ConservingNow Community Change

On March 8, 2010,

"Green Cities California , a coalition of 10 California cities collaborating to help other local governments work toward sustainability initiatives, released the Master Environmental Assessment today.  The report summarizes existing studies on the environmental impacts of single use plastic, paper, compostable and reusable bags, as well as the impacts of policy options such as fees and bans on bags.  The MEA includes studies that reviewed environmental impacts from the use of the four types of bags, including greenhouse gas emissions, litter problems, marine life impacts, water consumption and ozone formation.

Notably, the report finds bag usage drops up to 90% when retail outlets charge for bag usage.

'We´re not going to recycle our way to a sustainable society,' said Dean Kubani, GCC Steering Committee member and director of Santa Monica´s Office of Sustainability. 'We need to orient away from single use and towards durable products. We are confident that this report will provide the documentation local governments need to adopt policies that encourage the use of reusable bags and phase out single use bags.'"

For more information contact Waste & Recycling News reporter Amanda Smith-Teutsch at 330-865-6166 or [email protected]

The full report, an executive summary and background information is available at www.greencitiescalifornia.org/mea.