Compostable Plastics

Biobags.

A bit over a week ago while I was visiting a friend in Ithaca, I was introduced to the concept of biodegradable / compostable plastics. Apparently, the salad bar where we ate had all of their plastic utensils and shopping bags made out of this material. I had never heard of such things before, and thought it was a joke. It's not though.

The material (or rather a group of materials) is called Mater-Bi, and is used to make such products as BioBags. They're made in the USA, they are fully compostable, and they're safe to burn as fuel. Now my question is: why aren't we using them here in New York City?

Landfill.
Image pulled from
Langley Grammar School forums.

Back in 2008, mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a shopping bag tax, charging six cents per bag on every purchase. Many immediately protested the proposal. I shrugged it off as “Big deal, I'll pay six cents more.” Some stores chose to deal with the problem of plastic polymer pollution individually. WholeFoods uses paper bags. Food Basics makes you purchase each bag for a few cents. BJ's Wholesale Club and Costco don't provide any bags at all, assuming that you will just cart your purchases to your car.

None of these solutions are great. Paper bags disintegrate in any kind of precipitation. Having to pay a few cents per bag reduces the problem, but hardly eliminates it. Carting your purchases to your car without bags is great only when you have a car, which many of the metropolitan residents do not.

Why not just switch to BioBags? Is it just a matter of awareness, like it was in my case?