Recycling plastic bags can't do enough, ban 'em

Setting up bins for people to deposit recyclable plastic bags is better than doing nothing to deal with the ubiquitous form of litter and waste, but it's the wrong "something."

The state Department of Environmental Quality recently awarded a $28,000 grant to Isle of Wight County to buy the recycling bins and a baler for use at three county dump stations. As The Pilot's Carolyn Shapiro reported last week, officials hope the program will serve as a model for similar recycling efforts in other communities.

But the model that state officials should be watching is farther south, on the barrier islands of Currituck, Dare and Hyde counties in North Carolina. Beginning Sept. 1, most stores on the Outer Banks will be prohibited from distributing plastic shopping bags. Customers will be encouraged instead to buy and use inexpensive, reusable cloth bags.

In addition to the aesthetic benefit of reducing litter in a tourism-dependent area, North Carolina's program is designed to protect wildlife and marine life - particularly sea turtles - that eat or get entangled in the plastic. Shifting from disposable bags will reduce the energy consumed to make the bags and will save space in overburdened landfills, where plastic takes decades or longer to break down.

In Isle of Wight, a ban was discussed, primarily as a way to deal with plastic bags interfering with cotton production. But legislation that would have enabled localities to enact such bans died in committees in 2008 and again this year.

State Sen. Fred Quayle, R-Suffolk, and Del. William Barlow, D-Smithfield, were part of the initial effort; Del. Joe Bouchard, D-Virginia Beach, tried to revive it this year.

Virginia lawmakers have shown they grasp the value of shifting consumers to disposable bags. In Hampton Roads, Farm Fresh donates a nickel per reusable bag to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and gives another nickel per bag to the customer.

Earlier this year, the General Assembly honored the retailer for the program, which is credited with preventing 538,000 bags from ending up as waste or litter in 2008.

Adding recycling bins in a single county - and, eventually, other localities - will boost those efforts a bit. But if they're serious about addressing the problem, Virginia lawmakers should follow North Carolina's lead and begin implementing a broader ban on plastic bags.