Who benefits when we reduce our waste?

When you think of trash, and the people who work to combat it, do you mostly think of environmentalists? It's actually a concern to more people than you think!

- Farmers: Plastic bags and other trash get caught in their machinery, and can make livestock sick. The value of a cotton crop falls when plastic gets mixed in, and cleaning the trash out of a cotton gin is dangerous work! Check out this editorial from the Virginian-Pilot about waste-reduction support from the Virginia Farm Bureau.

- Boaters: Ever gotten a bag or fishing line caught around your outboard motor? Not very good for the motor, huh?

- Departments of Transportation: Cleaning up trash from the sides of our highways and byways costs a lot of money. In Maryland, it's as much as $29 per bag of trash collected. The Roanoke Times reported that it's time-consuming too:

[City Councilman Court] Rosen emphasized that the council's support for consideration of the measure resulted from hearing from the city's transportation division that picking up plastic bags along rights of way before mowing was taking more time than the actual mowing.

- Businesses: While many places still give us bags for our purchases for free, they do cost money. A typical grocery store pays 2 cents for each plastic bag, and 5 cents for each paper bag. If we take fewer bags, the business saves money!

- Landfills: They're in the business of taking our trash, but some of our stuff they just don't want. One landfill builder in Maryland says he has to put 40-foot-high fences around new landfills to keep plastic bags inside--otherwise, they catch the wind and just decorate the trees in the area. I'm sure that fence wasn't cheap.

- Food pantries: They serve a vital role in the community, providing food and other services to those in need. But they operate on a shoestring and, just as for their clients, every little bit helps. Bread for the City, a food pantry in Washington, DC, began distributing groceries in reusable bags in 2010, thanks to donations from corporations and grocery stores like Safeway. They made a deal with their clients: Bring back the cloth bags next week, and we'll give you an extra pound of fresh fruits and vegetables. It's been a smashing success. Not only are the families getting more fresh, healthy food, but BFC has saved thousands of dollars by not having to buy new bags every week.

Who else in our community benefits from less trash?

Baltimore Rolls Out a New Voluntary Ban on Plastic Bags

The Sun's B'More Green has an article today about Baltimore's new program, where stores, in essence, voluntarily ban plastic bags. Stores that wish to continue distributing single-use plastic bags must be registered with the city, ask each customer if they want a bag (rather than automatically using one), and offer recycling of bags on location. Enforcement is handled by city health inspectors, since they are already at the stores and eateries for food regulation requirements.

It sounds pretty convoluted, but I'm curious to see if this works. China has a poorly enforced ban on plastic bags that actually has reduced use by upwards of 50%. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that simple peer pressure (i.e., the checker asking if a customer wants a bag) is surprisingly effective in reducing waste. But so far about a third of Baltimore's retailers--likely mostly large chains--have declared that they like single-use plastic, which is discouraging when so many alternatives are available. And the rollout of this program has not been smooth:

City officials didn't get the online registration system set up until shortly before the ordinance was to take effect on Sept. 1, and many merchants complained they hadn't been able to log in so they could legally keep giving out plastic bags. Others said they simply didn't know anything about what they were supposed to do. An embarrassed City Council was forced to delay the law's startup.

At any rate, hopefully it's a start. And if it doesn't accomplish the goals of the Office of Sustainability, hopefully they'll pursue stronger, more effective solutions.