it indeed is a plastic bag. It costs 25 cents to buy, and every time you bring it back, you receive a 5 cent bag credit. “Reusable” is written in big letters on the front. On the back is a nice plug for California parks and no littering. According to Lucky’s, this bag is a miracle, built to last 10+ times so that you can “actually earn money on these bags.” It is proudly “in compliance” with the SF ordinance because it is reusable. Pretty clever of them you have to admit.

How is this plastic bag legal?  Per the SF plastic bag ban ordinance, stores shall provide only recyclable paper bags (with 40% post-consumer recycled content) and/or compostable plastic bags as checkout bags. The ordinance also allows stores to use "reusable bags," which are defined as bags with handles that are specifically designed for multiple reuse and are either made of cloth, another machine washable fabric, or durable plastic that is at least 2.25 mils thick. Touche Lucky's.

It is still of course a plastic bag made from petroleum. The plastic is sturdier than the old-school plastic bags, but the handles seem pretty weak. Let’s put this bag to the test and see how long it really lasts. As a plus, it contains 20% recycled plastic. And if someone really did bring this bag back 10 times to the store, it would be better for the environment than using up a brand new paper bag each time.

Paper From Where at What Cost?

Safeway and Lucky’s are using the same new paper bag. It contains the minimum required 40% post consumer recycled content, which means that 60% is virgin paper from forests needed for water, CO2 absorption, animal habitat, and more.

These bags are made by Weyerhaeuser. This is concerning because Weyerhaeuser is known for unsustainable forestry practices, i.e. cutting down too many trees too fast. In fact, they have helped to devise a bogus, industry-led program called the Sustainable Forestry Initiative or SFI. Look on the bottom of the bag, and you will see the SFI Certified Sourcing symbol. It allows widespread logging of irreplaceable old growth forests. See www.dontbuysfi.com for the full scoop.

The best standard so far is the independent Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). You may have seen labels for FSC-certified wood or FSC mixed sources paper. FSC mandates that one tree must be planted for every tree cut down. FSC is not perfect, but it is the best unbiased standard we have to date. Weyerhaeuser’s SFI is a red herring set up by the industry. How did this become the default bag for Safeway and Lucky’s?  The cities are celebrating, but are the forests in mourning?

It takes 4 times as much energy to make a paper bag than a plastic bag. As the paper bags degrade in landfills, they release carbon dioxide into the air. Some studies report that making paper bags generates 70% more air pollutants and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags. All the more reason to BYOB, Bring Your Own Bag.

So in banning plastic bags, we have done a good thing. My lingering question is: what are the unintended consequences of this ban for forests, for energy consumption, for pollution, for global warming?  Why did compostable bags like BioBags not pick up some of the slack?  We banned one planetary ill, but we traded it for virgin paper consumption. Did we incentivize the most planet-friendly alternative in the process?  Are more people bringing their own bags to the store as a result?

Littering a Root Cause?

Walking around San Francisco, litter is visible on the ground. Plastic water bottles, Styrofoam peanuts, cigarette butts, Starbucks coffee cups, coffee lids, candy wrappers, fewer plastic bags but still the pink ones from Chinatown and the white ones from Wal-Mart. I’m sure this is the same for every city, but it makes me wonder, how did all of this trash end up on the ground and in the park?

When cities complain about the over $3 million in plastic bag clean up costs, is a real problem littering? And/or the lack of plastic bag recycling incentives and availability?  People lament the plastic bags in the trees, but how did they get there?  They had to escape from somebody’s hands. Or from an overflowing garbage can.

I am coming to believe that we as a society need a massive anti-littering campaign again. In CA, there is supposed to be littering fines of $100 - $750 per incident plus litter clean-up duty, but I think people have forgotten. They litter with no fear of the consequences. I have seen several strangers recently throw empty water bottles out of their cars into the gutter. Mothers Against Littering. Littering Costs You & The Planet.  Littering is for Losers. Let’s pick a slogan and go big.

On that note, there is the Keep America Beautiful organization with good tips about litter prevention. One tip involves tipping point theory. Litter attracts more litter. Also see the campaign Keep California Beautiful.

Solutions Are In The Bag

Net net, what to do?  Take your new reusable bag friends with you when you shop. Don’t leave home with them. Green is passing on paper and plastic. See how long you can make your paper grocery bags last. The record is over 6 months, at a rate of one shopping trip per week. Chico Bags are a pleasant option that fit in your pocket or purse.

Incentives matter a lot. What we incentivize is what we get. There are credits for bringing your own bag which is great. Let’s advertise this delicious financial feature of BYOB more: Save Money and the Planet. Stores can make it cool and desirable to bring your own bag. In other cities considering a plastic bag ban, please consider requiring paper bags to be 100% recycled paper. That could help a lot. In an ideal world, it would cost a few cents to request any new bag from the store. This could change everything I suspect as it has in Europe.

See the Plastic Bag Rehab post for more sexy bag ideas. Let’s make it uncool to litter again. In the Paper, Plastic, or Planet tradeoff, let's choose the planet.

Comments

[Nioko Tureback]

The goats will learn eventually. Let them kick and scream. Ban both kinds of bags.

However, here it is two years later and I still see plastic bags EVERYWHERE in San Francisco. So I don't know what the real deal is!

[red bottom shoes]

Love those! I enjoy following your posts on facebook and rss!