Hold The Carbon

Colorado was debating some of the most far-reaching and progressive anti-plastic laws in the country.  A bill would have created an outright ban of the product for use by large retailers by 2012.  The plastic bag lobby didn’t like this legislation one bit and did everything they could to stop it.  They succeeded.

By making the argument that a ban on plastic would shift consumers over exclusively to paper bags, there would be no gain for the environment, according to those against the bill.  While it is correct that it takes four times as much energy to create a paper bag than a plastic bag, the elected officials failed to grasp consumer shifts towards reusable bags made out of PET, canvas, cotton or jute.  But the plastic bag lobby kept leaders focused squarely on the paper issue and used that as leverage to defeat the bill. ”

According to the Associated Press, “Colorado shoppers will be able to keep using plastic grocery bags after lawmakers balked at what would have been the nation’s first statewide ban on the synthetic sacks. A state Senate bill banning the use of plastic bags by large retailers by 2012 was defeated Tuesday after a handful of Democrats joined with Republicans in voting against it. Critics argued that the ban would inevitably lead to increased use of paper bags, which they argued take more energy to produce and take up more room in landfills than cheaper, lighter plastic bags. Bill sponsor Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, said no other states have passed such bans yet and thinks Colorado lawmakers were wary of being the first. She said many were also contacted by constituents who didn’t want to have to give up their bags.”

The bill was pushed by college students, eager to help shift consumers to reusable bags.  They have vowed to be back next year to pick up the fight once again.  Perhaps by then more elected officials will be educated on this issue and not fall prey to the misinformation and distortions of the plastic bag lobby.

If you want to learn more about reusable products check out our main website at http://www.htcbag.com.

In the second half of 2008 we were really making progress on reducing plastic bags around the country.  Cities and municipalities had taken strong steps to introduce legislation which would impose a fee or tax on plastic bag usage.  Some even went as far as to ban them in stores.  This, obviously, was a threat to the plastic bag lobby.  If these bills went through, they would need to find a new line of work and certainly with jobs being scarce its better for them to hold onto their day jobs. 

One of the most aggressive efforts to curb plastic bag usage was undertaken by Seattle, where a 20-cent user fee was to be imposed.  Then, the plastic bag lobby stepped in and created a petition drive to stop the legislation.  They succeeded in having the issue put to the voters in August of 2009.  While we have great faith in the people of Seattle, the lobby won’t go down without a long drag out fight. 

Many legislators are arguing that now is not the time to impose such a fee because of the economy.  In reality, the inverse is true.  Now is the best time for such a fee to be imposed.  If you are a store owner, this fee will not hurt business, in fact, it will help business.  If you switch to reusable bags (which can be sold for $.99), business owners can add a new revenue stream to their business.  Plastic and paper bags are a cost center - but reusable products are a profit center.  Isn’t now a great time for businesses to find new ways to add revenue to their balance sheets, while at the same time helping the environment? 

For consumers we have become greedy.  Banks were leveraged 47x, consumers were living off credit cards, in short we were a culture of excess.  Plastic bags are part of that culture.  Now is the time to deviate from that and start anew.  By switching consumers to reusables, we can end the systemic waste that is part of the plastic bag culture - more, more, more - without consideration for the consequences.  Just like with our economy, there are ramifications for our actions and now is the time to change course. 

Today’s New York Times has an article about the efforts of the plastic bag lobby to halt the migration of consumers and governments towards policies that diminish plastic bags.  The Times is reporting, “Stephen L. Joseph, a lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area, is working with several plastic-bag makers and runs the Web site savetheplasticbag.com. Mr. Joseph has filed lawsuits in an effort to stop bans and fees proposed in California by Manhattan Beach and Los Angeles County.  In the Manhattan Beach case, a Superior Court judge ruled on Friday in favor of bag makers, saying the city should have determined whether a ban on plastic bags would have caused environmental damage by increasing the use of paper bags.”

It looks like this is going to be a long fight to get plastics removed from our stores and to fully integrate reusable products in their place.  Ultimately it will be worth the effort, but it is going to take a lot time, energy and effort.  The plastic bag lobby is fully funded and ready to unleash a strong PR campaign in every single market where plastics are challenged.  But they can be defeated. 

So my question is, whose in?

Yes, that’s right, plastic is being celebrated this week by an organization called “Plastindia.”  Rather ironic isn’t it when you consider that New Delhi passed the world’s strongest anti-plastic law recently (too strong actually since it sends people to jail who are caught with a plastic bag).

The New York Times has an insightful article in Wednesday’s edition. The Times reports, “Just last month New Delhi passed a preliminary ban imposing a five-year jail term or a 100,000-rupee fine, about $2,055, on anyone caught carrying or handing out plastic bags. That did not stop 67,000 plastics professionals from convening here last week for Plastindia 2009, a five-day celebration of all things plastic. The trade show was billed as the second-largest plastics convention in the world. (The first, K Fair, is in Germany.)…And whenever they could, they complained about what they considered the unfair prejudice against the plastic bag. ‘Politicians have gone overboard,’ said Arvind M. Mehta, president of the Plastindia Foundation, the trade group sponsoring the conference. ‘Our industry is facing a problem and we have to fight.’ Seated in a makeshift office of four plastic walls behind a faux-wood plastic desk at the convention, Mr. Mehta repeated a line similar to one used by pro-gun groups in the United States: it is not the plastic bag that causes the problems, he said, it is the person who uses it.”

Does it really help your case when you take the talking points of the NRA and put them into action to defend plastic?  Probably not.

Although when you start to put the gun lobby and the plastic lobby in the same boat, perhaps that is a sign of progress and a sign that people are ready to move on from plastic consumption.

Our very first product, the X Bag is now on sale in NYC. It took 7 months and plenty of trial and error to get to this point, but finally consumers can now purchase our eco-friendly bag.

On Saturday we delivered the X Bag to Green Market vendors in Union Square. We decided to start small and allocated 100 to vendors. To our delight, within 20 minutes the bags were already gone - in the hands of consumers.

We continued to distribute bags on Sunday to vendors on the Upper West Side and Chelsea. Each location reported back to us later that the bag was a big hit.

Earlier today two stores started carrying the bag, one in midtown and other in Chelsea. This is just the very begininng but its exciting to see the bag take off.

You can learn more about our X Bag at http://www.htcbag.com

Carry around a plastic bag in Delhi and you have a serious serious problem.  Officials there mean business when it comes to banning plastic bags.  What’s the punishment if caught and convicted of carrying a plastic shopping bag?  5 years in prision.  That’s not a typo.  5 years.

Certainly at Hold the Carbon we are proponents of laws that encourage people to switch from plastic bags to reusable ones.  However, the punitive component of this law seems unduly harsh.  Governments need to be aggressive in reducing consumer use of plastic bags, but placing people in jail for it is the wrong way to tackle the problem.

The age.com is reporting, “The global battle against plastic has taken a draconian turn with officials in Delhi announcing that the penalty for carrying a polythene shopping bag would be five years in prison.

Officials in India’s capital have decided that the only way to stem the rising tide of rubbish is to outlaw the plastic shopping bag. According to the official note on Friday, the “use, storage and sale” of plastic bags of any kind or thickness will be banned.

The new guideline means that customers, shopkeepers, hoteliers and hospital staff face a 100,000 rupee ($A3000) fine and possible jail time for using non-biodegradable bags.

Delhi has been steadily filling up with plastic bags in recent years as the economy has boomed and Western-style shopping malls have sprung up in the city.

There are no reliable figures on bag use, but environmentalists say more than 10 million are used in the capital every day.

Not only are the streets littered with them, but polythene takes hundreds of years to decompose and increases demand for oil, which is used to make plastics.

To begin with, the ban will be lightly enforced, giving people time to switch to jute, cotton, recycled-paper and compostable bags. Officials said it would be up to the courts to decide on how harsh a sentence an offender might face — and refused to comment on the chances of shoppers going to jail.”

In Delhi a new ban on plastic bags just went into effect.  Violate it and you risk not only a fine, but jail time.  India, it seems, has gotten very serious when it comes to reducing the amount of plastic bags used by its people.

The Times of India reports, “If you are still carrying groceries or vegetables from the market in plastic bags or using them to dispose of your garbage, you run the risk of a jail term or fine, or both. An indulgent official machinery may give you time to find alternatives but the ban on the bag was put in place last Saturday and it covers all shopping areas and big eating joints, hotels and hospitals.

The notification is silent on the earlier rider that bags with thickness of 40 microns and more will be allowed. Since it’s difficult to measure the thickness on the spot, the government wants to discourage the use of bags completely and hence the complete ban.

Since the gazette notification is yet to be published — it’s expected early next week — the ban is yet to sink in. The environment department says the gazette notification will be pre-dated and hence the ban is effectively already in place.

Delhi government officials say they intend giving time to Delhiites to “settle into the situation” and make alternative arrangements before they begin taking action. Violators will face action under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. They will face imprisonment of up to five years and/or fine of up to Rs 1 lakh.

So, while going to the market, make sure you are carrying either a cloth or jute bag. “We do not want people to be harassed and no prosecution will take place immediately. By and by as people realize the situation and understand that by using plastic bags they will be in contempt of court, they will start using other material,” said J K Dadoo, secretary, environment.”

In South Australia grocery stores have until May 1st, 2009 to stop using plastic bags. Rather than wait until May, many stores have already banned them. One unintended consequence is the stress that the bag is putting on employees of the stores.

A report out today says they are stressed out after dealing with customers unaware of the ban and angry at the predicament.

According to a report: ” The union representing shop employees says the South Australian Government’s ban on plastic bags has caused unfair stress for shop assistants.Peter Malinouskas from the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) says the union is responding to dozens of calls that shop assistants are being abused by customers over the ban. “Customers go to supermarkets and they expect a plastic bag to be part of the service,” he said.

“A number of them have externalised their frustrations on innocent shop assistants and that’s obviously of significant concern to the SDA.”

The union will launch a campaign before May to remind customers that the ban is a State Government initiative, and all complaints should go to customers’ local MPs.”

Here’s the deal. Change. It is never easy. Doesn’t matter what habit we are chainging, its difficult. The removal of plastic bags from our lives won’t be easy, but it will be worth all the stress and headaches. I remember in New York City when the “EZ Pass” was introduced at bridges. For the first week there were enormous bottlenecks of traffic jammed up at toll booths because drivers had no idea how to use the new system. Everyone was lamenting EZ Pass. Two weeks later when people got it, suddenly traffic at the toll booths was down and people were satisified with the new system. The same thing will happen with reusable bags.

The key point is that consumers need viable alternatives to plastic bags. This is why reusable bags must be made affordable and widely available to consumers.

34 million people live in the Yunnan province in China.  None of them use, make or sell plastic bags.  None.

China’s news service is reporting, “Starting this month Yunnan becomes the first province in China to ban the production, sale and use of plastic bags. The ban in Yunnan is much stricter than the national requirement on restricting the production and use of plastic bags thinner than the 0.025 mm. Elsewhere in the country, shops are allowed to offer environment-friendly shopping bags, either free or charged. Most residents in Yunnan have adapted their habits on using plastic bags to bags made of cloth or bamboo braids. The confidence of Yunnan to go ahead with the thorough ban is largely associated with its pilot practices on the ban in Shangri-La and Lijiang, two scenic areas in the province, which had fully banned the use of plastic bags for years. Some citizens said they were proud of Yunnans’ model role in protecting the environment.”

The move to rid the planet of plastic bags is truly a global undertaking.  Add Maputo, Mozambique to the list of cities looking to ban the product.  In fact, Maputo is looking to take the ban one step further.

They also seek to ban the production of plastic bags, as well as its use.

With this move, Maputo will join a growing number of cities and countries which have declared war on the menace of the plastic bag. China, for example, has banned the use of plastic shopping bags, and the Chinese authorities have calculated that this will save 37 million barrels of oil a year.

Perhaps we will open a sales office in Mozambique, since the Hold the Carbon product will work perfectly with the needs of the people in this community.

Earth911.com asked their users what their favorite simple way was to go green. What was the top choice selected?  The reusable bag.  50% of their users said utilizing a trendy reusable bag was the best way to go.

According to the site, “Recent changes in plastic bag legislation across the U.S. has made reusable bags more popular. Additionally, many countries around the world have enacted bag laws to reduce their citizens use of disposable bags. Grocery chains across the nation are also incentivizing reusable bag use, providing donations to charitable organizations and/or refunds on purchases.”

The Hold the Carbon bag, now only weeks away for purchase, is designed for these consumers.  Each day, more people join the chorus of consumers that demand products be good for the environment.  We all know the truth about plastic (ok, the American Chemistry Council doesn’t, but don’t they also believe the world is flat?). Now is time for us all to be aggressive in reducing our plastic consumption.  What better way to do that than to use a trendy and portable reusable bag?

Soon, you’ll have that ability and at only $.99 cents, you can purchase your own Hold the Carbon bag.