Statement

Palo Alto, CA, Rejects Partnership to Increase Recycling, Outlaws Plastic Bags

ARLINGTON, VA (March 16, 2009) – In a disappointing decision Monday, Palo Alto City Council moved to reject the statewide effort to recycle plastic bags. The City Council’s action will mean many fewer places will be available for those in Palo Alto to bring their plastic bags, dry cleaning bags, plastic newspaper bags, and numerous other plastic wraps for recycling.

The City Council’s vote to ban plastic bags takes a huge step backward in California’s and nationwide efforts to increase plastic recycling. We need to make it easier to recycle plastic bags, not harder, and one of the easiest and most convenient ways to do this is to recycle plastic bags at the grocery store. The City’s action potentially creates a crater in statewide recycling efforts because grocery stores otherwise required by state law to offer recycling will no longer be required do so. 

Worst of all, this step backward harms our environment. San Francisco’s experiment with a plastic bag ban led most shoppers to switch to paper bags. At a time when energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are of paramount concern, this switch is detrimental—plastic grocery bags require 70 percent less energy to manufacture and produce 50 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than paper. 

In addition, the City of San Francisco’s own litter audit shows that litter has not decreased in San Francisco, which was one of the stated purposes of the city’s ban.

It’s time to support a smart approach to litter and recycling that will actually work. We invite the mayor and council members to throw their support behind a state bill (AB 1141) that would create a new revenue stream to fund state and local efforts to prevent litter, reduce waste and recycle plastic bags. These funds would come directly from the plastic bag makers themselves.

AB 1141 also would set a goal of reducing single use bag waste by 50 percent in five years. And it would require recycled content in plastic shopping bags used across the state.

Instead of fighting each other, let’s all pull together to reduce waste, stop litter and expand recycling. We hope the Palo Alto City Council will reconsider and accept our offer to help increase recycling of a wide range of plastic bags and product wraps.

About the Progressive Bag Affiliates
The Progressive Bag Affiliates of the American Chemistry Council promote the responsible use and recycling of plastic bags. The PBA recycling toolkit is being used by retailers around the nation as a reference for determining the best ways to deploy effective recycling solutions in stores.  For more information, please visit www.plasticbagrecycling.org.