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Steven Goode, courant.com, April 12, 2010
The city has begun its spring curbside leaf collection service. The service, which will end April 23, requires biodegradable trash bags.
Residents are asked to place bags of leaves at the curb as they would their trash and recyclables for their weekly assigned waste collection day.
Leaves should be placed at the curb no earlier than 4 p.m. on the day before collection and no later than 7 a.m. on the day of collection.
Leaves may not be placed in trash containers and must be collected separately for recycling. Residents may drop off bagged leaves at the public works yard, 40 Jennings Road.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
City Begins Leaf Collection
Bag bans gain momentum
EarthTalk, smdp.com, April 12, 2010
Dear EarthTalk, How effective have plastic bag bans and restrictions been on reducing plastic litter and other problems associated with their proliferation? And is it really better to use paper bags, which will just lead to more deforestation?
Peter Lindsey, New Canaan, Conn.
Plastic bags, first introduced in the 1950s as a convenient way to store food, have since developed into a global scourge, littering roadsides, clogging sewer drains and landfills and getting ingested by animals and marine life. And in recent years we've discovered how they are so prolific that they now comprise a significant portion of the plastic and other garbage that has collected in huge ocean gyres far from land.
A few countries around the world — Bangladesh, China, India, Australia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Israel, South Africa, Taiwan and Mumbai, among others — have taken stands against plastic bags through taxing their usage or banning them outright. The environmental think tank, Worldwatch Institute, reports that China's decision to ban free plastic bags in 2008 has cut demand by some 40 billion bags, reduced plastic bag usage there by 66 percent, and saved some 1.6 million tons of petroleum.
In March 2007, San Francisco became the first (and is still the only) major U.S. city to implement an across-the-board ban on plastic bags. Large supermarkets and pharmacies there had to ditch plastic shopping bags by early 2008 in favor of paper bags or those made from all-natural biodegradable cornstarch-based plastic. Environmentalists are particularly fond of the latter option for those who don't bring their own grocery bags, as these cornstarch bags offer the biodegradability of paper without the deforestation as well as the convenience of plastic without the damage to ecosystems. San Francisco officials had originally tried to work with retailers on reducing plastic bag use voluntarily. But after a few years of little or no cooperation, they decided to just institute the ban on anything but biodegradable bags. The result has been a 50 percent drop in plastic bag litter on the streets since the ban took effect.
Los Angeles followed suit and its city council voted in 2008 to ban plastic bags beginning in July 2010 — but the ban will only take effect if the state of California doesn't follow through on a statewide plan to impose a fee on shoppers who request plastic bags. City council members in L.A. hope the ban will spur consumers to carry their own reusable bags and thus reduce the amount of plastic washing into the city's storm drains and into the Pacific Ocean. Several other U.S. cities, including New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, have considered outright bans like San Francisco's, but each settled instead on plastic bag recycling programs in the face of pressure from the plastics industry and retail commercial interests.
While increased demand for paper bags in the wake of plastic bag bans could lead to more deforestation, most paper grocery bags in use today are made from recycled content, not virgin wood. Also, an added benefit of paper over petroleum-based plastic is its biodegradability.
Americans go through some 92 billion disposable plastic bags each year, and only five billion paper ones. If the nation banned plastic bags it is likely that paper varieties would only make up a small part of the difference, in light of the proliferation of reusable canvas shopping bags as well as the availability of biodegradable cornstarch plastic.
Want to get down to earth? Submit questions to earthtalk@emagazine.com.
Metabolix to ship first biodegradable plastic, Mirel
By Jackie Noblett, Mass High Tech, April 9, 2010
For nearly two decades, Oliver Peoples and the Cambridge-based company he founded, Metabolix Inc., have been working on ways to turn crops into biodegradable plastics.
The company, founded in 1992 and public since 2006, bore the brunt of the long, slow and expensive process of industrial biotechnology and clean-technology commercialization. But this month, Metabolix (Nasdaq: MBLX) finally will turn the corner so many of its peer companies have failed to do and begin shipping its first plastic, known as Mirel, from its commercial plant in Clinton, Iowa, to customers and book revenue.
Traversing the chasm between technology and production is supremely difficult in the cleantech field, and for Metabolix it has meant years of losses and the dependence on joint venture agreements with agricultural giants to finance much of its expansion. Executives say the transition to producer from developer is critical for the company to prove to investors and customers the technology is more than a science project.
“The commercialization of Mirel is a huge step for us, for it provides a huge point of credibility that other industrial biotechs are looking for,” said Metabolix President and Chief Executive Richard Eno. “We have now transitioned into an environment that creates a lot more opportunities for us to build on the foundation of Mirel and into other products we’re working on.”
Driving the interest is projections of a sizable market for the materials to be used in anything from plastic bags to yogurt cups. Sales of biodegradable and bio-based plastics could reach $1.7 billion to $2.4 billion by 2012, according to a report by investment bank Jefferies & Co.
Metabolix’s history is not drastically different from other biotechs in the ethanol, chemical and materials industries — using major advances in genetic engineering made in the 1970s and 1980s and combining it with chemistry and materials science. But what makes Metabolix unique is not that it is making biodegradable plastics, but trying to create a single polymer that can withstand heat and cold, can be injection-molded into pens and can be in contact with food.
“What we’re making is a new polymer that has never been made before,” Eno said. “When you’re putting a new material out there, there are various tests and other processes that take time.”
“I think the benefit is once you’re there, it’s an enduring thing,” he added.
That’s if you actually get to the end goal. Metabolix’s ability to go commercial arguably would not have been possible without a joint venture forged in 2006 with Decatur, Ill.-based Archer Daniels Midland Co., one of the world’s largest producers of corn-based ethanol.
ADM essentially fronted the cost of building Metabolix’s Clinton plant to the tune of well over $300 million as well as access to the corn sugar feedstock that is used to make Mirel. In return, Metabolix provides research and development as well as marketing and product development services to the venture.
Eno says the partnership enabled Metabolix to get over the hurdle of fronting the money for a plant, something the early-stage company could not do on its own.
Last year, the 100-employee company generated $1.6 million in revenue from grant funding and payments from ADM, posted a net loss of $38 million. Meanwhile, the company’s stock has surged since February, trading near $13 per share from a 52-week low of about $6.
Biodegradable plastic use on rise in Costa Rica
sify news, April 9, 2010
Uses of biodegradable plastic bags in Costa Rica has increased significantly in the last three years as a result of an intensified climate conservation campaign across the country and in Central America.
Consumers are now purchasing disposable and environment friendly plastic containers, bags and bottles. Such products are gaining ground in less than three years after the technology came in the market, said Silvia Vega, CEO of Milenio Tres, distributor of D2W technology used to convert plastics into degradable material.
Although biodegradable products make up less than 10 percent of all plastics on the market in the Central American country, the trend is towards continued rapid growth, she said.
The increased use of 'green' products in Costa Rica is part of a worldwide trend; among other Central American countries that have embraced oxo-biodegradable plastics are El Salvador and Guatemala.
According to Milenio Tres, close to 220 million tonnes of plastic is produced annually worldwide and approximately 20 million tonnes of plastic debris end up in rivers and oceans.
The company also estimates that 90 percent of the plastic made since 1930 remains somewhere on the planet as rubbish without decomposing, polluting earth, air and water.
International environmental watchdogs say nearly one million seabirds die annually from ingesting plastic, while turtles in oceans all over the world mistake floating plastic bags and sheets for jellyfish and choke to death.
In Costa Rica, roughly 4,500 tonnes of urban solid waste is produced every day. Of them, approximately 30 percent ends up in rivers and oceans.
Oxo-biodegradable plastic is anywhere from between five percent and 10 percent more expensive to manufacture, Vega said, but there are ways to bring that cost down.
'In reality, this cost is nothing compared to the environmental benefit of having waste that will decompose instead of accumulating on the planet for decades,' Vega said.
D2W technology is used in more than 90 countries and has been approved in accordance with international guidelines, including those of the US Food and Drug Administration.
Biodegradable bags ordinance takes effect
KTRK-TV, April 5, 2010
HOUSTON - Starting today, the city of Houston will require residents to switch to biodegradable bags or eventually pay a fine.
City residents will now have to put their yard trimmings in green friendly bags with the city's seal. The new bags will cost you about three times more than the old bags.
And under the new ordinance, residents can face a fine of up to $2,000 if they're not put in city-approved bags.
But officials say it will not fine anyone for the first few weeks.
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Biodegradable Lawn & Yard Waste Bags are available online from Carolina Green FoodService Supply.
City Requires Biodegradable Yard Waste Bags
Bags Cost 80 Cents Each
KETV.com, April 5, 2010
click here to watch news video
HOUSTON - People in Houston must use biodegradable bags to dispose of yard waste or face a hefty fine, KPRC-TV in Houston reported.
The city's new ordinance goes into effect Monday.
The City Council hopes the biodegradable bags will save the city about $1.5 million annually and preserve the environment and landfill space.
The city-approved bags are available at grocery and hardware stores around the city. They cost about 80 cents each.
Some residents are very upset about the added cost, as a regular trash bag can cost about 25 cents each.
"We have received dozens and dozens of e-mails and phone calls," Councilman Mike Sullivan said. "Not one of them has complimented the city for this program."
Residents who put their yard waste in any other type of bag will face a fine of up to $2,000.
There are alternatives for residents who do not want to use the bags.
"You can use a mulching mower and grasscycle," said Marina Joseph, with the city's solid waste department. "That is very good for the environment."
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Biodegradable Lawn & Yard Waste Bags are available online from Carolina Green FoodService Supply.
Friday, February 12, 2010
New law: They don't take plastic
Starting this Thursday, N.C. is outlawing plastic bottles in landfills. But recycling rangers likely won't bust you.
By Lynn Bonner, charlotteobserver.com, Sept. 28, 2009
Public service announcements, fliers, and corporate-gift cards are all aimed at getting N.C. households to comply with a state law kicking in Thursday that bans plastic bottles from landfills.
But don't look for the trash cops if soda bottles end up in your garbage cans.
"That's not the spirit of the law," said Scott Mouw, the state's recycling director. "Clearly, this is more of a law of spirit or intent, everyone recognizing the positive reasons to recycle."
State enforcement efforts will be targeted at haulers who show up at landfills with loads of banned material. Most local governments don't have the power or the interest in dogging residents who don't recycle.
Charlotte's Solid Waste Services department does not conduct enforcement, spokeswoman Brandi Williams said. "It's a state law, so it is on them to enforce it," Williams said.
Charlotte offers a volunteer recycling program in which households place certain items in red bins and workers collect them weekly. Workers who pick up recycling sort the plastic, metal and paper at the curb.
Starting next July in Charlotte, recycling will be collected every other week, instead of weekly. The city is trading the red recycling bins for larger rolling containers similar to its trash cans. Workers will dump everything into trucks, and the plastic-metal-paper sorting will be at an automated facility.
The move is part of a plan to save about $26 million over 10 years.
Without enforcement efforts, though, North Carolina's embrace of recycling has been more of a half-hug.
North Carolina missed a 10-year recycling goal it set back in 1991 for reducing trash disposal. In fact, more trash went to landfills, not less. Garbage disposal went from 1.01 tons per person in 1992 to 1.21 tons per person by June 2001.
The state now has a new goal: Recycle 2 million tons of bottles, cans, and other materials each year by 2012. N.C. residents currently recycle about 1.3 million tons a year.
The state recycles fewer than one in five bottles, Mouw said, and he's sure that rate can go up.
One of the state's new tactics to persuade people to keep plastic out of the trash is to focus on the empty bottles as a raw material for the state recycling industry. The state has plants that are a step in the manufacturing chain that turns used bottles into new bottles and other materials. The largest plastics recycling plant in the nation is to open in Fayetteville next year.
Though state law bars specific materials from landfills - such as aluminum cans, big appliances and tires - recycling practices vary across the state and are largely governed by local ordinance.
Some communities, such as Orange County and Cary, constantly add items to their list of recyclables, while other localities make a more limited effort.
Orange County, which includes Hillsborough and Chapel Hill, recycled more plastic per person than any other county last year, according to state figures. Orange residents recycled about 29.5 pounds of plastic bottles per person in 2007-08.
Pamlico County was the next closest with 14.8 pounds per person. The state average was 3.8 pounds per person.
"People across the county have a really high recycling ethic," said Blair Pollock, Orange County's solid waste planner.
Four counties didn't collect plastic for recycling. Some of the state's municipalities - Kannapolis being the largest - don't have curbside recycling, Mouw said.
Katie Burdett, who wrote about plastics recycling as a requirement for her master's in public administration from UNC Chapel Hill this year, said the state would need to require recycling and develop an enforcement strategy to maximize the ban's impact.
Local communities' recycling success largely depends on the commitment of those in charge of running it, said Burdett, who interned in the state recycling office. Communities that do best have someone whose sole job it is to encourage recycling, keep in touch with major garbage producers and watch the recycling markets, she said.
Charlotte Observer staff writer Fred Clasen-Kelly contributed.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Biodegradable plastics' 'green' association propels their growth, claims report
The green factor is triggering the growth of biodegradable plastics, particularly in the areas of consumer products and packaging, Frost & Sullivan reports.
By Anne Marie Mohan, GreenerPackage.com, Jan. 4, 2010
As biodegradable plastics fall under the "green" category, they exhibit high potential for growth compared to other thriving environment-friendly technologies in the renewable energy and chemicals segments. That’s the conclusion of new analysis from Frost & Sullivan, “Biodegradable Plastics—A Strategic Assessment of Technology Status and Application Prospects.”
The report indicates that opportunities are proliferating in key application areas such as packaging/plastic bags, agriculture, consumer goods, electronics, automotive, and healthcare. Growth in this sector occurs due to factors such as climate change, favorable governmental measures, and green procurement policies practiced by governments and corporate entities. Stringent environmental regulations are driving the development of bio-based products and are triggering the growth of the biodegradable plastics industry.
In the analysis, Frost & Sullivan finds that consumer products and packaging have emerged as the application sectors having the highest potential for biodegradable plastics. Analysis revealed that film packaging and rigid packaging scored the best in terms of level of attractiveness and possibility of success.
"Traditional packaging materials contain a range of oil-based polymers, which are largely nonbiodegradable," notes technical insights research analyst W.F. Kee. "Packaging waste forms a significant part of municipal solid waste and has caused increasing environmental concerns, resulting in strengthening of legislation in order to reduce packaging waste."
The report notes that with the ramping up of the attraction quotient in recent years, green products are clearly gaining advocates. “It has become increasingly fashionable for the public to support green products,” Frost & Sullivan says. “The popularity of hybrid cars and reusable bags is a good example. Eco-friendly products have been introduced in various sectors, including food, appliances, and cars. ”
Consumer interest in bio-based packaging is on the rise, the analysis relates. Public support for green products is partially responsible for the biodegradable plastics market growth, and this global trend is expected to continue, gathering steam in the future.
Challenges to growth
Although the overall prospects look bright, some issues have been reining in market progress, the report notes. Cost competitiveness is foremost among the challenges confronting the market. To circumvent this obstacle, proposed solutions include the use of cheaper feedstock, for instance, biomass-based feedstock, as well as an integrated process. Utilization of feedstock is very limited right now, Frost & Sullivan says, and the adoption of biomass-based feedstock will mostly be influenced by the development of improved biocatalysts.
Other concerns associated with biodegradable plastics are poor processability characteristics, low barrier properties toward air, water, and oxygen, low resistance to heat, and in some cases, low shelf life, the report states.
"The properties of traditional biodegradable polymers do not offer the essential mechanical properties and fail to match up to the needs of end-user application compared with conventional plastics," says Kee. "This acts as a barrier for the penetration of biodegradable packaging in high-end applications."
The report concludes that it is imperative that these impediments be addressed before biodegradable products can compete on an equal footing with conventional plastics.
Suggestions to improve properties include deploying enhanced blending technologies or developing composites. Blending studies are underway in the academic and corporate sectors, and efforts have been initiated for the development of bio- and nanocomposites, Frost & Sullivan says. The former incorporates bio-based materials such as natural fibers to improve the mechanical properties of biodegradable plastics, while the latter incorporates nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes to produce materials that are stronger and more durable.
Click here to go to original article
Biodegradable Particles Can Bypass Mucus, Release Drugs Over Time
ScienceDaily, Jan. 4, 2010
Johns Hopkins University researchers have created biodegradable nanosized particles that can easily slip through the body's sticky and viscous mucus secretions to deliver a sustained-release medication cargo.
The researchers say these nanoparticles, which degrade over time into harmless components, could one day carry life-saving drugs to patients suffering from dozens of health conditions, including diseases of the eye, lung, gut or female reproductive tract.
The mucus-penetrating biodegradable nanoparticles were developed by an interdisciplinary team led by Justin Hanes, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins. The team's work was reported recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Hanes' collaborators included cystic fibrosis expert Pamela Zeitlin, a professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and director of pediatric pulmonary medicine at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
These nanoparticles, Zeitlin said, could be an ideal means of delivering drugs to people with cystic fibrosis, a disease that kills children and adults by altering the mucus barriers in the lung and gut.
"Cystic fibrosis mucus is notoriously thick and sticky and represents a huge barrier to aerosolized drug delivery," she said. "In our study, the nanoparticles were engineered to travel through cystic fibrosis mucus at a much greater velocity than ever before, thereby improving drug delivery. This work is critically important to moving forward with the next generation of small molecule and gene-based therapies."
Beyond their potential applications for cystic fibrosis patients, the nanoparticles also could be used to help treat disorders such as lung and cervical cancer, and inflammation of the sinuses, eyes, lungs and gastrointestinal tract, said Benjamin C. Tang, lead author of the recent journal article and a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
"Chemotherapy is typically given to the whole body and has many undesired side effects," he said. "If drugs are encapsulated in these nanoparticles and inhaled directly into the lungs of lung cancer patients, drugs may reach lung tumors more effectively, and improved outcomes may be achieved, especially for patients diagnosed with early stage non-small cell lung cancer."
In the lungs, eyes, gastrointestinal tract and other areas, the human body produces layers of mucus to protect sensitive tissue. But an undesirable side effect is that these mucus barriers can also keep helpful medications away.
In proof-of-concept experiments, previous research teams led by Hanes earlier demonstrated that latex particles coated with polyethylene glycol could slip past mucus coatings. But latex particles are not a practical material for delivering medication to human patients because they are not broken down by the body. In the new study, the researchers described how they took an important step forward in making new particles that biodegrade into harmless components while delivering their drug payload over time.
"The major advance here is that we were able make biodegradable nanoparticles that can rapidly penetrate thick and sticky mucus secretions, and that these particles can transport a wide range of therapeutic molecules, from small molecules such as chemotherapeutics and steroids to macromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids," Hanes said. "Previously, we could not get these kinds of sustained-release treatments through the body's sticky mucus layers effectively."
The new biodegradable particles comprise two parts made of molecules routinely used in existing medications. An inner core, composed largely of polysebacic acid (PSA), traps therapeutic agents inside. A particularly dense outer coating of polyethylene glycol (PEG) molecules, which are linked to PSA, allows a particle to move through mucus nearly as easily as if it were moving through water and also permits the drug to remain in contact with affected tissues for an extended period of time.
In Hanes' previous studies with mucus-penetrating particles, latex particles could be effectively coated with PEG but could not release drugs or biodegrade. Unlike latex, however, PSA can degrade into naturally occurring molecules that are broken down and flushed away by the body through the kidney, for example. As the particles break down, the drugs loaded inside are released.
This property of PSA enables the sustained release of drugs, said Samuel Lai, assistant research professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, while designing them for mucus penetration allows them to more readily reach inaccessible tissues.
Jie Fu, an assistant research professor, also from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, said, "As it degrades, the PSA comes off along with the drug over a controlled amount of time that can reach days to weeks."
Polyethylene glycol acts as a shield to protect the particles from interacting with proteins in mucus that would cause them to be cleared before releasing their contents. In a related research report, the group showed that the particles can efficiently encapsulate several chemotherapeutics, and that a single dose of drug-loaded particles was able to limit tumor growth in a mouse model of lung cancer for up to 20 days.
Hanes, Zeitlin, Lai and Fu are all affiliated with Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology. Other authors on the paper are Ying-Ying Wang, Jung Soo Suk, and Ming Yang, doctoral students in the Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering; Michael P. Boyle, an associate professor in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; and Michelle Dawson, an assistant professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
This work was supported in part by funding from the National Institutes of Health, a National Center for Research Resources Clinical and Translational Science Award, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the National Science Foundation and a Croucher Foundation Fellowship.
The technology described in the journal article is protected by patents managed by the Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer office and is licensed exclusively by Kala Pharmaceuticals. Justin Hanes is a paid consultant to Kala Pharmaceuticals, a startup company in which he holds equity, and is currently a member of its board. The terms of these arrangements are being managed by The Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict-of-interest policies.
Click here to go to original article
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Drive to promote biodegradable alternatives
Express News Service, express buzz, Jan. 4, 2010
CUTTACK, India - If everything moves in the right direction, Cuttack could well become the first polythene-free city of the State. For, the civic authorities have charted out elaborate plans to phase out common use of the hazardous material.
While it is set for a crackdown on production, import and sale of polythene of less than 20 microns in strength in the city, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has resolved to launch a drive to educate people on using biodegradable alternatives.
The denizens would be sensitised on using textile, jute and paper bags instead of polythene carry bags. Shops, business establishments, hotels and restaurants have already been directed not to provide their goods in the banned polythene material to the customers, Commissioner RN Nanda said.
At the same time, a coordinated effort would be made to boost availability of the alternatives like paper and jute bags. The Corporation authorities along with the District Collector would hold a meeting of agencies concerned like the district industries centre and its wings to promote manufacturing paper bags and other biodegradable packaging material.
The move would serve two purposes: helping enormously in eliminating harmful polythene and providing employment opportunities.
Polythene is the single most contributing factor to the problems of water-logging in the millennium city. The Orissa High Court is also monitoring the enforcement of ban on recycled polythene in the city.
The deluge of 2007 and even the heavy showers last year had revealed the disastrous consequences of indiscriminate dumping of polythene and plastic materials in the drains and water discharge channels. While the city witnessed widespread inundation last year, fishing out of at least five tractor loads of plastic, polythene and polymer discards at the outage point of the Main Storm Water Channel near Matru Bhawan eased out the situation within hours.
A concerted campaign would be launched to make people conscious and debar them from dumping the hazardous materials into the drains, Nanda said.
New restrictions on plastic bags coming in Minn.
Associated Press, WQOW TV, Dec. 28, 2009
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Most residents of the Twin Cities metro area will soon face new state requirements on plastic yard bags, even though raking is months away.
A new state law taking effect on Friday requires metro-area residents - except those who live in Minneapolis - to use certified compostable bags for yard waste.
The requirement is waived for those who immediately empty their yard waste bags at a compost facility or transfer station. Minneapolis is exempt until 2013 while the city phases in a new compost system.
Another law going into effect Friday prohibits labeling plastic bags as "biodegradable" or "compostable" unless the bags meet standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials. Businesses that violate the labeling law could face fines of up to $5,000.
Houston delays requirement for biodegradable yard waste bags
Rule now set to go into effect Feb. 1
By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, Dec. 28, 2009
City officials predict that the change will result in the diversion of 60,000 tons of organic material from local landfills at an annual savings of $2 million in fees, or 10 percent of the city's yearly budget for waste disposalHouston waste officials have decided to delay the start of a program requiring the use of biodegradable and compostable bags for leaves and yard trimmings because of a supply problem.
The program will go into effect Feb. 1, instead of Jan. 1, to allow more time for the bags to reach store shelves, said Marina Joseph, a spokeswoman for the city's Solid Waste Department.
The newly mandated bags can be found at Walmart and Kroger stores and will soon be at other retailers, such as CVS, Ace Hardware and Do It Best Hardware, she said.
“They are out there, but it's not as widespread as we would like it to be,” Joseph said Monday of the bags. “We don't want to start the program without them being widely available.”
The city is making the change to the biodegradable bags because plastic bags, made from petroleum, can linger for centuries in landfills. The compostable bags begin to decompose within six weeks.
City officials predict that the change will result in the diversion of 60,000 tons of organic material from local landfills at an annual savings of $2 million in fees, or 10 percent of the city's yearly budget for waste disposal.
The compostable bags, however, are more expensive. A box of 10 city-required bags, each holding up to 39 gallons, costs $6 to $8, while a box of 70 similar-size plastic bags sells for about $16.
Resources
Bio bags
Effective Feb. 1, the city will only pick up leaves, grass trimmings and other yard waste that is left out in biodegradable or compostable bags. Some details:
What: The new bags feel like plastic, but are made of starch and start decomposing in six weeks.
Why: The city hopes to conserve landfill space, cut waste and reduce use of petroleum-based plastic bags that take centuries to decompose.
How much: A box of 10, 39-gallon bags will sell for $6-$8 at several grocery retailers — up to 80 cents a bag, compared with under 25 cents for comparable plastic bags.
Where they are: The following Walmart locations say they have the new bags in stock. Officials say other retailers, such as CVS, Ace Hardware, Do It Best Hardware and possible Kroger, should have them in stock soon:
26270 Northwest Freeway, Cypress 22605 Tomball Pkwy., Tomball 9235 North Sam Houston Pkwy., Humble 5655 East Sam Houston Pkwy., Houston 9598 Rowlett Road, Houston 9460 West Sam Houston Pkwy. South, Houston 12353 FM 1960 West, Houston 2700 South Kirkwood Drive, Houston 9555 South Post Oak Road, Houston 13484 Northwest Freeway, Houston 2727 Dunvale Road, Houston 10411 North Freeway, Houston 155 Louetta Crossing, Spring 3506 Texas 6, Houston 27650 Tomball Pkwy., Tomball
More information: www.houstonsolidwaste.org.
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