On July 1, a law banning plastic bags in Hawaii went This state was the first in the United States, whose residents decided to take such a step.
However, the very next day, visitors to the city and region of Honolulu, where 70% of the population of Hawaii (almost 1 million out of 1.42 million) live, were handed free so-called “reusable bags”, which turned out to be ... also plastic. The fact is that a law passed in Honolulu allows for an exception among the prohibited plastic bags - "reusable bags", defining them as "a bag with handles, specially designed and manufactured for repeated reuse", which must be made of durable materials "including plastic with a thickness of at least 2.25 mm.
Environmentalists argue that the resulting "ban" on plastic bags in Hawaii leaves much to be desired: legally permitted "alternatives" are made from the same plastic (low-density polyethylene, recycling code - No. 4) and require more resources to produce . Stuart Coleman, coordinator of the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit environmental group in Hawaii, said: “[In the legislation] we tried to eliminate the most harmful thing possible: plastic bags. The definition of reusable bags needs to be changed to exclude plastic.”
Recall: the entire ecological world expected that the first US state to ban plastic bags would be California. For this, last year they even passed a law that was supposed to come into force in July 2015. However, the miracle did not happen : the plastic industry and bag manufacturers managed to influence the situation and achieved the postponement of the adopted ban for a year and a half. Now the fate of plastic bags in California will be decided by a referendum to be held in November 2016.
See also anekdotig:
- Newsletter: " Chile Bans Plastic Bags, Promotes Plastic Consciousness " (October 29, 2017)
- News: " France bans single-use plastic bags in stores " (July 1, 2016)
- Tip: " Use a reusable shopping bag ."
- Video: " Tim Minchin Music Video 'Canvas Bags' ."