Results tagged “plastic”

"Untitled" by zeebleoop , from the Seattlest Flickr pool

By now all Seattle Public Utilities customers (so, everyone) should have received a brochure outlining the new recycling and compost guidelines, which go into effect today. Meat scraps, fish, dairy, shells and bones are now allowed in your food and yard waste bin. Plastic lids and foil are finally recyclable, too. For a full list of changes, see the Seattle Public Utilities website. We're especially glad for the new composting guidelines, which have been too long coming.

Eww...Somehow we haven't ever before considered the potentially toxic chemicals in such seemingly innocuous every-day items as baby bottles, but now we're eying all the plastic around us with new suspicion. The chemical in question today is bisphenol A, or BPA, which the state House just voted to ban from baby bottles, sippy cups and water bottles sold here. How timely--today, six of the largest manufacturers of baby bottles announced they're not even going to make BPA-contaminated products anymore, according to the Washington Post.

A plastics manufacturers' trade group has now spent over $180,625 in its attempts to prevent the City Council's $0.20 plastic bag fee from going into effect this January, the P-I reports. Thanks for caring about how much that $0.20 bag tax will impact our debit card balance, American Chemistry Council! We feel like you're really on our side, even though you're over there in Virginia, because you're throwing all this money at the cause. It's especially great to have more sneakily-worded petitions waved in our faces as we leave the grocery store.

After a committee vote yesterday, the full City Council is set to decide on Monday if Seattle will adopt a 20-cent fee for plastic bags at grocery, drug, and convenience stores, as well as a ban on polystyrene food and drink containers. If passed, the fee and ban will go into effect on January 1, 2009. Stores that use the plastic foam containers to package meat will have a year to figure out an alternative method. (May we suggest butcher paper? We imagine that is how it got its name.) While it might be annoying to get charged a few bucks for plastic bags after a big shopping trip, it will hopefully remind us to always bring a reusable bag, which is a benefit to everyone.