'Go Green' summit focuses on reducing use of plastic bags

NEWPORT NEWS

We throw away an estimated 100 billion of them a year. They end up in landfills or floating around outside, and in southeastern Virginia they blow into cotton fields and foul harvests.

What to do about all those plastic bags?

The Retail Alliance in Norfolk convened a "Go Green" summit on Tuesday afternoon at Christopher Newport University to talk about it. Representatives from government, businesses and environmental groups met to discuss their ideas on how to reduce the use of plastic bags and encourage recycling.

The alliance, an association that represents retail merchants, brought in actor and activist Peter Coyote to facilitate.

The Emmy award-winning actor has appeared in more than 90 movies, including "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" and "Behind Enemy Lines." He also appeared in the TV shows "Brothers and Sisters" and "Commander in Chief."

Coyote said everyone is affected by the hundreds of millions of plastic bags that aren't being recycled.

"They're clogging landfills. They're poisoning wildlife," he said. "My guess is that when everybody cooperates, there will be some kind of reasonable solution."

One idea being discussed is to charge a fee for plastic bags.

Ray Hamilton, chief information officer for Dollar Tree Stores Inc. and a Retail Alliance board member, said he would prefer not to add such a "tax" on consumers, and threw out a different idea: Ban all bags so people have to bring their own.

"It's radical, but it's how you would ensure someone would bring their own bags," he said.

That idea came up earlier this year in the Virginia General Assembly after farmers in Isle of Wight County got tired of plastic bags contaminating cotton harvests. Plastic shredded in cotton gins mixes in bales that are shipped overseas for clothing manufacturing.

The concerns led to the formation of a coalition studying plastic bags and ways to reduce littering and promote recycling.

The Retail Alliance opposed legislation that would have allowed localities to ban the use of standard grocery-store plastic bags, but supported a study to find ways to encourage recycling, said Susan Milhoan, the alliance's president.

John Deuel, the executive director of Keep Norfolk Beautiful, said he too thinks a ban goes too far.

"I think it's business-unfriendly and it would be difficult to do," he said.

Farm Fresh is among chains offering incentives for people to not use plastic bags. The stores sell reusable "green bags" for 99 cents. If a customer uses the green bag or brings his or her own, the store discounts 5 cents on the bill. It also donates 5 cents to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation every time a customer uses one of its "green bags."

Coyote said he takes three cloth bags when he goes to the market in Southern California. Consumers, he said, will have to do their part.

"I wonder why it's never a part of the conversation that, you know, people have to change a little bit," he said.

Patrick Wilson, (757) 446-2957, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com