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Banning Plastic Bags From
Your Community 
Several Villages in Alaska have been fed up with plastic
bags littering their communities. They decided to hunt these “snow
birds” that are not part of our traditional environment. Here’s
how a few Villages have taken action.
Research Village tips
Develop an ordinance or store agreements
Where to purchase reusable bags
Research Village tips
Native Village of Tanana
Contact: Kathleen Peters-Zuray 366-7160
Developing a plastic bag ban has been
an on-going process over two years for the Native Village of Tanana’s
Environmental Department. It started with community cleanups. When
they cleaned up around the dump they noticed they were picking up
70-90 plastic bags at a time. To take action, they sent
around pictures of the dump with all the plastic bags to
let people know about the problem. They brought the issue
to the Tribal and City Council’s and asked about
creating a plastic bag ban in the community. The community voted
to ban plastic bags and a Tribal resolution was passed.
The City Council is currently working through the plastic bag ban
ordinance.
The staff contacted Reuseablebags.com, and bought mesh nylons
bags to replace the plastic bags. Along with the mesh bags,
they ordered buttons to pass out that say “Plastic Bags Blow!”
to promote awareness of the problem. The Tanana Environmental Department
believes that education is a big part of trying to change
community habits and has been necessary for the ban to
be effective. They give kids talks in the school to
teach about the problem. According to the staff, a plastic bag ban
has definitely been a process for the community and it has
taken time for community members to change
their ways and start using the new bags.
Chevak Traditional Council
Contact: Cynthia Paniyak 858 7827 ctcenvironmental@hotmail.com
Chevak started their plastic bag recycling program in 2003. People
in the community currently drop off their bags at the Environmental
Department but a storage place is being built which will be the
new drop-off area. The plastic bags collected will be used to make
crocheted bags. Canvas bags have been purchased (through www.reuseablebags.com)
and will be distributed to the community once kids decorate the
bags.
A one page double-sided flyer was created to
educate the community on their plastic bag recycling program, and
this flyer was disturbed during ball games, to students at the school,
and during any other big events in Chevak. They also advertised
their plastic bag program over the radio. Finally, Chevak also held
monthly drawings for their recycling program and prizes were $5
gift certificates which could be used at the local store.
Click here to see the
great "plastic bag" flyer that Chevak created.
Click here to
see the flyer Chevak to annouce the use of canvas bags.
Native Village of Koyuk
Contact: Albert 963-3651 koyuk-environment@gci.net
The Native Village of Koyuk passed a resolution
banning the use of plastic bags. A grant from Alaska Conservation
was obtained and two canvas bags was issued to each house-hold. The
Koyuk Native Store also provided a canvas bag to customers with the
store name and logo. ANICA,Inc. joined the plastic bag ban and issued
a canvas bag with their name and logo to each of their customers of
voting age.
Click here to see a copy
of Koyuk's resolution
Louden Tribal Council
Contact: Cindy Pilot 656-1711
The Louden
Tribal Council passed a resolution prohibiting their local stores
from using plastic shopping bags. To promote community acceptance
of the ban, Louden used a 1999 EPA grant to purchase $2,000 worth
of canvas shopping bags for people to use instead.
Arctic Village Traditional Council
Contact: Marjorie Gemmill 587-5328 marjorie_nvvtg@hotmail.com
In
Arctic Village they just asked the stores to start using paper bags,
so there's no "alaska sno birds" anymore! They said it costs
a little more for paper, but it's better for the environment.
Native Village of Newtok
Contact: Margaret Nickerson 237-2325 dinning69@yahoo.com
Plastic
Bags are banned in Newtok. Some of the people there save the plastic
bags and return them to the stores once the plastic bag are full.
The stores clerks sure appreciate it when the bags are returned.
New Stuyahok Traditional Council
Contact: Andrew Wassille 693-3173
To reduce
the plastic bags in the community, the New Stuyahok Board got together
with their local store and stopped ordering plastic bags. Paper bags
with handles are now used instead. The paper bags are working very
well for them.
Native Village of Ft. Yukon
Contact: Vickie Thomas 662 2581
In 2003,
the City of Ft. Yukon passed a plastic bag ban ordinance and the Tribe
passed a resolution. To see a copy of their ordinance, click
here.
Native Village of Chefornak
Contact: Billy Chagluak 867-8306
At the time of writing, the Chefornak Environmental Program is currently working on banning plastic bags in the community. They carried out a community wide cleanup and will be purchasing canvas bags for the store to use.
Develop an ordinance or store agreements
Call the contacts listed above for examples of ordiances
and for advice in creating and passing ordinances. Also, check out
our Ordinances section
on SWAN.
Where to purchase reusable bags
Reusablebags.com http://reusablebags.com/
1 (888) 707-3873 (recommended by Chevak TC)
The Cloth Bag Company www.clothbag.com
(770) 393-0058 (recommended by Skaqua TC)
Enviro-Tote www.enviro-tote.com
1-800-TOTE BAG
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