Those plastic bags just became valuable
By REAGAN WHEELER Special to the Daily Press
CITYWIDE With 19 billion plastic bags being used each year by Californians alone, finding ways to recycle them has become of utmost importance to the environmentally conscious. This weekend, it’ll get a whole lot easier.
Beginning Sunday, shoppers will be able to recycle their plastic bags at local stores, provided the business occupies more than 10,000 square feet of retail space and makes at least $2 million in annual sales — typical of major supermarkets and retailers. The proliferation of recycling bins are the result of the Plastic Grocery Bag Recycling Act, which goes into effect July 1.
Reusable bags will also be made available at the stores to help customers cut down on the initial waste.
Reducing plastic bag waste is not the lone objective of the legislation passed last year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — oil dependence is also a major factor, with approximately 4,000 barrels of oil being used daily to manufacture plastic bags. As a result, the amount of waste created each year is a growing worry. At the rate of 600 bags per second, Californians and their plastic carriers are responsible for more than 147,000 tons of waste in U.S. landfills per year.
Customers such as Carol Belmont, a frequent shopper at the Vons supermarket on Broadway, have already begun recycling plastic, among other things. On Friday, Belmont admitted she is worried about the landfills, saying they must be “awful.”
Ginny and Frank Ruiz live near an Albertson’s in Santa Monica and have seen people take plastic bags from the outside recycling bins.
“We put our bags in the bin at Albertsons,” said Ginny Ruizon Friday. “It is a good idea to have them, as long as the bins are inside.”
The considerable waste resulting from plastic bag use likely won’t disappear anytime soon, but Sunday will mark a first step with grocery stores, pharmacies and other major retail outlets throughout California being required to provide the recycling bins inside for plastic items.
The costs of litter collection are anticipated to decrease as well. At present, the collection for California’s beaches, highways, cities and counties costs the state more than $300 million annually.
Many stores had already begun complying with the new law well before the July 1 enforcement date.
“We’re excited that other retailers will be joining us,” commented Marlyn Denter, a spokeswoman for Safeway, Inc., which owns the Vons chain. “We recycle 26,000 tons of plastic every year.”
With the amount of plastic Vons recycles in one year, the company could fill two Rose Bowls. Of those hundreds of tons, 40 percent is grocery bags. On Friday, the manager at the Broadway store manager noted that a good number of customers were checking out with the reusable bags. Ironically, Vons’ stores package their nylon bags in plastic.
One of the main goals of the legislation is to not only reduce plastic bag usage and waste, but to encourage shoppers to use environmentally sound reusable bags. Mark Murray, executive director for Californians Against Waste (CAW), hopes companies will use their “marketing ingenuity” by offering customers incentives to bring their own bags or charging for plastic bags.
Customers at Wild Oats can choose to receive a nickel back for any bag they bring in for recycling or donate the money in the form of a wooden nickel. The funds are sent to local non-profit groups.
The CAW had been the main group spearheading Assembly Bill 2449 for the better part of a decade. The nonprofit focuses its efforts on environmental issues, such as waste reduction and recycling.
This marks the first time they’ve been successful in getting retailers to participate in a “take back” program, said Mark Murray.
The “take back” aspect of the program places the responsibility for the cost, maintenance, emptying of the receptacles and delivery of the bags collected to a recycling facility on the store, at its own expense.
“Finally, we were able to compromise with the retailers to finance this pilot program,” said Murray. “The take back requirement is in the place of an advanced disposal fee program, which retailers have historically opposed.”
Plastic bags are litter-prone due to their physical attributes. With a car window open and nothing holding a bag down, it is apt to fly out, becoming roadside waste. Murray believes that most bags are not purposefully disposed of incorrectly, but the problem still exists, despite intention.
“The bottom line is that a lot of plastic bags get inadvertently littered before they (consumers) even get home,” Murray said Thursday.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 30, 2007. Read the original PDF.