Item 4: Ordinance Encouraging Use of Reusable Bags

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Bag Ban Public Testimony 7/24/2012 – 9/17/2012 The preferred use of hydrocarbon is moving towards recyclable products and not to be burned and consumed as an energy source. For instance polyethylene film is primarily produced from natural gas and is recyclable indefinitely. Please seek better solutions to tossed trash. Some countries put people in jail for tossing a cigarette butt. Please do not deprive citizens of a very remarkable, low cost, efficient product that we all use every day. George R. Hermach th 2165 W 29 Ave Eugene, OR 97405 541-686-2793 We include our previous comments dated March 2, 2012: We offer our comments re your consideration of a possible ban on plastic grocery bags. As dedicated environmentalists, we have reviewed many studies which conclude that kraft paper bags are not environmentally superior to plastic bags, considering the much larger product mass, raw materials required, processing and fabrication, inconvenience of use (weak handles), and lack of secondary use. They are much more expensive. The light weight plastic bags, so universally used, have a very tiny mass, probably similar to a couple of grains of wheat. As a family, we reuse all of the plastic bags we receive, almost entirely to sanitarily contain the small amount of kitchen waste we generate. The convenient handles fit over the wire rack we have fastened to the cabinet door under the sink. When full, we tie the handles together before it is deposited in the 32 gallon Sanipac can. No garbage is ever spilled in the automated dumping process Sanipac employs. If we no longer obtain plastic bags from retailers, we would have to purchase them in bulk from plastic bag suppliers. We have never placed a plastic bag in Sanipac’s recycling bins. We have never deposited them elsewhere, discarded them in the environment, or lost them to the wind. The amount of bags we receive seems to match our needs and creates no unwanted surplus. We consider plastic bags far, far superior to kraft paper bags, both in handling groceries and in subsequent uses. Plastic bags are moisture proof and paper bags are not. We have experienced spilled groceries many times due to torn handles and ripped bottoms when moist produce weakens them. Plastic bags are just as recycleable as paper, perhaps even more so. We are well aware of the power of the timber industry in Oregon and the prolonged, well financed campaign to prohibit plastic bags. A proper solution to abandoned bags, whether plastic or paper, is education. Bags have many uses and need not be discarded in the larger environment. Retailers certainly recover their bag costs in their pricing structures. While we always bring our five cloth bags to Market of Choice, it is not practical to do that for every store on our shopping route, such as Longs and Newmans. A separate charge for bags is an unnecessary inconvenience, both to the retailer and the customer. Surely there is a better solution to ocean pollution. Increase fines and penalties for improper trash disposal. We urge that you study this issue more intensively, using all of the sources of information available. We suggest that there are more important issues facing our community than banning plastic bags. Sincerely,