Plastic Grocery Bags in Minneapolis
From:
David Brauer
Date:
Mar 17 19:52 UTC
Short link
Kevin writes, of a no-plastic-leaf-bag law:
Fascinating! Do we get to start burning leaves again?
Raking them into the street? Or will be forced to fill
our yards with compost bins to accomodate all the leaves?
Me:
Our family - not through any threat of force - uses the large paper leaf bags
you get at a hardware store. The bags stay rigid and the top stays open better
(allowing for quicker loading), and they seem pretty impervious to rain in the
short term.
Yes, they cost more than plastic bags, but may well lower the environmental
costs, since they are ultimately compostable like the leaves they contain. I'm
sure this will commence Round 1,000,000 of the paper-versus-plastic debate, but
my bigger point is that there's a very workable alternative to plastic that
doesn't involve burning or burlap.