By Mark DeVolder
Los Alamos

Reference 1:
Clarification on Jan. 14 Council Work Session Agenda (link). Los Alamos County would like to clarify a previous press release that incorrectly indicated the County Council would discuss a potential future ordinance to ban single-use plastic bags at its next work session scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14 in Council Chambers at 1000 Central Ave. Instead, the Council is set to begin an early discussion about whether a fee should be imposed for single-use plastic bags and how any revenue generated might be utilized.

Reference 2:
Blumberg, Louis and Gottlieb, Robert. War on Waste – Can America win its Battle with Garbage? Washington, D.C.: Island Press. 1989

In a world that manufactures plastic materials, creates a wide variety of plastic consumer goods and discards plastic waste, it puzzles me why “single-use” plastic bags should receive so much attention.

I am “extremely disappointed” that the County Council has chosen a “tax and spend” approach to the plastic bag issue. The County Council is demonstrating a certain lack of creativity and intelligence in this matter. I am also disappointed that the Sustainability Board has not been more creative and helpful in providing thoughtful guidance in this matter to members of the County Council. In a period of dramatic inflation, I really don’t want to hear anything more about more fees and more taxation. I have reached a threshold where I cannot find much else to cut out of my budget.

Plastics have supplanted many items which used to be made of glass, metal, paper and wood. Efforts have been made to recycle discarded plastic consumer materials; however, some plastic items are not suitable for recycling. According to what I have read, polystyrene is one of them.  Eventually, many plastic items and related manufacturing chemicals contained in plastics are discarded in landfill sites. The plastic materials buried underground degrade over time and find their way into municipal water supplies. Some plastic materials are very slow to degrade.

USEPA has taken a lead role in addressing the disposal of plastic items in landfill sites. Many plastic items cannot be recycled because they are contaminated with food and other substances. In the recent past, the Chinese have refused to accept recycled plastic items which contain excessive contamination.  All kinds of plastic items are showing up in rivers and oceans (for example, plastic tampon products that wash up on beaches on the East Coast of the US).

It is worth discussing the wide spectrum of discarded plastic materials which may not get recycled and go into trash containers instead as well as plastic items which are discarded at the Los Alamos Eco Station or at Los Alamos thrift stores.    

I cannot provide percentages values for each plastic waste stream. I can only provide a general (and incomplete) overview of what gets discarded as trash and is not recycled. An alphabetic list of items follows (elastomers / rubber products are not included):

1. Advertising materials / signs
2. Appliances, major (trays and support internals from refrigerators, plastic handles / knobs / support parts from dishwashers, dryers and washing machines)  (Note: These materials are not wanted by metal recyclers and must be removed to the Eco Station Transfer Station for disposal in a landfill.)
3. Appliances, minor (plastic housings on portable fans and heating units, appliance knobs / handles, plastic supports, etc.)
4. Automobiles (plastics discarded from retired / wrecked automobiles)
5. Automotive parts / supplies (plastic bags holding auto parts, plastic / paperboard containers for auto parts, anti-freeze and lubricant containers, car rooftop carriers, etc.) 
6. Batteries (plastic wrappings on AAA-, AA-, C-, D-size alkaline batteries)
7. Building materials – commercial and residential (5-gallon buckets, caulk tubes, wrappers for building materials, plastic materials from demolition activities, discarded electrical receptacles / switches / wiring, holders for bulbs in fluorescent light fixtures, etc.)
8. Cloth, synthetic (blue tarps, clothing, thread, etc.)
9. Coffee makers
10. Computers (computer housings, supporting hardware, computer carts, etc.)
11. Consumer goods (a huge spectrum of new and legacy items from A to Z – assemblies, subassemblies, parts, plastic bags, plastic wrappings, plastic / paperboard packaging, Styrofoam packaging, etc.)  (Note: Many consumer items are a combination of materials and no effort is made to disassemble and sort out various materials at the consumer level – a big mistake.)
12. Containers – empty (5-gallon buckets, paint buckets, beverage containers, free promotional water containers with company logos, etc.)
13. Dental Products (dental floss, dental floss picks, toothbrushes, toothpaste tube caps, etc.)
14. Disposable diapers for babies, toddlers and adults
15. Dry cleaning bags
16. Foodstuffs (PLASTIC GROCERY BAGS, other plastic bags, packaging materials for bulk food shipments, food containers, Styrofoam meat trays / wrappings, cereal box bags, advertising signs / labels / barcode labels / related materials, corner supports for banana boxes / banana plastic wrapping, composite beverage containers with plastic bodies and aluminum lids which are not easily recycled, snack food containers, promotional containers / cups from fast food outlets, Styrofoam fast food containers, Styrofoam plates, Styrofoam coffee cups, milk bottles that are not recycled, candy containers / candy box liners, plastic tableware / utensils, Glad Wrap, Saran Wrap, Christmas candy containers, etc.)     
17. Furniture (plastic carts, plastic coverings, laminates)
18. Games (pieces and parts from board games)
19. Garbage / trash bags
20. Hardware (a huge spectrum of new and legacy items from A to Z, etc. plastic / paperboard packaging, plastic bags, plastic wrappings)
21. Hobby items
22. Holiday items (plastic / paperboard greeting card containers, Christmas lights / decorations / ornaments, plastic Easter eggs, Valentine’s Day candy box liners)
23. Household items (Rubbermaid containers / items, plastic containers of household chemicals / formulations, plastic lamps, picture frames, etc.)
24. Kitchen items (Tupperware, etc.)
25. Lawn / Garden Items (plastic water nozzles, plastic containers for herbicides / insecticides, plastic patio chairs, etc.)
26. Medical equipment / medicine containers (pill bottles, pill containers)
27. Packaging materials (for example, plastic pallets, plastic wrappings on pallets, tilt detectors on packing crates, bubble pack / channel pack, filled and deflated air pillows, packing tape residue on corrugated cardboard boxes, Styrofoam peanuts, etc.)
28. Personal Hygiene (disposable razors, electric razors, stick deodorant containers)
29. Pets (Kitty litter trays, cat / dog food and drinking water bowls, animal carriers, etc.)
30. Recreational items (plastic water bottles with company logos, plastic coffee cups with company logos, plastic bikes / vehicles, camping gear, coolers, exercise equipment pieces and parts, etc.)
31. Smokeless / electric tobacco system substitutes (Note: Found as liter here and there.)
32. Shop Items (Hand / power tools, toolboxes, shop vacuum cleaners, etc.) 
33. Sports (fishing tackle boxes / fishing line / bobbers, fish nets, knee pads, bowling balls, etc.)
34. Storage containers
35. Telecommunication equipment
36. Tobacco (chewing tobacco containers, cigarette package wrapping material)
37. Toys (baby toys that no one else wants for fear that baby will get “cooties” from the previous owner, various types of balls, building block kits, radio controlled cars, McDonald’s Happy Meal toys, Barbie / other dolls, Nerf guns and plastic / foam bullets)
    

I am concerned about regulatory controls on single-use plastic grocery / consumer bag waste and the lack of attention to the management of large volumes / weights of plastic trash. Myopically looking at single use plastic bags is like protecting one sheep and leaving the flock to the wolves. Or, it is like trying to use a squirt gun to put out a forest fire.

The second reference discusses how municipal governments wanted to implement bottles taxes. Plastic manufacturers litigated over the issue and won. The plastic manufacturing industry has argued (successfully) – that they did not create the problem with discarded plastic items – consumers created the problem.

In our household, the reuse and storage of plastic bags gets quite a bit of attention. Serviceable plastic bags are used over and over again. The bags are taken to the grocery store for a credit. Bags with holes may be used to discard “dry” trash. (Note: Bagging up trash is a desirable practice according to Eco Station personnel.)  In some cases, degraded plastic bags may be repaired with plastic fusion welds or salvaged packing tape (stripped from discarded cardboard boxes). Degraded plastic bags may also be used as cushioning material in storage boxes for fragile mechanical / electrical items and other fragile items made of glass or porcelain. If you examine items coming into the Eco Station or Thrift stores, you will see that many of the items are damaged / dirty and lack any sort of intelligent / safe / secure packaging scheme utilizing cardboard, bubble pack or PLASTIC BAG CUSHIONING MATERIAL. The poor handling of discarded items (a flagrant practice) is a direct reflection on the capabilities (or lack of capabilities and caring) by members of the community. The thought of having to “pay” for commercially available plastic garbage bags is an anathema to me.

I made a presentation to the Sustainability Board about the reuse of many commercially available items (as an alternative to recycling). One of the Sustainability Board members commented, “These are interesting ideas but where are people in the community going to find time to implement the ideas?” My response was that members the community need to put aside some time to be creative / practical instead of watching television, sitting in front of a computer or talking on an i-phone.     

I am not opposed to consumers purchasing a variety of plastic products that they need. I do have an issue with consumers purchasing items that they want but do not really need.  Plastic bags and baby diapers have become “indispensable disposables”. How did humans survive for thousands of years without plastic items?

There are already consumer controls in place which will regulate the purchase of plastic items in the future.  Crude oil and petroleum products (used to make plastics) are becoming increasingly expensive to recover and process, respectively.  Coal is an alternative but is considered a dirty item to process.  Over the long term, the availability of fossil fuels is limited.  Landfill operations are costly, sites are limited and often located far away from municipalities.  (Note: No one wants a landfill in their back yard – NIMBY.)  Transporting recycled or discarded plastic materials creates pollution. Consumers are running out of money to purchase plastic items.  Most households have approximately 300,000 items. Consumers are already having difficulties with storage of all the products they purchase. Offshoring of plastic manufacturing operations affects jobs in the US and tax revenues at all levels of government.        

Personally, I don’t like many plastic items because they do not last as long as materials made from glass, metal, paper and wood (for example, polyethylene items degrade when exposed to sunlight). However, I do try to use, reuse and recycle plastic items responsibly – a better approach than “tax and spend”.