COM 1332.033 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The ILLS Report REVIEW OF LIFE CYCLE DATA RELATING TO DISPOSABLE, COMPOSTABLE, BIODEGRADABLE, AND REUSABLE GROCERY BAGS I. BACKGROUND In March 2007, the Board of Supervisors of the City of San Francisco passed an ordinance effectively banning the use of plastic grocery bags at supermarkets and large pharmacies. The Board's objective was to stop environmental degradation and reduce litter, and its solution was to legislate the replacement of traditional plastic bags with reusable bags or bags made from paper or compostable plastic. In an effort to gauge the impact of the Board's decision, both in terms of environmental impact and litter reduction, the Editors of The ULS Report have examined a number of credible third-party research reports, and used the findings to develop their own conclusions and recommendations. Please note that this review was originally published in June, 2007 and has been revised as follows: This review includes research performed by Boustead Consulting l3 Associates that was released after the previous version was published in June 2007. 2. Information from the EPA's web sites cited in the previous summary has been removed from this version, as it is no longer publicly available. 3. All results mentioned below have been made equivalent to reflect the different carrying capacity of paper vs. plastic bags. For reference, it is generally accepted that 1.5 plastic bags equal the capacity of 1 paper bag. II. METHODOLOGY An examination was made of four studies that compared the environmental impacts of various grocery bags, or provided data widely used to do so: Carrefour Group, an international retail chain that was founded in France and is second only to Wal-Mart in terms of global retail revenues, commissioned a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Study by Price-Waterhouse-Coopers/EcoBalance (Evaluation des impacts environnementauxdes sacs de caisse, February 2004, #3009408E8) that compared the environmental impact of four types of bags: plastic made from high density polyethylene (HDPE), paper, biodegradable plastic (50% corn starch and 50% polycaprolactone compostable plastic), and reusable plastic (flexible PE). The study evaluated environmental impacts from material production, through bag manufacturing and transport, to end of life management. The study was completed according to ISO standards 14040-14043, and peer reviewed by the French environmental institute, ADEME, the Agency for 28 March 2008 4853 Goodison Place Drive • Rochester • MI • 48306 248-726-9729 • wN+w.use-less-stuN.com