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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0064.061 2010-2012 Page 1 of 1 Murashi a Laura PI COUNaL -------- -- From: Donna R. Goodale [donna @goodale.org] Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011 6:50 PM r To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us Subject: FW: saffy's paper Attachments: Plastic Bag Ban.docx From: Saffy [mailto:meevedol7 @gmail.com] Sent: Friday, January 28, 20117:53 AM To: Mrs.Goodale Subject: sally's paper -- This message has been checked by ESVA and is believed to be clean. Comm. No. �• Ref. T O: ft T k Ref, Date H:B 16 2/15/2011 Saffy Datta 1/15/11 7 1 h and 8 English Plastic Bag Reduction We all know what plastic shopping bags are. We know we get them for free at grocery or department stores. We know we use them to bring the store's products home. We know once our use of these plastic bags is done we can toss them into the trash where they will be taken away and become landfill. Alternatively, we know we can "Go Green" and recycle them. And we know that there is little to worry about because no harm comes from this system, right? ...... Wrong! There are many things wrong with what we think we know. Today, my job is to inform you of exactly what is wrong with plastic shopping bags. When I am done you will have to agree that our system would be much better if these plastic bags were banned from our grocery and department stores. Alternatively using reusable bags while having the "free" plastic bags available at a much higher price. These "free" plastic bags are not really free. The price of the bag is added on to the price of everything in the store. The store could save money and so could you if these bags weren't around. Every time you or someone else brings in a reusable bag the store deductions between 5 and 20 cents. It doesn't seem like much but if you add it all up it amounts to something. Say that the store has the discount at 20 cents after going to the store just 5 times you've saved a dollar. How about 30 times? "Going Green ", meaning to recycle them and be doing the right thing for our world, is not as good as it sounds in this particular situation. Only about 0.6% of all plastic bags in the US get recycled. More bags than that get put in the bins to be recycled. What happens to the bags that don't get recycled? A number of things can occur. They could be shipped or flown out of country. Once there they get sent into other landfills or recycled but left in that country. If too many biodegradable bags get mixed in with the other bags then they can ruin whole tons of these bags. The price of recycling is high to. For just 1 ton to get recycled it costs about $4000 even though the same amount only costs $32 new. In this case it doesn't seem like "Going Green" will help. From what I have said so far it seems like the main issue is the price and the difficulty to recycle them. Plastic bags also affect the ocean, the land, and the plants. Plastic bags blow away every minute. These bags end up floating around the land before settling down for 1000 yr. decay in a tree or on the ground. They can reach the ocean where they disguise themselves as jellyfish that get eaten by turtles and other marine life. Animals on the land, in the water, in the sky, or dwellers of all 3 get stuck in these bags. They can permanently disable or slowly strangle the unlucky animal. These bags are dangerous. More animals make these deadly mistakes every day because of these bags. I hope by now you agree that we need to do something about these bags. They go into grocery and department stores to be sold for "free ". The bags are very expensive and always have the risky of biodegradable getting mix in to rely on recycling. Animals die from ingestion or entrapment of these bags. If banning them will cause too much inconvenience raise the price and raise awareness of the dangers of these bags. Remember plastic bags not only affect the ocean, the land, and the plants, but YOU!