We supported this action because:

• Plastics harm (choke, poison, entangle) our wildlife, such as birds, fish, and whales.
• We are working to reduce plastic pollution into our lakes, streams, Puget Sound and the ocean
• Plastic bags are light-weight and easily blow into our waters.  They break down into tiny bits but don’t biodegrade for hundreds of years.
• The tiny pieces of plastic, including plastic bag pieces, are called microplastics, and are floating in Puget Sound.  Every water sample taken in Puget Sound so far by researchers at UW Tacoma have plastic bits.
• Tiny plastics are a pathway for toxic chemicals because persistent toxic chemicals like PCBs adsorb to plastic.   Fish eat these plastic bits.
• Plastics are accumulating in our world’s oceans.  The most researched area, so far, is the North Pacific Gyre where a floating thin soup of plastics is in an area that is estimated to be greater than the size of Texas.

Reasons we supported the bag ordinance:

• In Seattle, consumers use 292 million plastic bags every year. It's time for Seattle to join Portland, Bellingham, China and numerous other cities, counties and countries who have taken actions to reduce the use of plastic bags.
• The goal of the city’s proposed single-use carryout bag ordinance is to eliminate the use of single-use bags in order to reduce marine debris and limit waste sent to the landfill.
• The ordinance prohibits retailers from providing light-weight, single-use plastic carryout bags to customers at the point of sale. This includes any plastic carryout bag less than 2.25 mil thick, including bio-based plastic bags made from plant sources such as corn.
• The ordinance imposes a 5 cent fee on recyclable paper carry-out bags that are grocery size or larger.  Stores keep the 5 cent fee.  Revenues generated by sales of paper bags remain with the stores.
• The single-use carryout bag ordinance does not prohibit the distribution of produce bags (veggie bags), bags for frozen food, meat, and small items.  Also dry cleaner, newspaper bags are exempted
• Restaurants and other food vendors may provide single-use plastic carryout bags to customers for the transportation of take-out food and liquids. This exemption is included for health and safety.
• The intent of the proposed ordinance is to reduce the environmental impacts related to single-use plastic and paper carryout bags, and promote a shift toward the use of reusable bags

We are pleased to announce that Seattle’s YELLOW PAGE OPT-OUT is up and running ….and further that on May 9, 2011, U.S. District Judge Robart denied an injunction request by publishers Dex, SuperMedia, and the trade group Yellow Pages Association, ruling that they had not shown they were likely to ultimately succeed on the merits of the case related to their assertion that the opt-out infringes upon their First Amendment right to free speech.

The great news is that the new Seattle opt-out program is enforceable!  Any books that are delivered after someone has opted-out in a timely way (30-days in advance of delivery) will be potentially subject to a $125 fine.

Please opt-out at Seattle’s official site for all future deliveries of phonebooks:

http://www.seattle.gov/util/Services/Recycling/ReduceReuseExchange/StopPhoneBooks/index.htm

When you get to the Catalog Choice website, you will have to register and then will be able to specify your request.  Catalog Choice (the city’s vendor for the opt-out) will then record your request and the yellow page companies are required to use this information when they are doing deliveries.

Please let Zero Waste Seattle know if you have any problems with this system. 

In addition to the yellow page opt-out ordinance, other zero waste successes last year included getting a requirement for landlords to provide compost pickup for apartment buildings (this will start in September), a pilot effort by the city to address plastic stretch film, and some additional actions to address construction and demolition waste.  And we are looking forward to even more zero waste progress in the next year.