Bagless in Brownsville

WOW! Texas leaves California in the dust...along with all of the discarded plastic shipping bags accumulating and swirling around there in that dust heap of a state!

Brownsville, TX has banned single-use plastic shopping bags...AND...will charge shoppers a one dollar fee if they forget to bring bags and have to use plastic. Yo no comprendo how a shopper can be charged for being issued a plastic bag if there is a bag ban in effect, but they've got it all figured out there in B-ville and the whole shebang goes into effect in January 2011. OOOWweeeee-dawggies!

See the news video and/or read the story here - and note that they refer to Brownsville as the "first city in the [Rio Grande] valley to ban plastic bags" - which, to my hopeful mind translates to, "and the rest will soon follow!".

Imagine that, progressive, sad, old California digging out from under the blizzard of plastics industry lobby money, wondering what just happened to AB 1998, while Texas is KICKING A** and TAKING INITIALS (they don't have time for names, duuude - they're busy saving the planet!!)!!

As the saying goes, DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS!

Banksy on Bags

This one is a couple of years old, but worth a replay, considering the new film (Exit Through the Gift Shop) about secretive street artist Banksy, opening in US theaters this week.

Using the image of a ubiquitous plastic shopping bag, this unauthorized London neighborhood "installation" has come to be called "In Tesco We Trust"...and has since likely been obliterated... :( ...even though his impromptu and uninvited paintings instantly add considerable value to the target buildings...

According to a UK blogger, Tesco is "the UK equivalent of Wal-Mart, a dirt-cheap, mega chain supermarket that has taken over the British landscape and pushed out Mom & Pop shops wherever it opens. Tesco also recently expanded into the U.S. West Coast, opening a chain of convenience stores called Fresh & Easy.". Just so ya know...

Here is an article about the art piece, with a mention of a UK retail chain, self-imposing a bag fee.

Cheerio!

Tales From The Dark Side

Internet searches have been verrrry fruitful lately:

This article in a plastics industry web-zine gives us some nice info about polystyrene (“PS”) and plastic bag bans in California. Lotsa nice info in the short article – like, did you know that in Santa Cruz, California, their county supervisors are going forward with a recent recommendation of their own Public Works Department to ban plastic bags outright – AND to levy a 10-cent fee on paper bags that would jump to 25 cents by next year. Nice!

This article from the same plastics industry online tome describes the international plastic bag trade war going on in The Industry – Granny Git Yer Gun, The Commies Are Coming! Apparently the foreigners' bags are being dumped (no pun intended) on our economy. That ain't right - American Companies are the only ones with the proper right to trash America!! :(

While checking on some of the bag manufacturers listed in the trade war article, I went to one of their websites that has a link-button labeled, “The Truth About Plastic Bags” – I couldn’t help it – I CLICKED IT! It took me to a blank page (natch…) – but, I was using the new Google Chrome browser tho, so I found a dusty version of Microsoft’s IE, dropped in the link and found out where they keep all of the truths about plastic bags!

At the TTAPB website you can take a “Plastic Bag IQ Survey” (om*g?), in which you are asked such questions as:

=> Plastic Bags are the most common form of litter YES/NO (answer: NO, it’s cigarette butts)
=> Plastic Bags are the most common form of marine debris YES/NO (I see where this is going…)
=> Plastic bags are toxic YES/NO: ([my] answer: Eat one yourself and find out.)

And this doozy:
=> How did you reach a conclusion that plastic bags are toxic or not? It doesn’t list “I died by eating one” as a choice, but it does give you the option of choosing “Know someone that died from plastic poisoning”. I wonder how often that option is selected...? ;)

I guess the BIG LESSON here is that you shouldn’t delete your old copy of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer from your computer – you just may need it someday to visit limited-capability retro websites to have your IQ “surveyed”.

Have a good 'un!

DC Bag Fee Update: January Numbers

Here are the numbers for January 2010, the first month of the fee implementation:

> -86%: Plastic and paper bag dispensing DOWN (22M bags/month prior to fee, 3M after fee). 86%!!!

> +$150,000: Raised for Anacostia River Cleanup Fund conservation raised in the month of January. Projected $10M (million!) over four years.

> 45-60%: Local “acceptance” of the concept and value of the fee.

Read the other details in the Washington Post article. WOOT!

DC Bag Fee User Experience

Alan Honadle, a California boy (former Surfrider San Diego chairman as well) is currently working in Washington, DC and filed this report from his local drug store there:

"The Scenario:

San Diego Surfrider member Alan Honadle, presently freezing his tuckus off on a three month work stint in our nation's fine capital, shuffled up to the counter of his neighborhood business district CVS yesterday morning. In hand he clutched some vitamin D milk for his milkless java, which was sitting sad, cold, and alone on his office desk. The nice lady behind the counter then informed him of the new 5 cent fee on all plastic and paper bags in the city.

"If you wanna bag, we gotta charge you five cents now," the CVS lady hesitantly explained.

"REALLY!?!", Alan shouted back, half surprised but with a grin that grew larger by every passing second.

"DUDE!........SaWEET!", Alan's synapses finally starting to fire.

"Saweet"? The CVS lady softly repeated back. She wasn't expecting that response.

"Ya man....less plastic, right?" Alan offered up.

"Ohhhhh.....ya, that's right.", the lady said as she started to come to life herself.

"Ya, that green thing.", she went on. "Ya, i guess we're really doing this." Then, after a bit of a pause, "it feels pretty good too, actually."

Alan tried to jump in too fast, as he always seems to do in conversations. But he had no shot this time. The CVS lady was rolling now, taking back control of the counter.

"And, if you buy this green reusable bag over here for one dollar", placing the bag in front of one delighted Alan, "every fourth time you use it in our stores, you get one dollar off your purchase."

"OK", Alan proclaimed, with an instant kangaroo bounce in his step. "You have a really great day Latosha!"

"It's Latisha."

"Oh, I'm sorry Latisha." Alan replied sincerely and with apology.

"Not to worry", Latisha said, as clear and warm as a bright sunny day. "You have a fine day too....By the way, what's your name?"

"Alan", Alan replied, feeling quickly overcome with joy and happiness that can only come from a personal exchange as pure as the one that just transpired.

"Cheers", he said while exiting.


But then, while walking back to work, and with more time to think about what had actually just happened, it dawned on him the REAL reason for his bursting joy and happiness.....

He stopped, dead in his tracks, and realized in a moment of clarity, that a few really cool people can actually make a huge difference. People like Julie Lawson and the Washington DC Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.

The End....

Congratulations DC on your Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Act of 2009! Your Redskins may bight serious cheese [Disclaimer: this is not the official Surfrider position. ;) ], but your 5 cent bag fee REALLY made my Monday morning (and the morning of a whole lot more people who actually know what's good for us all)!

Surfrider was and is simply the vehicle. Your passion and determination provided the victory for a cleaner city, local waterways, and beaches. Let us all replicate and turn our noses with confidence to those that think a bag fee isn't a positive step forward. National and State laws are great, but here's to you not sitting around waiting for that to happen.

Stand Proud, Enjoy your Moment, and keep fighting!"

DC Bag Fee Report – Great Tips for Other Cities!

Officially referred to as “Skip the Bag, Save the River”, Washington DC’s bag “ban” – actually a $0.05 fee per shopping bag…paper OR plastic – went into effect one month ago and Julie Lawson, the DC "Capital" Surfrider Chapter Chair provided this recent update:

“…news stories have been covering the results. Most of the articles have a negative slant ("oh, what a hassle this is! oh, how confusing!") but they also readily report that it's working. Working beyond any of our expectations.

In only three weeks of the five-cent fee, demand for bags at grocery stores dropped 50-60 percent!

Reports from our members indicate that most cashiers have been well trained--and if that's not the case, members have been educating them. ;) Personally I have yet to pay the fee since I always have several cloth bags on me, but I've been pleased to hear cashiers ask "Do you need a bag?" before every transaction, rather than just bagging automatically. Signs about it are posted everywhere, and I definitely see more people carrying reusable bags than plastic. Public opinion on blogs and community sites has definitely turned in support. We're monitoring the implementation process and look forward to seeing the receipts from the businesses hopefully around the end of the month.”

The bottom line is that a simple, minuscule charge for any bag can hopscotch the EIR lawsuits that California is dealing with, AND initiate a wholesale (no pun) change in shopper actions. NICE ONE JULIE AND DC!!

Following are a few links about the DC effort’s progress – lots of good info on what works and where the friction may manifest itself upon taking an action like this – great for planning your own action:

1) The official Washington DC government “Skip the Bag, Save the River” bag fee site, explaining the particulars of the fee and where the money goes.

2) Washington Post article detailing the new phenomenon of “parking lot jugglers”!

3) Wall Street Journal article listing fringe business gripes about just which establishments should be charging the fee. These kinds of early adjustments can be expected for any type of positive change like this. Processes will change to adapt and all will be well...aahhhhhh... :)

4) Finally, even our gravy-slurpin’ politicians are finding merit in the ban, by trying to suck more money (can you say: $25/”free” bag) out of the electorate!


GO TEAM GO!