Los Angeles Times 04.03.08

As of Oct. 2008, IKEA will no longer offer disposable plastic bags at checkout. No, paper bags won't replace the plastic bags. Customers will need to bring their own bag, buy an IKEA reusable bag for 59 cents, or go bagless.

Link: Ikea To Nix All Disposable Bags by Oct. 2008

KHNL NBC Channel 8, Honolulu, HI 11.09.07

A beach that was once a place where Native Hawaiians used to come to find logs for their voyaging canoes, is now a place where tons of trash wind up every year.

Link: Big Island Beach Attracts Plastic Trash

MSNBC 03.14.08

The movement to curb plastic bag use and production is gaining in popularity because of cities like San Francisco-  the first US city to prohibit large stores from distributing disposable plastic bags. Now the plastics industry is fighting tooth and nail to prevent the trend from spreading across the United States.  Many attempts at bans have already been prevented, usually ending up as voluntary recycling drives instead.

Our Take: While recycling has its place, recycling won’t solve the problem… An item that really stood out in this article was the shocking information that an amendment prohibiting local governments from imposing fees on plastic bags was snuck into an otherwise benign mandatory recycling law passed in California. This is a bold move we assume will be overturned at some point …

Link: Lobbying, Legal Threats Turn Prohibitions Into Voluntary Recycling Drives

npr, All Things Considered 04.07.08

As more and more cities and states consider plastic bag bans and tax proposals, companies are beginning to weigh their options. Biodegradable plastic bags are designed to quickly break down. But where does the plastic go?... The story also cites a staggering statistic: every year US plastic bag consumption = nine billion pounds. Listen to story…

Our Take: The plastic polymers are still there, but they are out of sight! These may become a popular choice for big brand companies/marketers looking to reduce negative exposure when their bags are hooked in trees and laying on sidewalks. While on the surface biodegradable bags may seem like a good idea, there’s a host of problems associated with them (e.g.  A proliferation of biodegradable plastic bags will really screw up recycling efforts, they don’t get at the heart of the problem: consumption, etc. – click here for more…) This is a perfect example of a seemingly good idea that truly does more harm than good.)
 
 
Link: Manufacturers Push Biodegradable Plastic Bags

 

National Geographic News 04.04.08

 Across the globe politicians and corporations are debating the effectiveness of plastic bag bans versus plastic bag taxes. Ireland, Italy and Belgium all tax plastic sacks, while places like San Francisco and China are banning them all together. Other countries and companies are implementing or considering recycling programs. Each attempt to deal with the issue has its pros and cons. According to Vincent Cobb, founder of ReusableBags.com, the movement has gained momentum. “We all have the tendency to buy too much stuff, and I think the symbolic nature is what has made this such a powerful thing.”

Our Take: Our founder was interviewed for this article – here is a quote: “A tax charged at checkout is what we need to change consumer behavior. Plastic bags aren’t inherently bad; it’s the mindlessness and volume of consumption.”

Link: Plastic Bag Bans Gaining Momentum Around the World 

Environmental News Network 02.26.08

China's largest plastic bag maker has closed following a state-led environmental campaign discouraging plastics use, Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

China launched a surprise crackdown on plastic bags in January, banning production of ultra-thin bags and forbidding its supermarkets and shops from handing out free carrier bags from June 1.

Link: Top China plastic bag maker closes amid green drive

New York Times 01.10.08

The New York City Council overwhelmingly passed a bill (44 to 2) requiring large stores and retail chains to collect and recycle plastic bags they give to shoppers.

Under the new bill, which had surprising support from Progressive Bag Affiliates, a trade group that represents most American makers of plastic bags, stores that give the bags to customers must provide recycling bins for the bags in a prominent place in the store. They will also have to ensure that the bags they distribute have printed messages urging customers to return them to stores. The legislation applies to stores of 5,000 square feet or larger, as well as all branches of chains with more than five locations in the city.

Our Take: It's no surprise to us that the plastic bag industry supports the bill. It's too bad that New York City's bill misses the mark by focusing on recycling. While helpful it won't fix the problem. This initiative doesn't hit at the heart of the matter which is to significantly reduce consumption (and capture external costs associated with plastic bags). The heart of real reform focuses on implementing tactics such as Ireland's Plastax.

Link: New York Times

CNN.com 09.04.07

Carrefour's reusable bag campaign that was launched on February 26th, 2007 in the UAE, aimed at creating awareness on the impact of plastic bags that pollute the ecosystem and encouraging shoppers to reduce their use, has registered total sales of 600,000 reusable plastic bags.

Available at checkout counters as an alternative to plastic bags, the Carrefour reusable bag are sold at cost price. "If they are damaged at any point, the bags can be replaced at any Carrefour outlet free of charge," added Jean Luc Graziato, Vice President of Marketing and Sourcing at MAF Hypermarkets (Carrefour).

Our Take: Here is an example of a growing trend among retailers - virtually giving away massive quantities of cheap reusable bags (even plastic bags in this case!) as a major tactic to address the problem. There is a host of problems associated with these kinds of "freebies". The primary one being - are consumers actually going to use these cheap shopping bags or are they going to sit and start accumulating in people's closets? (This is what happened in Australia). In essence we've merely replaced one "use and toss" bag with another!  Our advice is to own a handful of attractive, high-quality, bags that you really like and will use. Looking for suggestions? Visit our store

Link: Carrefour Announces 600,000 Reusable Bags Sold in Six Months

Yahoo News 07.27.07

Lucky opened its first of 72 new stores in San Francisco this week and will introduce  reusable, recyclable plastic handle grocery bags, which are made from recycled plastic. The bags will retail for 25 cents each and will soon be available at all Lucky stores.

Our Take: With the popularity for reusable bags rising, we'll start to see more greenwashing by the retail industry. These reusable bags are actually produced by a plastic bag manufacturer, and made of only 20% recycled material. For some higher quality recycled bags, check out our recycled PET totes, made from 98% post-consumer recycled content!

Link: First Lucky Store Opens in San Francisco and Introduces Stiffer, Sturdier, Recyclable Plastic Grocery Bags

PR Newswire 06.11.07

The Progressive Bag Alliance, the California Retailers Association and the California Grocers Association, announced the implementation of the nation's first statewide plastic bag recycling program. The bag manufacturing industry is partnering with the retail community to develop practical solutions for recycling and have designed a store "toolkit" to help retailers with public education, employee training and developing recycling systems.

Our Take: Big surprise here - the plastic bag industry's typical response. Let's just recycle all these plastic bags - that'll fix the problem. Wrong. Don't look to industry for solutions that hit at the heart of the matter which is significant consumption reduction (and taking responsibility for capturing external costs associated with plastic bags).

Link: New Industry Coalition Launches Plastic Bag Recycling Program

BBC News 05.22.07

Shoppers will soon have to pay for plastic carrier bags in Marks and Spencer's 14 Northern Ireland stores. Chief executive Stuart Rose said local customers would be the first to have to pay five pence for a plastic bag during a trial period beginning in July. Marks and Spencer's shoppers would be given a free "bag for life" in the month preceding the trial. The move comes as part of Marks and Spencer's drive towards ethical trading and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.

Our Take: Following Ikea's recent announcement to charge for bags, another major retailer follows suit. Retailer initiatives like this, take a real stance on the plastic bag issue since they attempt to capture some of the hidden costs of "free" plastic bags and create incentives for customers to reduce their
consumption.

Link: Marks & Spencers to charge for shopping bags in Northern Ireland store

The Edge Daily

The plastics industry can expect a double-digit growth in sales this year if local plastic bag exporters are cleared of the European Union (EU) dumping charges, said Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association (MPMA) vice-president Charles Seow Thong Seng.

Link: Plastics industry sees double-digit growth in 2006.

Newspapers and Technology

The price hikes that vendors are passing through to newspapers aren’t likely to end anytime soon.

The first massive wave has already come from ink, plastics and prepress consumable suppliers. Agfa and Fujifilm unit Enovation Graphics are among the latest to announce price hikes in the United States, while Kodak Graphic Communications Group raised prepress consumables prices in its Europe and Greater Asia regions.

Vendors say they are squeezed by ever-escalating raw materials costs and can no longer hold back passing those increases onto their newspaper customers.

Consider the following:

*2005 aluminum costs neared $2,400 per ton, almost double 2003 prices, fueled in part by spot shortages.

*Silver hit $9.53 a troy ounce in February, doubling 2003 prices.

*Polyester feedstock for film rose 30 percent in the past three years.

*Polyethylene resin, used in plastic bags, rose 15 percent.

*Crude oil prices rose 30 percent in the past year and have tripled since 2001.

Link: Vendors battling price vise.

BBC News

Anger over plastic bags is misplaced, says Jane Bickerstaffe in The Green Room this week. Their environmental impact is negligible, she argues, and taxing them can cause more serious damage.

The humble and much maligned thin plastic carrier bag is at least as much a household hero as the pantomime villain it is often (mis)cast to be.

A recent UK government-funded initiative to look at ways to reduce use of thin bags found that people don't want more re-usable "Bags for Life" - they already have plenty in their homes - they just forget to take them to the shops!

Link: In praise of a hidden household hero.

Wall Street Journal

When fierce overseas competition forced a Sonoco Products Co. plastic bag-making business to close its Santa Maria, Calif., plant last year, ending 100 jobs, the company went on the offensive.

Sonoco and four other U.S. makers of plastic shopping bags, used by grocery and department stories, charged that manufacturers in China, Thailand and Malaysia were violating U.S. antidumping laws by selling the bags in the U.S. below cost.

U.S. manufacturers argue that plastic bags produced in the U.S. and Asia are the same quality, but that Internet bidding has forced the price down, allowing aggressive Asian companies to bid below their real cost. They say the Asian producers want to put the U.S. manufacturers out of business, seizing the U.S. market's 100 billion plastic bags a year.

Most retailers buy bags from Asia through distributors, and have been reluctant to involve themselves in the trade spat. But Target, the nation's second-largest retailer and one of the few companies to purchase the bulk of its 1.8 billion bags a year via the Internet, has come out swinging against the petition.

Link: Plastic Bag Fight Pits U.S. Makers V. U.S. Importers.