HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0064.187 2010-2012Murashige, Laura
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From: Davelynn Hubbard [dhubbard @kyd- inc.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 1:46 PM o n
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To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us o p
Subject: Testimony for the Kona Public Hearing (Nov. 15th) on Bill 17 '�
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Attachments: HFIA TESTIMONY BILL 17 BI -Kona 11.07.doc '0 CD -<
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Comm. No v '. M'7
Ref. To:
Ref. Date Nov 15 vm
11/9/2011
November 7, 2011
Mr. Dominic Yagong, Chairperson
And Members of the Hawaii County Coucil
Via email: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us
Dear Dominic Yagong, Chairperson and Members of the Hawai'i County Council,
The Hawaii Food Industry Association is a non - profit trade association, which represents
retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, and brokers, as well as other associate members
that work in the food industry. This legislation harms consumers and increases their
most basic cost of living, food.
We urge you to not pass this bill. As an alternative, we suggest a bill that would actually
decrease the amount of single use bags used, as opposed to this bill, which simply shifts
consumers to paper and increases costs.
We genuinely hope that you consider the following information before making a decision
about this bill.
Why we should NOT ban plastic bags:
• Production of paper bags generates 70% more air pollutants and 50 times more
water pollutants than plastic bags.
• Paper bags are six to eight times more voluminous than plastic bags. Shipping costs are
six times greater. This means that the carbon footprint to bring paper bags to the
island is greater than that to import plastic bags. Moreover, plastic bags are
manufactured on Oahu and paper bags are not.
• Plastic bags consume less than 4% of the water needed to make paper bags. It takes
5,527 cubic meters of water to produce 100 million paper bags.
• The cost of foodstuffs is rising rapidly. The World Bank states that expansion of food
based alternative energy and products have played a part in the doubling of the price of
corn. These products also release methane into the environment, a powerful
greenhouse gas, when they compost.
• Plastic bags are far less expensive than paper in both cost per case, and cost of shipping.
A typical plastic bag costs about a penny to produce, a paper one about 6 -10 cents and a
compostable bag about 8 -12 cents.
• The ULS San Francisco survey found that all food chains affected by the ordinance had
switched to paper bags only. There was NO increase in reusable bag use.
• In order to avoid having consumers pay more for food as a result of forcing retailers to
switch from plastic to paper bags, which is actually less environmentally friendly, we
would suggest focusing of reduction of all single use bags by implementing a fee on
all single use bags. This will bring revenue to the County.
Why we should implement a fee on ALL single use bags:
• A tax on shopping bags in the Republic of Ireland has cut their use by more than
90% and raised millions of euros in revenue, the government says.
• The Republic of Ireland's tax of 15 cents per bag was introduced as an attempt to curb
litter, and the improvement was immediate and "plain to see ", said Environment
Minister Martin Cullen.
• Washington D.C. imposed a 5 cent per bag tax on retailers and restaurants. Within the
first month of the program, the average monthly number of bags used in D.C.
decreased over 80% from 22.5 million bags to just 3 million. The tax has already
generated substantial funds to clean up the Anacostia River.
• Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty points out that the tax on plastic bags is not to charge
consumers out of using bags — or to burden them financially anymore than they may
be with grocery store prices — but to encourage shoppers to avoid a tax in the first
place by using reusable shopping bags.
Mahalo Nui Loa for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Davelynn Hubbard
KYD, INC.
2949 Koapaka St.
Honolulu, Hi 96819