Page 54 - Plastics News January 2018

internAtionAL news

Georgia, Idaho communities sign Montreal bids adieu to plastic

on to EnergyBag bags

n effort to capture hard-to-recycle plastics from the ontreal's has prohibited the
Awaste stream is expanding into two new communities Muse of plastic bag starting this
on opposite sides in Georgia. The Hefty EnergyBag program month as the plastic bag restrictions
is launching in Cobb County, Georgia and Boise, Idaho, became effective January 01, 2018 .
with the help of $50,000 grants from Dow Packaging This is precisely 23 months after city
and Specialty Plastics and Keep America Beautiful. The officials said the regulations were
projects will divert plastics such as chip bags and juice coming. Earlier on Aug. 23, 2016,
pouches from landfills. These plastics can cause sortation Montreal's municipal council adopted
problems when included in traditional recycling efforts. the regulations to come into effect at the beginning
of this year. Montreal has given retailers a grace
The EnergyBag program uses orange Hefty-branded bags
to separate those materials from other recyclables. period for compliance through June 5. The law bans
Consumers put the bags in recycling bins, but the bags are distribution of conventional plastic bags with thickness
easily removed from the recycling stream once they hit less than 50 microns. Also banned are bags touted as
material recovery facilities. Collected together, the bags oxo-degradable, oxo-fragmentable or biodegradable no
and their contents are then sent elsewhere. In the case matter their thickness.
of the Omaha, Neb., Not covered by the ban are plastic bags used exclusively
ar ea, wher e the to transport food to the cash counter or to protect food
first pe rmane n t from direct contact with other items being purchased,
EnergyBag program such as fruits, meat and dairy products. The law bans
was established, the regular plastic bags that are thinner than 50 microns —
contents are used as that’s 0.05 millimetres. The city says bags thicker than
fuel for a cement kiln. 50 microns are unlikely to blow away and become litter.
But in the case of both Oxo-degradable, oxo-fragmentable and biodegradable
Cobb County and Boise, bags are banned completely. That’s because these bags
plans are to convert the can introduce contaminants into the recycling system
collected plastics into liquid fuel through non-combustion and break down only under specific conditions; some
technologies. Conversion technologies that will be of these bags can linger even longer than traditional
used "also have the longer-term potential to generate plastic bags in a landfill or the open environment.
feedstocks in a closed-loop system and can be used to
produce new plastics, keeping resources in use and at their Plastic bags that are used to transport food to the
highest value," the funding groups said. An EnergyBag pilot checkout counter at a grocery store or used to keep
program launched in 2014 in Citrus Heights, California, to items separate for hygienic reasons will still be allowed.
prove the concept. That effort used purple bags before The ban applies only to retailers — so restaurants will
Hefty became involved. still be allowed to give customers plastic bags. Montreal,
like many other cities, has cited visual nuisance and
A full-scale project started in Omaha in 2016 and saw the bad impact on terrestrial and marine ecosystems as
collection of more than 19,500 bags and about 11 tons reasons to ban certain plastic bags. Best practices to
of plastics in the first year of operation. Boise and Cobb comply with the by-law include the use of reusable
County, in the Atlanta metropolitan area, become the bags, using compliant bags only when necessary and
second and third locations. "The City of Boise is committed placing plastic bags that are in circulation into the
to sustainability. This program provides an important tool recycling stream. While Montreal is the first major
in managing our post-consumer plastics responsibly," said Canadian city to implement a plastic bag ban, it’s not
Catherine Chertudi, city environmental program manager, the first jurisdiction to do so. A number of countries,
in a statement. Organizers of the EnergyBag program including France, Italy and Rwanda, have implemented
envision a network of communities around the country nationwide bans, while Hawaii and California have
adopting the program in the years ahead. statewide bans.

Plastics News Januar y 2018 54