Plastic shopping bags defy easy recycling and break down into microparticles that end up in our bodies.
plastic bags
Posted inEnvironment
How will Colorado’s new bag fee impact your life? Just look to the cities that already have bag charges.
As the state follows many local communities with a 10-cent plastic fee on Jan. 1, and a ban in 2024, conservationists count up the benefits.
Posted inOpinion Columns
Opinion: Instead of banning plastic bags, let’s invest in making plastic bags biodegradable
Paper bags have higher environmental costs than plastic.
Posted inCartoons, Opinion
Jim Morrissey: Colorado’s got this one in the bag
More cartoons from The Colorado Sun.
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Get ready for plastic and paper bag fees in Colorado — and say goodbye to styrofoam
Colorado lawmakers on Tuesday sent Gov. Jared Polis House Bill 1162, which would establish a fee for single-use products, like plastic and paper grocery bags, and let retailers keep some of the proceeds. The bill would also ban the use of styrofoam by restaurants starting in 2024. The measure has long been a priority of […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Nothing we use for a few minutes should harm our environment for hundreds of years
We’re using and producing more plastics than ever. In fact, Coloradans throw away an estimated 1,155,000 tons of plastics every year — over 6.3 million pounds per day. Just think about that cup that you hurriedly drank your morning coffee from and then threw away. It may be out of your hands, but it will […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, News
Colorado trash companies invest millions to speed up recycling. Now they just need more people to recycle.
Alpine Waste & Recycling shut down its Denver recycling facility for a month to retrofit the plant with new technology and equipment. When it reopened in the middle of March, the $2.5 million investment proved to be 33 percent faster at sorting paper from cardboard, aluminum cans from yogurt containers and juice cartons from plastic-lined […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News
Forget plastic bans: Mountain towns try volunteerism, bootcamps as solutions to single-use
The sister towns of Telluride and Mountain Village bagged plans to ban plastic straws after learning about an arcane Colorado law preventing municipalities from doing so. But that hasn’t stopped the resort communities from searching for alternatives to single-use plastics — or even recycling. The two towns, separated by a free gondola ride, feel the […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Politics and Government
Colorado’s ban on banning plastics has cities’ plans to outlaw single-use bags and straws in limbo
On its way to considering a ban on those flimsy disposable plastic grocery store bags, the city of Denver found out it can’t. Apparently, there is a Colorado law that bans municipalities from banning plastics, and Denver isn’t the only one to be taken aback. This may seem peculiar in a state where at least […]