I was pretty proud of my little town of Paia when it was the first in Maui to go Plastic Bag Free. The town's merchants voluntarily decided to get rid of plastic after residents tired of seeing plastic bags getting in the ocean and endangering sea life. Now, the whole county of Maui is considering a ban on plastic bags.
The ban was approved by the county council sub-committee that reviewed the issue. Now it needs to get approval by the overall council. The bill would encourage the use of reusable bags, but would also allow for paper bags. Hopefully, we will see more people adapting to use the reusable bags. The one dissapointing element on the bill is that it would not go into effect until 2011. I will continue to follow the debate over plastic bags in Maui on this blog. In the interim, check out today's Maui News Article for additional details.
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It's a good start. Don't forget to take your own reusable bag with you when you go shopping. Keep some in your car/truck at all times. I have a really compact one that fits in my purse, and I'm surprised how often I use it, even to fill up with squishy mangoes!
I am pretty lucky in that I am close enough to the grocery store that I can walk back home pretty quick. I hope they enact the ban sooner rather than later. From what I understand, the Chinese just banned plastic bags across the nation. If they can do it... no doubt we can too.
Jim:
It seems like your little town started something big. Bravo on your grass roots effort! I live in Florida & see the damage to the environment & wildlife caused by plastic bags, abandoned fishing line & other debris. It is heart breaking.
Most grocery stores in my area sell reusable bags for about a dollar each. The clothe bags are easier to carry, will hold more items and will not fall over so easily sending your purchases skittering all over your car in addition to being eco-friendly. I would love to see plastic bags outlawed here!
It is a great idea! King county in WA state is charging 10 cents a bag and there is a big push to have the whole state under the same rule in the near future. I for one am all for it. you can get a bag for .99 at your store and it will last a long time. My wife and I always use ours.
Maxine and Casey-Thanks for the comments. Glad to see others are using renewable bags. That's one thing I want to be clear on, I am not advocating that people switch to paper bags. Paper bags are a waste of resources as well. People just need to get in the habit of bringing renewable bags to the store. Our little health food store in Paia offers a little carrot of 5 cents off per visit when you bring your own bag. It is not a lot of money, but a good way to reward good habits.
Hey Pete! I just noticed that I called you Jim. I guess I was looking at the name of your brokerage. Sorry about that. Maybe I need to switch to the good Hawaiian coffee?
No worries Maxine. Kona coffee is great and if you ever have a chance to check out some Maui blend, it is quite good as well!
Hey Pete, I am so glad to hear this. I hope it's the beginning of a trend. I LOVE my reusable bags...
Pete,
So happy to hear that Maui is going to ban plastic bags! I wonder when the rest of the world will wake up to this? It really is a matter of change and people getting use to bringing their own reusable bags to the stores. Perhaps if we didn't have choices it would be a lot easier!
Pete,
Going Green is a great move and one that will ensure the beauty of Maui and the world remains.
Thanks again for your continued support of my posts.
Pete,
That's the type of news many of us for the green housing initiative want to hear. Hopefully this sort of ban will be adopted across the land because we need it.
Michelle, Dan and Esko-Thanks for your comments. Maui is a beautiful place and banning plastic bags is going to help preserve the natural beauty while diminishing our use of petroleum products.