Alaskan villages ban plastic bags

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

The Alaskan villages of Emmonak, Galena and Kotlik have banned plastic bags, joining 30 other communities in Alaska that have turned to less environmentally damaging ways of carrying groceries.

“It’s working out good here,” said Peter Captain Sr., chief of the tribal council in Galena, where the city banned stores from using plastic bags in 1998.

Ireland and Taiwan tax bags to curtail their use. South Africa banned them completely, as did Bangladesh after floods were linked to plastic bags clogging up drains.

The Alaskan city of Bethel is now considering banning the bags. Clair Grifka, Bethel’s public works director, told the Anchorage Daily News that he looked out his office window and saw an enormous flock of snow geese. Then he realized it was 800 to 1,000 white plastic bags.

If adopted, the Bethel ban could cost violators up to $500.

Alaska’s department of environmental conservation promotes the recycling of plastic bags by turning them into crocheted crafts, backpacks, handbags, bath mats and baskets.