EnviroMom supports Seattle Green Bag Campaign: approve Referendum 1

C'mon, Seattle! Pick the reuseable bag! You deserve the better bag!!

We are watching with bated breath how the vote will go in Seattle on charging a fee for single-use bags. If you haven't been following the story, Seattle enacted a 20-cent fee on bags in July 2008, but then it got put on hold and now it is going to a referendum vote tomorrow, August 18. As we all know, there's lots of great reasons to use reuseable bags. Yet, not everyone is behind it. Well funded adversaries who are fighting the fee -- with the primary argument being that it discriminates against the poor -- include the American Chemistry Council (representing the plastics industry and who paid for much of the signature-gathering campaign in Seattle).

We at EnviroMom applaud and stand behind the grassroots efforts of such Seattle non-profits as CoolMom, who are doing their darndest on a shoestring to counter the plastics industry and build support for the Seattle Green Bag Campaign. Other cities in the US (namely San Francisco) have made inroads in the movement to replace single-use plastic bags with durable ones. Portland is still working on it. The litter of plastic bags sometimes gets the focus, when the energy used to make paper bags is even greater. Of course, we all know that the answer to the question: 'Paper or plastic?' is a resounding 'Neither!' Yet, to make or mandate the choice on a city-wide basis is easier said than done.

Let's hope that Seattle can see beyond the big bucks of the plastics industry and vote in support of the Green Bag Campaign by voting to approve Referendum 1. We realize that not everyone will always remember to bring their durable bags. But we also feel it's within the reach of most Americans to try to form that habit. If not everyone can afford durable bags (that usually cost about 99 cents, and have a lifespan of many years), let's try and figure out a way to collect/donate and redistribute reuseable bags (I have a few more than I need, and you probably do too). Perhaps the equivalent of the penny jar at store entrances for patrons to help themselves to a durable bag when needed, and to drop a few when they are done? I've heard some discussions about the practicality of this, and so far it doesn't look promising. In any case, the paper and plastic bags that grocery stores currently use can be reused at least more than once -- perhaps even up to 10 times before they fall apart. So even that would help cut down if shoppers were incented to reuse bags more than once. Let's hope Seattle agrees and the 20-cent fee can encourage a whole city toward a better, greener habit and a better, greener bag.

Thank you (stepping off the soap-box now...)!

Edited August 19, 2009: Seattle voted 'No' on Referendum 1. Boo-hoo! It will be interesting to see what happens next.