FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS APPLAUD CITY FOR ENACTING POLYSTYRENE BAN AND BAG FEE
Seattle and its citizens say no to “paper vs. plastic” and goodbye to foam food containers
Environmental advocates today applaud Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and City Council Chair Richard Conlin for leadership in addressing sustainability and plastics in our urban environment. Today the City is announcing proposed legislation to ban polystyrene food containers by January 1, 2009 with a required replacement of compostable alternatives by July 1, 2010. The city will also put forward a 20 cent “green fee” for disposable plastic and paper bags at grocery, drug, and convenience stores by January 1, 2009.
Seattle would be the first city in the nation to adopt legislation that applies a fee to disposable bag use. Revenue generated by the fee would be used for education and outreach about recycling and waste reduction, including free cloth bags in the first year. Seattle would also be the first to require the use of “compostable–only” alternatives to polystyrene food containers, which would be phased in July 1, 2010.
Foam-Free Seattle, a grassroots citizens’ group formed to advocate for plastics reduction in Seattle, began working on this effort in the fall of 2006.
“We saw other cities around the country enacting polystyrene bans and we wanted to see our own city step up to the plate,” said Ellie Rose of Foam-Free Seattle. “We are seeing immense public support for a polystyrene food container ban here in Seattle.”
BYOB (“Bring Your Own Bag”) is another citizen grassroots group devoted to reducing excessive consumption and moving beyond the old question, “paper or plastic”, since both types of disposable bags carry heavy environmental costs. They found that Seattleites use over 800,000 bags a day and have been working with the city to transform this wasteful part of shopping.
The bag fee will help to remind consumers of the hidden environmental costs behind everyday actions. BYOB’s Dan Lundquist says, “we commend the city for taking action towards the immensely wasteful practice of disposable bags. It is the right thing to do. Our unborn children are praising us greatly.”
Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, instead they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. These pieces blow around on our beaches and end up in our creeks, in Puget Sound and out into the Pacific Ocean where they accumulate in a plastic soup in the middle of the huge North Pacific Gyre.
The Algalita Marine Research Foundation has found that 25% of the plastics in the Gyre are small pieces of film from broken down plastic bags and that an unknown component are the chained polymers that came from products such as foam food containers.
Becky Stanley of the Sierra Club says, “This is another way to address our fossil fuel dependency. It doesn't make sense that we are wastefully putting oil into landfills in the form of plastic bags and Styrofoam.” She continues, “I walk around Lake Washington and am constantly picking up Styrofoam and plastic bags and there are always more the next day.”
Concerns about plastics also include human health. Consumers sometimes misuse foam food containers by microwaving take-home food.
"Consumers are ready to move towards safer and more sustainable alternatives,” says Blair Anundson, WashPIRG Program Associate. “We appreciate that the city has thoroughly considered how to make this work.”
“Lowering our use of foam food containers and disposable bags will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, cradle to grave,” adds Environment Washington Program Director Bill LeBorde. “These policies will provide a model which cities from around the country can follow to clean up their own communities and reduce their own impact on the climate.”
Seattle's proposed new green fee on disposable bags and ban on polystyrene clearly demonstrates the city’s determination to take action on issues of sustainability and climate change.
Contacts:
Dan Lundquist, BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag), (206) 234-9347 cell
Sarah Nason, Foam-Free Seattle, (206) 819-5544 cell
Heather Trim, People For Puget Sound, (206) 351-2898 cell
Jess Tweedy, Foam-Free Seattle, (206) 819-0824 cell
Blair Anundson, WashPIRG, (206) 819-0826 cell
Bill LaBorde, Environment WA (206) 484-8662 cell
Becky Stanley, Sierra Club, (206) 790-2122 cell
For more information: www.foamfreeseattle.org
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