Marin Seeks Ban on Paper and Plastic Bags

SAN RAFAEL (KCBS)  -- The BYO Bag Marin campaign kicked off at the Marin Farmer’s Market. Legislation authored by Marin County supervisor Charles McGlashan is scheduled for passage Earth Day 2010.

 

“It’s a huge symbolic move towards zero waste and we’ve adopted a zero-waste vision in order to reuse all materials,” said the supervisor.  

 

Chrise de Tournay Birkhahn Executive Director of EcoMom Alliance, says there's no excuse to use plastic or paper bags, “The sad thing about paper, its recyclable, but it doesn’t get back to the facility as often as you think.”

Birkhahn added there are plenty of alternatives, including cloth and even some made out of wet-suit fabric.    

 

According to Judi Shils, despite the necessary cultural shift in getting the public to buy reusable bags, the campaign is gaining steam.

 

“We have an army of teens that are going literally to every city in town walking in and out of every store educating the retailers and store owners about what this is”, said Shils, director of Teens Turning Green. 

Nordstrom’s has stepped up as the first retail supporter. 

“With Nordstrom’s will come everybody else, because nobody’s going to want to be left out and that’s what we’re banking on”, said Shills.

 

In the meantime, the plastic bag industry has filed suit to block efforts to ban its products. If adopted the ban on paper and plastic bags in Marin will take affect January 1, 2011.

 

(ato)