Clean Living: Ban those bags

Hearing that San Francisco is moving toward banning the use of petroleum-based plastic bags by large businesses such as grocery store chains made us wonder why we're not doing the same.

Seattle is a city that collects plastic bags and packaging for recycling (339 tons in 2005) but many of the bags don't end up in the right bin. In 2004 more than 270,000 tons worth of plastic bags and wrapping were disposed statewide.

Also, although recyclable, not all plastic bags are biodegradable. In fact, a good chunk is made from petroleum-based plastics (as opposed to bio-based resins).

And given that our rate of recycling has yet to catch up to our rate of disposing, moving toward biodegradable bags made of corn byproducts a la San Francisco, seems smart.

Yes, the bags may be a bit more expensive (as much as a whopping dime per bag) but if the businesses aren't willing to pay for it, then as consumers, we should.

It's either that, or volunteering to pick through landfills on weekends.