Maui and Big Island ban plastic shopping bags

"Paper or plastic?" is a question you might not hear for long. Despite objections from businesses, the Maui County Council on Aug. 22 passed Hawai‘i’s first municipal ban on plastic shopping bags, which will take effect in January 2011 to provide time for stores to convert to reusable cloth bags or recyclable paper bags. The Retail Merchants of Hawaii opposed the measure.

On Aug. 27, the Big Island followed suit when the Hawaii County Council voted to ban businesses on that island from offering plastic bags at checkouts. That law takes effect one year after Mayor Harry Kim signs the bill.

Maui’s new law requires bags to be 100 percent recyclable and be labeled "reusable" and "recyclable" on the outside. Big Island businesses will be encouraged to offer customers 100 percent recyclable paper bags, which must be made out of a minimum of 40 percent post-consumer recycled content, or reusable totes. Big Island businesses that continue to use plastic could be fined up to $1,000 or 200 hours of community service for each offense.

Dick Botti, president of the Hawaii Food Industry Association, which represents most major supermarkets in the isles, also opposed both bills. “We'll make it work, but it’s going to be higher costs and inconvenience for the consumer,” Botti told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. “There's going to be a problem with wet and frozen goods.”

Elsewhere, San Francisco and Los Angeles already have banned plastic shopping bags and Seattle is considering a fee for using plastic bags.