HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0064.147 2010-2012KTA
SUPER STORES
July 7, 2011
Dominic Yagong, Chair
And Members of the Hawaii County Council
Re: Hearings on the Plastic Bag Ban
Chair Yagong and Members of the County Council:
Barry K. Taniguchi
President
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Barry K. Taniguchi
50 E. Puainako Street, Hilo Hawaii 96720
Phone (808) 959 -2817, Fax (808) 959 -8050
E -mail: barry_taniguchi @ktasuperstores.com
Thank you for your consideration and for the opportunity to comment on this measure.
KTA Super Stores is a small supermarket chain of six (6) stores operating on the Island of Hawaii.
We are committed to providing our customers the highest quality service and products in our stores.
We are also committed to our environment and instituted our "Re -Use Bag" program a number of
years ago in our attempt to reduce the use of both "one use" plastic and paper bags.
While we believe plastic bags do contribute negatively to our environment, we also believe that
paper bags also have a negative impact on our environment, and perhaps to some degree, to a
larger extent than that of plastic.
The basic problem we believe is consumer behavior. We need to promote recycling and proper
disposal of plastic products, not only of bags but also that of other packaging material. In the past,
we have supported the concept of "Waste to Energy" as a means of proper disposal of such plastic
products. We have encouraged the use of "Re -Use Bags" to minimize the use of both plastic and
paper bags. We have also urged proper education and systems.
We believe the County and the Council have chosen to ignore actions taken in other
jurisdictions to manage and curb the use of plastic bags and have not sufficiently
investigated alternative means to promote proper use and disposition of both plastic and
paper packaging material. We urge you NOT to cancel the remaining Public Hearings and to
EARNESTLY conduct a more intensive study of successful recycling and education systems
in areas like Japan. Further, the remaining scheduled hearings deserve to be held to give
residents their opportunity to voice their opinions which will affect their communities.
We are not anti - environment. We attempt to recycle tons of waste by backhauling shipping
materials, recycling wooden pallets, and baling cardboard boxes for recycling. This means that
tons of trash are NOT dumped into the landfill. Despite this, we are being targeted for not doing
enough to help the success of preserving the environment. We believe that the greater issue of
proper disposal of solid waste and recycling of all recyclable products should be properly
addressed.
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Ref. Dote JUL 7 2011