9/26/08 Weekly Report: The Three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The following article entitled It’s time for All of Us to Get Involved is from the online newsletter Use Less Stuff, by editor Robert Lilienfeld.

As concerns over global ecological degradation increase, Americans are looking to take action to protect their local environments. One community, San Francisco, and one retailer, Whole Foods, have decided to reduce perceived environmental impacts by banning or eliminating plastic bags in favor of paper ones.

Unfortunately, these actions will not eliminate the problems they are intended to solve. Even more concerning is the fact they may actually exacerbate them.

The Big Misconceptions

These decisions suffer from two widespread, but erroneous, beliefs about the environmental effects of grocery bags.

The first misconception has to do with facts. Major issues facing the global environment include climate change, pollution and resource depletion. The truth is that when it comes to the causes of these problems – energy consumption and greenhouse gas generation, waste creation and resource usage – scientific evidence points to plastic bags as being environmentally preferable to paper ones. (See Review of Research Comparing the Environmental Impact of Paper vs. Plastic Bags at www.use-less-stuff.com ).

This evidence is part of the scientific approach known as lifecycle analysis, which determines the full impact of different materials or products across every phase of their life cycle. Sometimes the results can be surprising.

For example, plastic bags are often cited as being the source of energy depletion because they are made of fossil fuels. Ironically, full impact assessments indicate that plastic bags consume far less energy than do paper bags during the life-cycle of production, transportation, use and disposal.

The second misconception has to do with focus. Placing so much emphasis on grocery bags takes public attention away from the real culprits behind our global environmental woes: increasing worldwide material and energy consumption caused by growing populations and economies.

In fact, research indicates that up to 99% of environmental burdens created by retail purchases are not caused by shopping bags, but rather by the stuff put in those bags and the energy it takes to create, transport and store that stuff.

We all need to get involved

By concentrating “green” efforts on paper vs. plastic bags and expecting government and business to take appropriate actions, the public is led to believe that environmental problems are being solved without the need to become significantly involved. Such complacency is dangerous, as it inadvertently relieves individuals of the responsibility to reduce their own consumption of materials and energy.

On the local level, however, there is a problem in which plastic bags play a role: litter. Their widespread use and light weight do cause them to blow around roadways and waterways, creating unsightly litter and pollution potential.

Let me speak directly to the plastic bag industry: You have developed a program to encourage greater recycling. If, as you say, plastic bags are too valuable to waste, get that message out broadly and make recycling more accessible to the public. Collaborate with local authorities and businesses to ensure that recycling is effective in areas where it is legislated. Work with retailers and local governments to share your knowledge of recycling best practices. Help them educate consumers about available in-store recycling programs. Motivate the public to participate in these programs.

Reuse, Recycle, Reduce Litter

As you learn, create and share model recycling programs, awareness campaigns and legislation that can be successfully implemented. In so doing, plastic bag litter and the temptation to pursue plastic bag bans will diminish, while the collection and recycling of those valuable bags will increase – just as it has for newspapers, metal cans and beverage containers.

The bottom line

Banning bags of any type will not produce the intended result and will take our eyes off truly significant environmental problems related to resource consumption and depletion. To conserve energy and reduce waste, politicians, producers and retailers must base their environmental decisions on sound science and lifecycle thinking rather than on ideological arguments.

Consumers have a major role to play, by remembering to implement the three R’s: reduce by doing more with less stuff, fewer bags and fewer trips to the store; reuse bags as many times as possible; and after the useful lives of your bags have ended, recycle them.

It’s time for all of us – individuals, institutions and industry – to take responsibility for making it happen.

For more information on Hawai`i County’s recycling efforts, call the Recycling Division of the Department of Environmental Management at 961-8549 or 961-8527.

Location of Project	Council District	Work being done
Ka`auhuhu Transfer Station	9	Earthquake repairs, in progress
Kalapana Transfer Station	5	Fence repair, contract awarded