A week into Oahu’s plastic bag ban, some folks are wondering why so many plastic bags are still being given out at island grocery checkout stands.
Anna Sabino was so alarmed she started a petition at Change.org, demanding that city officials get tough on retailers for breaking the law. Some of the stores, she pointed out, have introduced a thicker plastic bag — and are describing them as reusable — while others are giving out compostable plastic bags.
"Please do not let any store replace plastic bags handed at checkouts by other kinds of plastic bags," the Honolulu woman wrote on the petition signed by more than 150 people as of Monday.
While the reality is those kinds of plastic bags are indeed legal, having been added to the ordinance by the Honolulu City Council as a compromise to an outright ban on plastic, environmental groups contend the companies that are using the bags are violating the spirit of the law.
"They are taking advantage of a loophole," said Stuart Coleman, Hawaii coordinator with the Surfrider Foundation, which helped lobby for the ordinance.
Acceptable bags under the law, first approved three years ago, include compostable plastic bags, recyclable paper bags that contain a minimum of 40 percent post-consumer recycled content, and "reusable bags," which have handles and may be made of fabric or other durable material suitable for reuse, including plastic that is at least 2.25 mils, or 0.00225 inch, thick.
The city recently surveyed Oahu businesses to see how they planned to comply with the July 1 plastic bag ban. Of those retailers who planned to keep offering bags, 44 percent indicated they would use recyclable paper bags, 25 percent planned to use compostable plastic bags and 31 percent were going to use reusable bags, which includes the thicker plastic bag.
Among the retailers offering the thicker plastic bags are Walmart, Longs, Times Supermarket, Don Quijote, City Mill and Tamura’s. Some of the stores are giving the bags away, while others charge a small fee and are touting their potential for reuse.
City Mill offers both a 2.25-mil plastic bag for 10 cents and a reusable "eco-bag" for 99 cents.
Printed on the Walmart heavy-duty plastic bag are the words "Sustainable," "Recyclable" and "Usable."
The Walmart bag was ridiculed by the Surfrider Foundation Oahu Chapter website as being "the worst." The wording is "blatantly unacceptable and the creation of these bags misses the whole point of the law which aims to reduce our reliance on single-use plastics and protect our marine environments."
Walmart couldn’t be reached for comment Monday.
Kahi Pacarro, executive director of Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, said these retailers are "greenwashing" their actions to make themselves appear environmentally responsible.
"In reality the thicker bag is even worse for the environment because they will take even longer to break down," he said. "It’s a slap in the face. We worked so hard to get this passed."
Pacarro said that while the compostable plastic bag is better than the thicker bag, it too is unacceptable. Such bags don’t break down in water and require heat from a composting facility. The problem, he said, is that Oahu doesn’t have a commercial composting facility.
"Until they get to that composting facility, they remain a risk to our wildlife," he said.
In lieu of a composting facility, the city is advising residents to put compostable bags in the gray cart with their regular refuse. All regular refuse on Oahu is sent to the city’s HPOWER waste-to-energy facility, where it is incinerated to generate electricity.
"It’s important to note that even without a separate composting system for compostable plastic bags, the plastic bag ban will significantly reduce the number of plastic bags being distributed by retailers on Oahu and reduce the number of plastic bags that are littered onto beaches and into the ocean, which is the ultimate goal," Tim Houghton, deputy director of the city Environmental Services Department, said in a statement.
Coleman said the local Surfrider Foundation group plans to launch a campaign called #ReturnToOffender. When people find plastic bags floating in the water, blowing in the wind, stuck in trees or headed into a storm drain, they will be asked to take a picture and then send the bags back to the retailer it came from.
Pacarro said he’s encouraging anyone unhappy with the bag-ban exceptions to use every opportunity to encourage these retailers to stop what they’re doing.
Coleman said Hawaii — with plastic bag bans in four counties — should be proud of its status as the only state in the country to have what amounts to a statewide ban on plastic bags.
"We are a leader but now we’re backtracking," he said.
Thorben Wuttke of Honolulu said he was looking forward to the ban only to be disappointed to discover plastic checkout bags were still being given out in Oahu stores.
"A plastic bag ban means a plastic bag ban," Wuttke said. "They should get rid of plastic altogether. It’s time people brought their own bag. What’s so difficult?"
