FAQWhy a “Green Fee” on disposable shopping bags? Charging for disposable bags is the only proven method of getting a significant number of people to bring their own bag. The “green fee” puts choice in the hands of the consumer. People who wish to avoid the fee can simply bring their own bag. And when you forget your reusable bags, you’ll get a little 20 cent reminder. How many disposable shopping bags do we use in Seattle?Seattle Public Utilities waste composition studies show that Seattleites use approximately 292 million plastic and 68 million paper disposable shopping bags per year, totaling about 360 million bags a year. I thought this already passed, why is there a referendum?The City Council and mayor did pass and sign legislation for the bag fee last summer. The green fee would have gone into effect January 1, 2009, along with the Styrofoam food take-out food container ban. The American Chemistry Council (aka, the plastics lobby) hired out-of-state professional signature gatherers to come in and collect signatures to stop the legislation and put it to a voter ballot this year. They paid the signature gatherers $2 a signature, which is double the normal rate in Seattle of $1 per signature. Why am I getting a letter that says Wal-Mart and Fred Meyers are excluded?The opposition to the Green Fee – the American Chemistry Council – paid for a letter to citizens that has a number of misleading bullet points. One bullet point states that the ordinance excludes stores like Wal-Mart and Fred Meyers. Well, they don’t seem to know that we don’t even have any Wal-Marts in Seattle! And the ordinance clearly states that stores with NAICS codes (stores that sell groceries and/or drugstore items as well as superstores) are included and the Seattle Fred Meyers have those NAICS codes. The SPU director can, at his/her discretion allow these store to exclude non-grocery purchases from the bag fee. Claiming that Walmart and Fred Meyers are excluded is an example of the American Chemistry Council trying to confuse the voters. I am concerned about low income citizens and Food Banks.The American Chemistry Council and their local affiliates argue that a bag fee is unfair to those on low or fixed income. This assumes that all residents won’t be price sensitive and will switch to reusable bags. Many people argued in the public hearing that in fact, people on low or fixed income would quickly switch to reusable bags if a fee were in place. To ensure that it is fair, the City of Seattle plans to use funds generated by the green fee to distribute significant numbers of free reusable bags to those with low or fixed income as well as to food kitchens and other organizations that provide social services. The referendum specifically includes language that directs that this support be implemented by city staff. The support will be funded by the 20 cents fee as part of the city’s program. In addition, the city’s fact sheet from April 2008 describing the implementation of the ordinance includes a transition plan with $1 million to be spent on reusable bags, including extra bags for low income citizens and food banks. In addition, many bags are available in recycle bins in the fronts of stores for people to pick up, if they forget their bags. Interestingly, in San Francisco, food banks require that their client bring their own bag as a matter of routine, after an initial transition period. For more information about the low income and food banks issue, please see our press release. What is the difference between a tax and a fee?The Bag fee is a fee because it is designed to change behaviors and reduce the use of disposable bags. It is not designed to fund city services, which is how a tax would be structured: Under Definitions: J. 1. “Advanced Recovery Fee” or “Green Fee” means a charge or regulatory fee levied against the distribution, purchase, or use of a product in order to discourage its use, thereby reducing its presence in the waste stream and its ancillary environmental impacts, and to recover costs associated with the recycling or disposal of the product. What are the negative environmental aspects of plastic bags?Plastic bags blow around and end up along our roads and creeks. They then wash in stormwater out to Puget Sound and ultimately out into the ocean. They break down into smaller bits but don’t readily decompose. The negative aspects of plastic bags include:
What is the North Pacific Gyre and why are plastics accumulating there?There are 5 major gyres in the world’s oceans – large eddy-like features in which material accumulates and does not readily escape. Scientists with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation have studied plastics in the North Pacific Gyre for the past 10 years. They have found that plastic pieces, including tiny microscopic bits of plastic (broken down plastic bags), have accumulated in the gyre forming a thin soup. Microplastics are there because plastics don’t decompose but instead photo-degrade into smaller and smaller bits. The density of these plastic bits has doubled in some areas in the past 10 years. About 80% of the material found in the gyre comes from land via stormwater runoff, while the remaining 20% appears to be from marine sources. Why not just recycle all of the bags?Most plastic bags, despite what industry representatives want you to believe, are never recycled. This low level of recycling has been exasperated by the economic slowdown of recent months leading to a glut on the commodities markets – plastic is no exception. Recycling plastic bags does not make economic sense given the current cost of recycling and the value of the resulting product, especially for a society in the process of reducing climate changing emissions. In fact, the Citizens Solid Waste Advisory Committee to Seattle Public Utilities has recommended that Seattle stop subsidizing plastic bag recycling programs. However the ethics of the Utility prevent it from allowing the bags to go into landfills. Another problem with the “recycling solution” is that the cost of recycling bags far exceeds the cost of manufacturing the bags in the first place. In addition to energy and resource costs, bags that are recycled are primarily bailed and sent across the ocean to Asian countries for incorporation into plastic products. Finally, plastics and paper are “downcycled” not recycled. Some materials (such as glass and aluminum) are readily recycled repeatedly, with little or no loss of quality. Plastics and paper, however, experience a noticeable loss in quality when they are reprocessed and so are made into lesser grade products. Down the line, ultimately, products are downcycled to the bottom of the cycle and must be disposed. I like paper bags. Why are they included in the bag fee?Overall, paper bags have a significantly worse environmental footprint than plastic bags. Paper bags are heavier (about 10 times heavier) and thus are more carbon consumptive product than plastic, making them a poor choice to replace plastic bags. Furthermore, the United States cuts down 14 million trees per year simply to supply the demand for paper shopping bags. Paper is made with chemicals processed at high temperatures releasing highly toxic chemicals into our air and water. Some of our most problematic toxic cleanup sites in Puget Sound are associated with pulp and paper mills. This information was encapsulated in the Seattle Public Utilities’ study which examined the life cycle environmental impact of disposable shopping bags and found that the impact of paper bags was overall four times worse than that for an equal number of plastic bags (for all environmental impact categories weighted equally) and worse in every category except litter and marine litter. Banning plastic bags only would push stores and shoppers to paper bags, resulting in significantly greater greenhouse gas generation. According to the Washington Toxic Release Inventory for 2004, paper and allied products manufacturing accounted for 7.8 million pounds of toxic releases in that year (26 percent of the total). Releases were primarily methanol, hydrochloric acid, ammonia, and nitrate compounds, but included dioxins, polycyclic aromatic compounds, lead, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, mercury, and arsenic among others. If I bring my own bag, how am I helping reduce greenhouse gases?The only real answer to reducing consumption of polluting products is to replace them with reusable alternatives. A study done by Seattle Public Utility indicates that the green fee on disposable shopping bags will cut greenhouse gas production now caused by the unrestrained use of these products by 40 percent — about 112,000 tons over 30 years, roughly 4,000 tons per year or the equivalent of taking 665 cars off the road. What are other examples of green fees or environmentally-oriented pricing?In Washington, green fees are charged on vehicle batteries and tires. Currently, Californians pay an advanced recovery fee when they buy computers or other electronics, allowing them to turn the products in for recycling later at no charge. Applied to disposable shopping bags, the idea behind the green fee is to discourage the use of particular one-time, throw away products, promote the use of reusable alternatives and provide some funding for recycling the remaining number of bags and other recycling programs. Advanced recovery fees are sometimes called “environmental fees” or “impact fees.” In addition, in Seattle, we have used pricing to change waste use and disposal activities for years. The collection costs for our garbage bins are charged at a much higher rate than our recycling and yard and food waste bins in order to encourage residents and businesses to reduce our total load to our landfills. How long do plastic bags last in the environment?Disposable one-use plastic products like bags, take-home containers and bottles are used for a few minutes but last from 15-1000 years in the environment. Generally, plastics don’t decompose but instead photodegrade into smaller and smaller bits. Out in the ocean, they break down into “microplastic” bits that are as small as plankton. What have other countries done?In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country to ban plastic bags due to the problems caused by clogging of stormdrains creating massive floods in 1988 and 1998. Paris banned the bags in 2007 (will include all of France in 2010). China banned free bags last summer and estimates that it will save 34 million barrels of oil each year. Other countries with bans, fees or other bag restrictions in part or all of the country include: Australia, Belgium, Bhutan, Bhutan, Botswana, Canada, Denmark, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malta, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, West Bengal, and Zanzibar. In most of Europe, retailers charge for bags rather than providing free bags. What about Ireland?Ireland imposed a 15 cent (euro-equivalent) bag fee in 2002. In the first month, they reduced the use of bags by 90 percent! Grocers who initially opposed the fee now are the biggest supporters and even go around the world touting the Irish bag success. What is going on in other US cities and states?San Francisco banned plastic bags in 2007 and was followed by other California cities such as Manhattan Beach, Palo Alto, and Malibu. Westport CT and thirty Alaskan villages have banned the bags. Edmonds, WA, is considering a bag ban this summer! Here is a partial list of other cities or states that are considering action on bags: Annapolis, MD , Austin, TX , Baltimore, MD , Berkeley, CA , Boston, MA , California, Chicago, IL , Connecticut, Encinitas, CA , Fairfax, CA , Hawaii County , Los Angeles County, CA, Madison, WI , Maine, Marshall County, IA , Maryland, Massachusetts, New Haven, CT, New York, NY, Oakland, CA, Philadelphia, PA, Plymouth, PA , San Jose, CA, Santa Cruz, CA , Santa Monica, CA , Texas, Virginia, and Washington D.C. What can I use for picking up pet waste? For those residents preferring to use a plastic bag for their pet waste, produce bags, other non carry-home bags, and newspaper bags are available for waste pickup. In addition, more and more city parks are installing bag kiosks with compostable plastic bags for pet waste. I use paper bags for my recyclables. What about that?The city asks that all recyclables be clean in order to not contaminate the recycling streams. Instead of using paper bags, baskets and medium-sized plastic bins work well for storing and toting recyclables. When it is pickup day, just dump the recyclables into your curb bin. How much do stores pay for plastic and paper bags?Disposable shopping bags are not free! Stores pay from 1 to 5 cents for plastic carry-home bags and at least 3 times that amount for paper bags. These costs are passed along to the consumer in prices you pay for items you buy at the stores. How much does it cost to dispose of bags?Disposable bags cost our cities up to an estimated 17 cents per bag for disposal and cleanup, which really means it costs you the tax payer that amount. Why are only grocery, drug and convenience stores selected for the green fee?Grocery, convenience and drug stores are responsible for 73 percent of the disposable bags currently distributed in Seattle each year. This is a total of about 575 stores out of 3,600 retail and restaurant businesses. What about other kinds of bags (not carry-home)?Bags used inside stores by customers to contain bulk items such as fruits and vegetables, potentially wet products such as frozen foods and meat, nuts, grains, candies or baked goods and other prepared foods are exempt from the green bag fee. Bags for bulk materials such as nails, screws, bolts and nuts used inside the store at hardware and lumber stores are also be exempt, as are laundry-dry cleaner bags and newspaper bags. What else can I do to help reduce waste?
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