Following Seattle's Example

I just returned from a trip to the Pacific Northwest. Every time I visit I'm amazed by how progressive the cities are. I'm not taking about politics, I'm talking about the environment (though I guess that is a political topic, particularly these days). My brother lives in Washington State near Portland, Oregon and we've made the trip out there several times. Portland is ahead of us in transportation (they were adding bike lanes and improving safety for people walking before everyone else jumped on board) and when it comes to waste. I noticed years ago that all of the restaurants had three cans, one for garbage, one for traditional recycling and one for food waste.

This trip we ventured further north and went to Seattle. We immediately noticed that the plastic to-go cups all said they were compostable. What wasn't as obvious and took a few food stops for us to realize was that all of the plastic ware - the forks, knives, spoons and straws - and take out containers were compostable too. The environmentally-conscious packaging is required by law. (Though I was surprised to read in the Seattle Times that it took 10 years for this ban to take full effect.) Seattle also banned single use plastic bags (even the biodegradable ones) but I guess you can still get one if you pay for one (I was asked if I wanted one at one shop and did because I purchased a few things), though I didn't notice the charge when I was shopping (the 10% sales tax may have distracted me from that 5-cent bag). We talked to one small business owner to said the transition hadn't been entirely seamless. While he didn't have an issue (this was a tea shop and their paper cups were already biodegradable) he said the bubble tea shop had a hard time because there was only one company that made those giant straws in a biodegradable version and they sold out after many communities instituted plastic straw bans.

If large corporations like Starbucks (which I should note is Seattle-based) can commit to phasing out plastic straws, why can't cities and states across the country follow Seattle's lead and require compostable or biodegradable alternatives? You could fit several New Jersey's inside the state of Washington, but we actually have about 1 million more residents that call New Jersey home. Think about what an impact our tiny state could have. Perhaps those man made hills in the Meadowlands (they're trash for anyone who didn't realize) won't grow as quickly as they have been. Washington may have more landmass to accommodate garbage dumps, but landfills weren't the only reason Seattle took steps to ban single use plastic. One of the driving reasons for these measures was marine plastic pollution and preserving the Puget Sound.

This blog post is an assignment for the Theory and Practice of Social Media course at NJIT.