Maui County to Ban Plastic Bags?

As part of a global push to cut back on and eliminate the 3-4 trillion non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags produced throughout the world each year, Maui County took its first steps towards passing a bill written by Councilman Mike Molina last year that would ban retail businesses on Maui, Molokai, and Lanai from providing plastic bags at point of sale by the year 2011. If passed, Maui would become the first Hawaiian county to ban plastic bags. San Francisco was the first U.S. city to ban their use in April 2008.

It is estimated that around 50,000,000 plastic bags are distributed on the island of Maui each year, or approximately 300-350 per resident!

While many of these bags are reused, they eventually end up in landfills where they are then carried off by strong winds and cause untold harm to marine life and the environment. The County of Maui spends nearly $200,000 per year to have them recollected.

Most stores now offer reusable bags at their checkout counters for around $2/bag. Also many companies offer bags online that have been developed with customer convenience in mind, in an attempt to make reusable bags more user friendly. For example,ReusableBags.com offers the ACME bags which fold up into pouches small enough to fit into most purses or totes.

Please help keep Maui No Ka Oi and do your part to reduce the environmental hazard caused by plastic shopping bags.

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