seaskyfan
Apr 3, 2008, 4:21 AM
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/357422_plastics03.html
Seattle could ban foam food boxes
By ANGELA GALLOWAY
P-I REPORTER
Seattle would ban foam food containers and impose a 20-cent fee on both paper and plastic grocery bags under a first-of-its kind proposal announced Wednesday morning.
Restaurants would later be prohibited from using plastic containers unless they can be recycled or composted, under the plan to be unveiled by City Council President Richard Conlin and Mayor Greg Nickels.
The "green fee" would apply to disposable bags distributed at grocery, convenience and drug stores. The polystyrene foam ban would outlaw items such as plates, trays, "clamshells," cups, meat trays and egg cartons at stores and restaurants.
If adopted by the council, the foam and bag rules would go into effect January 1. The restrictions on plastics at restaurants would be implemented one year later.
"It's a big symbolic step, but it's also a very concerted step in the right direction because we're talking about an incredible number of bags," Conlin said. Seattle stores hand out about 360 million disposable bags a year, according to Seattle Public Utilities.
A lobbyist for Washington retailers said he would withhold judgment on the plan until he had a chance to run it by members of his groups, and to take a look at the results of polling conducted by the city.
"I'm mostly concerned about what the consumers are going to say, are they going to be supportive?" said Mark Johnson, vice president of government affairs for the Washington Retail Association. "If the consumer says, 'I'm not excited about paying 20 cents per bag when I go shopping,' that is probably going to be an issue for us. If they're saying, 'No big deal,' it might not be an issue."
San Francisco prohibited supermarkets from using plastic bags in December, and plans to impose a ban on pharmacies soon. Ireland imposed a fee on plastic bags in 2002. And more than 20 cities have banned polystyrene foam packaging at restaurants and other business, including San Francisco.
Seattle officials considered banning disposable bags altogether, Conlin said. "The problem with a ban is that all it does is leave people without a choice," Conlin said. "And the alternative was to go with a ban just on plastic bags, but our data indicates that paper bags have serious environment consequences as well."
The fee is a better approach, agreed Mark Westlund, spokesman for the San Francisco environmental department. "If you're trying to reduce bags, that's the way to go," Westlund said. San Francisco officials considered such a fee, but the legislature then prohibited them under California law, he said.
For every 20-cent fee collected by Seattle, most stores would be allowed to retain five cents for administrative costs and taxes. (The fee itself would be subject to the state sales tax.) Small stores -- those collecting less than $1 million in gross revenues each year -- would be allowed to keep the full 20 cents.
"We've got something that we think is pretty much a win for everybody (and) a wash for the merchants," Conlin said. "We don't think it's going to be an inconvenience for them and for the consumer it gives them the opportunity not to pay a fee at all."
Stores would be required to explicitly include the fee on customer receipts.
"They want it to be a transparent cost," said Joe Gilliam, president of the Northwest Grocery Association. "They want the consumer to say, 'Oh, I'm paying more to use the bag, therefore, I might make a change to a reusable bag."
Gilliam said his group does not yet know if stores' share of the fee would fully cover their administrative costs.
"It's hard for me to say if that's a good number," he said in an interview Tuesday. "If it does cost us more than five cents we're going to have to pass it along to the consumer in some way."
Seattle Public Utilities says most of the 360 million disposable bags used in the city each year are plastic. Nearly 75 percent of those come from grocery, drug and convenience stores, officials said. And most of them end up in landfills.
But paper bags are even worse for the environment, once you factor in the tolls of logging and shipping the bags, Seattle officials said. That is why the fee would apply to both, they said.
Seattle Public Utilities projected the fees would generate about $10 million a year. About $2 million of that would go to promoting the use of reusable bags, including a program to distribute free reusable bags to low income families and the elderly. The rest would be used for recycling, environmental education and waste prevention programs, the mayor's office said.
The fee approach is meant to encourage use of re-usable bags, rather than sending customers to paper bags or leaving stores with few options when customers show up at the till with a stack of purchase and no way to carry them.
"The high point in the program is that the city has taken the position that just banning the plastic bags isn't the best environmental answer," Gilliam said. "We're kind of encouraged by that."
"I'm not sure this package is perfect in every way," Gilliam said. "I think there's some holes in it (such as) some opportunities to do some more education and encouraging of recycling."
Still, "as a first cut, we remain optimistic about it," he said. "We haven't seen all the full details. But from what we see there are some good opportunities in the plan."
Seattle could ban foam food boxes
By ANGELA GALLOWAY
P-I REPORTER
Seattle would ban foam food containers and impose a 20-cent fee on both paper and plastic grocery bags under a first-of-its kind proposal announced Wednesday morning.
Restaurants would later be prohibited from using plastic containers unless they can be recycled or composted, under the plan to be unveiled by City Council President Richard Conlin and Mayor Greg Nickels.
The "green fee" would apply to disposable bags distributed at grocery, convenience and drug stores. The polystyrene foam ban would outlaw items such as plates, trays, "clamshells," cups, meat trays and egg cartons at stores and restaurants.
If adopted by the council, the foam and bag rules would go into effect January 1. The restrictions on plastics at restaurants would be implemented one year later.
"It's a big symbolic step, but it's also a very concerted step in the right direction because we're talking about an incredible number of bags," Conlin said. Seattle stores hand out about 360 million disposable bags a year, according to Seattle Public Utilities.
A lobbyist for Washington retailers said he would withhold judgment on the plan until he had a chance to run it by members of his groups, and to take a look at the results of polling conducted by the city.
"I'm mostly concerned about what the consumers are going to say, are they going to be supportive?" said Mark Johnson, vice president of government affairs for the Washington Retail Association. "If the consumer says, 'I'm not excited about paying 20 cents per bag when I go shopping,' that is probably going to be an issue for us. If they're saying, 'No big deal,' it might not be an issue."
San Francisco prohibited supermarkets from using plastic bags in December, and plans to impose a ban on pharmacies soon. Ireland imposed a fee on plastic bags in 2002. And more than 20 cities have banned polystyrene foam packaging at restaurants and other business, including San Francisco.
Seattle officials considered banning disposable bags altogether, Conlin said. "The problem with a ban is that all it does is leave people without a choice," Conlin said. "And the alternative was to go with a ban just on plastic bags, but our data indicates that paper bags have serious environment consequences as well."
The fee is a better approach, agreed Mark Westlund, spokesman for the San Francisco environmental department. "If you're trying to reduce bags, that's the way to go," Westlund said. San Francisco officials considered such a fee, but the legislature then prohibited them under California law, he said.
For every 20-cent fee collected by Seattle, most stores would be allowed to retain five cents for administrative costs and taxes. (The fee itself would be subject to the state sales tax.) Small stores -- those collecting less than $1 million in gross revenues each year -- would be allowed to keep the full 20 cents.
"We've got something that we think is pretty much a win for everybody (and) a wash for the merchants," Conlin said. "We don't think it's going to be an inconvenience for them and for the consumer it gives them the opportunity not to pay a fee at all."
Stores would be required to explicitly include the fee on customer receipts.
"They want it to be a transparent cost," said Joe Gilliam, president of the Northwest Grocery Association. "They want the consumer to say, 'Oh, I'm paying more to use the bag, therefore, I might make a change to a reusable bag."
Gilliam said his group does not yet know if stores' share of the fee would fully cover their administrative costs.
"It's hard for me to say if that's a good number," he said in an interview Tuesday. "If it does cost us more than five cents we're going to have to pass it along to the consumer in some way."
Seattle Public Utilities says most of the 360 million disposable bags used in the city each year are plastic. Nearly 75 percent of those come from grocery, drug and convenience stores, officials said. And most of them end up in landfills.
But paper bags are even worse for the environment, once you factor in the tolls of logging and shipping the bags, Seattle officials said. That is why the fee would apply to both, they said.
Seattle Public Utilities projected the fees would generate about $10 million a year. About $2 million of that would go to promoting the use of reusable bags, including a program to distribute free reusable bags to low income families and the elderly. The rest would be used for recycling, environmental education and waste prevention programs, the mayor's office said.
The fee approach is meant to encourage use of re-usable bags, rather than sending customers to paper bags or leaving stores with few options when customers show up at the till with a stack of purchase and no way to carry them.
"The high point in the program is that the city has taken the position that just banning the plastic bags isn't the best environmental answer," Gilliam said. "We're kind of encouraged by that."
"I'm not sure this package is perfect in every way," Gilliam said. "I think there's some holes in it (such as) some opportunities to do some more education and encouraging of recycling."
Still, "as a first cut, we remain optimistic about it," he said. "We haven't seen all the full details. But from what we see there are some good opportunities in the plan."