Let’s Talk
Plastic
Free plastic bags are too expensive
United States uses 100 billion plastic bags per year:
= 12 million barrels of petroleum or 504 million gallons
= $4 billion/year cost passed onto consumers
• 13 bags = petroleum to drive 1 mile
• Plastic bags take 400 – 1,000 years to biodegrade
• Less than 10% of plastic bags are recycled
Wildlife and the Environment
• An estimated 100,000 marine mammals and up to 1 million sea
birds die every year after ingesting or being tangled in
plastic marine litter.
• Plastic bags travel: they float easily in the air and water.
• They have been found on the bottom of the ocean and the top
of Mt. Everest
• They are litter; clogging waterways and sewers
• They contaminate compost and hinder recycling efforts
½ Days Litter Without Even Looking
What about paper bags?
Customers are rarely asked “Paper or Plastic”
anymore because paper is no better:
• High energy from production,
use, and disposal as well as:
• High water, atmospheric emissions
• High cost and solid waste
Paper uses 14 million trees annually
Paper must be turned to pulp when recycled, creating cardboard, not
more paper bags
Paper doesn’t break down completely in landfills without light and
oxygen
Neither is Better!
Steamboat’s Green Bag History
• 1990: local activists and YVR produced 300 reusable bags
• 2008 – local activists approached YVR to energize bag program
• 2008 – 2011: Routt County Commissioners granted YVR “seed” money for a self
sustaining revolving fund to purchase and sell reusable shopping bags:
• To date, approx 8,000 bags sold at cost
o Local small retailers
o Promotions at large retailers, including:
 Thanksgiving “Put Your Turkey in a Bag”
 Christmas “Bag Your Gifts”
 Start your New Year with a Green Bag
 Saint Patrick Day Green Bags
• 2009 Colorado Association of Ski Towns Bag Challenge
o Steamboat finished 6th in per capita savings & 3rd in total bags saved
o Steamboat shoppers used 169,285 reusable bags from March – August,
2009
• “Bagit” Movie – March, 2011
o 135 attendees asked YVR to bring the discussion to the next level
Success in Other Communities around the World
World Wide Bag Bans:
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1999 Corsica in large stores – first island
2002 Bangladesh all polyethylene bags – first large country
2003 Taiwan plastic plates, cups, cutlery
2003 Himachal Pradesh India manufacture, sale, and use of all plastic bags
2003 South Africa – all think plastic bags, retailers not in compliance fined $13,000US
2003 Rwanda – all polythene products
2004 Papa New Guinea all plastic bags, retailers not in compliance face jail time
2005 Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Goa, Keral and Karmatak States of India
2006 Tanzania all plastic bags
2007 Taiwan all plastic bags
2007 Kenya and Uganda all plastic bags
2008 China all plastic bags – production, sale and use of bags under .025mm thick
2008 Buenos Aires all plastic bags, must be biodegradable by 2010
2009 South Australia all plastic bags
2009 Bolivia all plastic bags
2010 France all non biodegradable bags at all shops
2010 Sioux Lookout, Ontario all plastic bags
2010 Wood Buffalo, Alberta all single use bags
2010 Manitoba all single use bags
2010 Thompson Canada plastic bags
2011 Italy all non biodegradable bags at all shops
2011 Northern Territory Australia all plastic bags
2011 New South Wales all plastic bags
Success at Home
US cities Bag Bans:
2007 San Francisco first US city - all plastic bags
2008 Manhattan Beach CA – all plastic bags
2008 Malibu City CA – all plastic bags, fine up to $1000
2009 North Carolina barrier islands plastic bags
2009 Edmonds WA – all plastic bags
2009 Kaua’i and Maui HI – all plastic bags
2010 Los Angeles – all single use plastic bags, replacing
a 10c tax
2011 Long Beach CA – plastic bags
2011 Calabasas CA – plastic bags
2011 Santa Monica CA – plastic bags
2011 Santa Clara CA – plastic bags
2011 Portland Oregon – all plastic bags in stores larger
than 10,000 sq ft
2011 Maui HI – all plastic bags
2011 Telluride CO – all plastic bags townwide within town
limits
2011 Westport CT – all plastic bags
2011 Brownville TX – all plastic bags
Countries and Cities with Green Fees
2002 Ireland
2007 Belgium
2008 Israel
2010 Washington DC
2010 Mexico City
2010 Telluride CO
2011 Wales
2011 Bulgaria
2011 Brownsville TX
2011 Aspen CO
2011 Basalt CO
Best Case Study: Ireland
In 2002 Ireland began
charging 28cents US for
plastic and paper bags.
This green fee reduced non
reusable bag usage by 95%.
Now nearly everyone in
Ireland supports their
community and proudly
carries a reusable bag.
The Green Fee is NOT a “Tax”
Green Fee
• Designed to educate
• Reduces the use of
disposable bags
• Similar to Use Fees like:
o Fish Creek Falls parking
fee
o Routt County Landfill
tipping fee
o Disposal fees for tires,
car batteries, and motor
oil
Tax
• Effects everyone
regardless of use
• Is harder to modify
• Less choice/options
Carrots are good for you, but they
don’t reduce plastic bag use
As studies have shown, City Market and
Safeway also found that their reusable bag
credits proved ineffective.
What is effective:
• Any fee placed on the bags must be large
enough to influence consumer choices,
while remaining politically acceptable. (ICF
2010)
• Education, though not sufficient by itself, is
a necessary component of any economic
instrument aimed to reduce bag
Consumption (Herrera 2008).
• Fees that are directly passed onto
consumers have been effective at altering
behavior (Herrera et al 2008 – 133).
Carrot or a Stick?
Colorado Mountain Towns
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Telluride
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Aspen
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August, 2011, passed first reading for 20
cents per bag fee on all non reusable bags
at grocers
Basalt
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October, 2010 banned plastic bags + 10
cents per bag fee on “permitted paper bags”
August, 2011, passed first reading for 20
cents per bag fee on all non reusable bags
at grocers
Carbondale
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September 2011, first reading is scheduled
on ordinance for 20 cents per bag fee on all
non reusable bags at grocers
Colorado Mountain Towns’ # 1 Goal:
Support environment & reduce plastic
But, what about funds generated?
• Aspen’s program funds local environmental
programs including:
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Programs and infrastructure to reduce waste and to recycle
Community cleanup events
Education and public website
Reusable bags to residents and visitors
Administer bag program, including 5% retained by stores,
with a maximum of $100 monthly, $1,200 annually and $25
monthly thereafter
The Steamboat Way:
Focus on community
Our environment is important to our locals, visitors and economy.
We ski, hike, bike and shop green!
How can we reduce plastic in our environment?
Bans aren’t “Steamboat Friendly”
Recognize the value of regional programs, and “Steamboatize” this idea
Solutions/Suggestions
Think Global - Act Local
• Begin with a “trial program” which can be reviewed modified, and managed
• Consider starting with all non reusable shopping bags at large, high use
stores that sell groceries - focus on the goal of reducing plastic use
• The stores have and will continue to be our “bag partners,” have
participating stores retain 1-2c/bag without a maximum
• Let other stores opt in, at their discretion
• Any proposed fee should be meaningful towards reducing non reusable
bag use: consider keeping it on par with regional discussions at 20c
• The goal is to reduce plastic; but, what about the funds?
o Keep it similar to Routt County’s tipping fee, with funds targeted toward
waste reduction, recycling and other environmental programs
o A “bag program” to purchase bags for low income residents and to offer
reusable bags at a discount
o Public information and store signage are also possibilities for a “bag
program”
• Continue current “green bag”, recycling and zero waste efforts
Keep our Mountains Green and
thank you for talking plastic!