The Sierra Club supports reducing the use of single-use plastic bags in Hawai`i by imposing a statewide ban or modest fee.  (See, e.g., HB2645, HB2125, SB2559 and SB2560).  Oil-based plastic bags simply are not a part of Hawai`i's sustainable future.  Consider:

  • Plastic bags contribute to litter and pose a consistent threat to avian and marine life in Hawai`i -- the endangered species Capitol of the world;
  • Plastic bags are manufactured from a polluting resource that is becoming increasingly scarce;
  • Plastic bags contribute to a growing trash problem on all our islands and foible the State’s waste diversion efforts;
  • Americans throw away nearly 100 billion plastic bags each year and only 0.6 percent of plastic bags are recycled. 

Hawai‘i is facing a growing solid waste crisis.  For example, the “2006 Waste Characterization Study" (available at www.opala.org) completed for the City and County of Honolulu, reveals some shocking facts about Oahu’s solid waste situation.  Since the last waste characterization study in 1999, the trash from Oahu households increased by 30.2% from 316,491 tons annually in 1999 to 412,016 tons in 2006 (R.W. Beck, “2006 Waste Characterization Study,” April 2007, at 3-11).  The population increased by roughly 3% over the same period (878,906 to 906,000)—meaning waste generation from households increased 10 times faster than population growth.  The proliferation of plastic bags contributes to this problem.


Plastic bags are an expense that can be avoided and its alternatives promoted.  In Hawai`i, plastic bags are an expense -- the cost of purchasing tens of millions of plastic bags annually -- which is most certainly passed on to local consumers.  In addition, plastic bags tax our economy and environment when they are littered or placed in our overflowing landfills.


For example, a recent study conducted in Seattle concluded -- even with a high 13% recycling rate (greater than the national average of 3-5%) -- approximately 1,650 tons of plastic bags were put into the landfill annually.  The net cost to Seattle and ratepayers of collecting, transferring and disposing of waste was calculated to be approximately $121 per ton or approximately $200,000 for plastic grocery bags.  


Even if plastic bags are burned at H-POWER (only on O’ahu) they are essentially converted to greenhouse gasses, further hastening global climate change, and not addressing the root of the waste problem.  Similarly, with nearly 40% of the State’s solid waste-stream able to be diverted from disposal at the landfill, plastic bags pose the single-most significant challenge to composting facilities, contaminating the compost, getting wrapped in the splines of processing equipment, and reducing the value of the compost product. 


It should also be noted that two highly successful business in Hawai`i -- Costco and Wholefoods -- do not offer its customers plastic bags.  These businesses are flourishing.  The switch by Wholefoods alone kept approximately 100 million plastic bags out of the environment between April 22, 2008 and end of 2008.