Apparently the Reed College Bookstore in Portland is supporting a proposal to ban them by October 2011. They are listed as supporters of the ban on this webpage: www.environmentoregon.org/great-pacific-cleanup/local-efforts/portland

I have had some conversations with our Campus Store manager about eliminating plastic bags. We came up with some good ideas, but one of the sticking points is what to do for guests. It is easy enough to withhold plastic bags from students, tell them to use their backpacks, or give them reusable/returnable bags. However, it is more difficult to deny free plastic bags to prospective students and their parents in the midst of a campus tour for example.
How have other schools addressed this issue? Ideas, advice, or examples? Thanks.

The cost of these reusable bags is so low -- probably less than the old paper course catalogs that colleges used to distribute so freely -- that giving the prospective students & parents a complimentary reusable bag with the school logo seems like a great marketing opportunity!

As the founders of One More Generation, we launched our "Say No To Plastic Bags" Coalition and are working with Georgia Tech Institute to see if we can get their campus to go Bag Free.

Read more about our efforts here.

As others have mentioned, there are some barriers to outright bans of plastic bags on campus.

Another option might be to require any entity that provides bags to also provide a viable recycling option for those bags.

Some of the earlier bag recycling programs amounted to little more than greenwashing, so if you read bag recycling with some skepticism I understand. However, out of those earlier programs, there has developed a very legitimate market for the LDPE and HDPE film in the recycled plastic lumber industry.

I'd encourage you to think about the need for that bag recycling. I was at a light construction conference recently and was amazed at how much plastic decking there is on the market - and even more amazed to see how little of it is currently being made from recycled-content. There was a time when if you talked plastic lumber decking you almost automatically were talking recycled-content but that has changed dramatically.

If we are not providing the recycled PE feedstocks that are needed to make the decking, manufacturers are increasingly making the decking out of virgin PVC.

Bag bans get a lot of media attention, but I'd encourage you to think about whether a recycling requirement would be more feasible and have greater long-term viability.

ARAMARK at USM has banned plastic bags from all of our retail locations. While we asked the University to also participate, they refused. We do provide our customers with reusable bags however for a low cost of $1.99 -- cheaper bags are also available through different companies. I would consider the material of the bag, where they are made, and how easy they are to carry (bags that fold inside themselves are great) if you are going to consider purchasing reusable bags. Good luck.

Anyone know any other campuses that have done any efforts regarding plastic bag reduction- taxes or incentives?

Thanks,
Dan Waxman, LEED AP
dwaxman@gmu.edu

Hi Dan,

Here is a blog post from Nov. 3 with a few examples of plastic bag bans on campuses. The title is: Plastic Bag Bans — They’re Not Just for Cities, Counties and States Anymore.

Hope that helps. Good luck trying this at George Mason U.

-- Judy Walton Director of Resources and Publications AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) 859.258.2551 x. 117 | judy@aashe.org | www.aashe.org Save the Date! AASHE 2012, Oct. 14-17, Los Angeles

Dan,

I'm a student at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville. I've been working for the last year to try to get a plastic bag fee (modeled on the DC program) enacted at UT. I have a draft proposal I'd be willing to share if you're interested.

Good luck!

Luke Waring
lwaring1@utk.edu