Truth About Plastic Bag Banning

Do you remember when government, citing the adverse effect on our forests, asked consumers not to use paper bags? The environmental drums beat and everyone switched to plastic. Now that plastic fills our landfills and clogs our oceans, government wants to ban plastic bags and charge us for the privilege of using paper bags.

Oregon and other states have  three possible courses of action. Most states lean toward option two. Albeit admirable, option two lacks the common-sense practicality necessary to make it successful or enforceable. Dog owners and others that handle messy byproducts will buy plastic bags. Why not give them an alternative?

The three options:

1. Ban All Bags and make customers bring their own containers
2. Ban Plastic Bags and make consumers pay for using paper bags
3. Allow biobags and paper bags and charge customers for using them--no one has mentioned this as an option because of "facts" published by Portland Planning and Sustainability on their website.

If you live in a green state, you will probably have bags banned in the near future. As a dog owner or person who eats and has table scraps, you will feel the temptation to buy plastic bags from the store. They will still sell them mind you. I give you a viable alternative that protects the environment and meets your very practical need. Biobags have a four paw rating, fully decompose, and come in all sizes just like their petroleum counterparts. They will cost you more, but you will sleep better having done the right thing.

You will hear some confusing stuff coming out of City Hall. Don't listen to them. They will tell you that decomposable bags do not really decompose, cost too much, take too much energy to make, etc.blah,blah,blah.

The Truth

• They will decompose in ten to forty-five days if you give them a little air and moisture. If you cover them up with ten tons of dirt right away.  No they won't.
• They do cost more than petroleum bags but when composted correctly will save our oceans.
• They take energy to make as does any product. We have yet to find a product that makes itself without energy.

A good journalist puts the best stuff at the top of the article and the background stuff at the bottom. They taught me that in high school journalism. It makes it easier for the editor, the esteemed title I held in high school, to cut the fluff when a writer gets too windy. It also gives the reader a chance to bail. If you want to bail on me, feel free. Bail now and go buy the bags. Consider yourself forewarned. From here on out the going gets rough. I feel compelled, and don't know why, to tell you the convoluted tale of the bag in Portland, Oregon. It involves mixed messages out of City Hall, the powerful American Chemical Council lobby, and the stuff of a good mystery novel.

The City has an agency called Portland Planning and Sustainability PSS that promotes all things environmental. The Greater Portland area has an agency we call METRO that also promotes sustainability. The overlapping agencies have created several programs for recycling. PSS and Metro they have given awards to the Oregon Convention Center and Exposition Center for commendable efforts to reduce and recycle waste. Sounds good doesn't it. It is, except within the awarding, the City of Portland reveals a disturbing duplicity. They encourage they use of decomposable bags to the folks participating in their recycling programs and decry their use to the public. And they're dumb enough to do it all on the same website.

METRO calls biobags easily comp-stable.

Prior to the ban-on-bags talks, Metro highlighted the recycling efforts of the exposition center calling the biobags easily co-mingled with composted food.

The facility's exclusive food and beverage contractor, ARAMARK, is also acknowledged for its commitment to sustainability. Food and beverage menu items are procured from local, sustainable and, organic sources when available; compo-stable and/or biodegradable, corn-based plates, napkins, utensils and trash bags that are easily co-mingled with composted food are utilized; and kitchen waste, such as cooking oil, is recycled. As a partner in Portland Composts! since 2007, Expo has transformed nearly 12 tons of food waste into compost.

PSS refers to the composting of biodegradable products eight times!

PSS gives a similar award to the Oregon Convention Center. They stop short of calling the plastics easily composted, but they do refer to biodegradable plastic some eight times in the article.

"Bar service used with standard glassware and recyclable bottles or biodegradable plastic bar ware when applicable. Composting of food waste and biodegradable products for all events."

THE FOOD SCRAP PROGRAM

PSS also has a program for businesses called the Food Scrap program. On their website they encourage folks to use compo-stable bags if necessary and even give links to vendors.

Participants in the Portland Composts! program may use only approved compo stable bags for food-scrap collection. Approved bags have been certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) and have passed independent testing at Cedar Grove, the compost facility that accepts Portland's foods scraps for composting.

PSS gives links to several vendors that sell biodegradable bags on the page. See link below.

Talks heated up in Portland's city hall, and the state legislature. At the same time Fred Meyer floated a trial bag ban at their stores for a month. The Oregonian ran a few stories about the issue. Now suddenly the bags that composted easily at the Expo Center, at the Convention Center, at local business, and at their testing center in Cedar Grove no longer compost. PSS came out with a full page on their website explaining why biobags will not work Portland or in the State of Oregon. The Biodegradable Products Institute says biobags will decompose in California. Why not Oregon?

If I thought it would work, I would probably support a total bag ban. Heck, even city hall could sway me, if I thought I could trust them. I love to sail and have sailed across the Pacific. Fortunately, I missed the plastic whirlpool the size of Texas. I believe it exists and think we need to take steps.

I live a green life, and like to quote Kermit, "It ain't easy being green." I own no car. I ride 365 days through Oregon rain. I live in a small space, and use little heat and no air conditioning. I have a carbon footprint--a little one. I lived through the spotted owl controversy. I saw people lose their jobs. I saw whole communities crumble. I lived in one such town. Years later environmental scientists admitted that the barred owl depleted the spotted owl numbers not loggers. "Oh, whoops, sorry about you losing your livelihood. My bad."

The trouble with a knee jerk reaction is that someone always gets kicked. Let's try common sense for a change.