I can't believe it's taken us so long to finally follow the lead of San Francisco and enact a plastic bag ban in Portland. Though there will be the legislative drag until 2012, at least it's finally in the works. I'm having a hard time understanding the suggestion of opponents, which essentially is that if people don't want plastic bags to end up in landfills or become litter, then simply recycle them! Statistics show that less than 5% of existing plastic bags are, in fact, recycled. In what way is that more sustainable than not even producing the bags in the first place?
http://www.sustainablebusinessoregon.com/articles/2010/07/bag_ban_backed_by_business.html?surround=lfn
When I think about the larger picture of something like this, it's hard not to get down about it. For example - will less plastic bags from Multnomah County really have that great of an influence on something like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? I don't know, but have to choose to think so.
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