Full Text Back to previous page document 1 of 1 New plastic bags that dispose of themselves! Condor, Bob. Knight Ridder Tribune News Service [Washington] 21 Mar 2003: 1. Abstract (summary) [Bicknell] has contracted with a manufacturer to make kitchen bags, larger 40-gallon bags and dog poop bags. Each product is made with durable plastic and a chemical additive that activates once the bag is exposed to the methane gases that develop in a typical landfill. She said there would be "zero" toxic residues as the bag breaks down. "We've done some charity events in Hollywood, such as one for an animal shelter," Bicknell said. "People loved the dog pickup bags and the whole idea of biodegradable bags that are still strong enough to hold the garbage." Vegetarian chicken drumsticks; tofu kielbasa and beer brats; meatless chicken-style strips for salads; super-sized containers of juice smoothies; Japanese-bento box-style filet of salmon frozen dinner; 100 percent pomegranate juice (due in major Chicago supermarkets this summer, selling fast in southern California); 100 percent blueberry juice (look for individual juice boxes in Chicago during the coming months); red tea products claiming more antioxidants than green tea (one brand already is in 3,000 supermarkets on the East Coast); and bottled waters from such faraway places as New Zealand and Fiji. ANAHEIM--A future in plastics may be most closely associated with a line delivered to Dustin Hoffman's character in the 1967 movie "The Graduate," but Dodonna Bicknell is living her own 2003 version. She has co-founded Planet Friendly Plastics, which debuted its product line of completely biodegradable plastic bags at last weekend's Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim. "I felt I needed to do something positive for the environment," said Bicknell, an executive producer at the commercial-making firm Uncle TV and creator of television ads for such past clients as Nike , Microsoft and the National Cotton Council. "I always wondered what happens to landfills. We started the company about a year ago and started making products three to four months ago," Bicknell said. Bicknell has contracted with a manufacturer to make kitchen bags, larger 40-gallon bags and dog poop bags. Each product is made with durable plastic and a chemical additive that activates once the bag is exposed to the methane gases that develop in a typical landfill. She said there would be "zero" toxic residues as the bag breaks down. "We plan to be competitive in pricing," said Bicknell, noting other makers of cornstarch-based, non-plastic bags must charge more because it costs more to make the product. For now, the seasoned producer is counting on word-of-mouth marketing and raised consumer consciousness http://search.proquest.com/docview/457228122?username=RASMUSSENC&password=WELCOME http://search.proquest.com/?accountid=40836 http://search.proquest.com/indexinglinkhandler/sng/au/Condor,+Bob/$N?accountid=40836 http://search.pro.

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New plastic bags that dispose of themselves!
Condor, Bob. Knight Ridder Tribune News Service
[Washington] 21 Mar 2003: 1.
Abstract (summary)
[Bicknell] has contracted with a manufacturer to make kitchen
bags, larger 40-gallon bags and dog poop bags.
Each product is made with durable plastic and a chemical
additive that activates once the bag is exposed to the
methane gases that develop in a typical landfill. She said there
would be "zero" toxic residues as the bag breaks
down.
"We've done some charity events in Hollywood, such as one for
an animal shelter," Bicknell said. "People loved the
dog pickup bags and the whole idea of biodegradable bags that
are still strong enough to hold the garbage."
Vegetarian chicken drumsticks; tofu kielbasa and beer brats;
meatless chicken-style strips for salads; super-sized
containers of juice smoothies; Japanese-bento box-style filet of
salmon frozen dinner; 100 percent pomegranate
juice (due in major Chicago supermarkets this summer, selling
fast in southern California); 100 percent blueberry
juice (look for individual juice boxes in Chicago during the
coming months); red tea products claiming more

2. antioxidants than green tea (one brand already is in 3,000
supermarkets on the East Coast); and bottled waters
from such faraway places as New Zealand and Fiji.
ANAHEIM--A future in plastics may be most closely associated
with a line delivered to Dustin Hoffman's character
in the 1967 movie "The Graduate," but Dodonna Bicknell is
living her own 2003 version.
She has co-founded Planet Friendly Plastics, which debuted its
product line of completely biodegradable plastic
bags at last weekend's Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim.
"I felt I needed to do something positive for the environment,"
said Bicknell, an executive producer at the
commercial-making firm Uncle TV and creator of television ads
for such past clients as Nike , Microsoft and the
National Cotton Council.
"I always wondered what happens to landfills. We started the
company about a year ago and started making
products three to four months ago," Bicknell said.
Bicknell has contracted with a manufacturer to make kitchen
bags, larger 40-gallon bags and dog poop bags. Each
product is made with durable plastic and a chemical additive
that activates once the bag is exposed to the methane
gases that develop in a typical landfill. She said there would be
"zero" toxic residues as the bag breaks down.
"We plan to be competitive in pricing," said Bicknell, noting
other makers of cornstarch-based, non-plastic bags
must charge more because it costs more to make the product.
For now, the seasoned producer is counting on word-of-mouth
marketing and raised consumer consciousness

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Indexing (details)
Title New plastic bags that dispose of themselves!
Author Condor, Bob
Publication title Knight Ridder Tribune News Service
Pages 1
Number of pages 0
Publication year 2003
Publication date Mar 21, 2003
Year 2003
rather than doing any TV spots for her own product line.
Another strategy is making custom bags for grocery
chains--and altering the answer to the question "paper or
plastic?"

4. "We've done some charity events in Hollywood, such as one for
an animal shelter," Bicknell said. "People loved the
dog pickup bags and the whole idea of biodegradable bags that
are still strong enough to hold the garbage."
Bicknell is thinking big. The company plans to expand into such
products as water bottles, food trays, eating
utensils and more. She envisions Planet Friendly Plastics logos
on goods in places from airplanes to schools.
"I'm especially excited about the concept of teaching kids about
becoming more environmentally conscious,"
Bicknell said. "We've put more money into the company than
expected, but I think we can do amazing things."
------
COMING ATTRACTIONS
Anyone cruising the aisles at March's Natural Products Expo
West in Anaheim needed a strategy for both viewing
the exhibits and sampling the wares. Otherwise, both sore feet
and upset stomachs would result.
That's why one massage-therapy booth featuring mini-sessions
of foot reflexlogy (a healing discipline that can
relieve sore feet and address medical concerns) was a bustle of
activity. Here's a mere swatch of what was
exhibited at the show:
Vegetarian chicken drumsticks; tofu kielbasa and beer brats;
meatless chicken-style strips for salads; super-sized
containers of juice smoothies; Japanese-bento box-style filet of
salmon frozen dinner; 100 percent pomegranate
juice (due in major Chicago supermarkets this summer, selling
fast in southern California); 100 percent blueberry

5. juice (look for individual juice boxes in Chicago during the
coming months); red tea products claiming more
antioxidants than green tea (one brand already is in 3,000
supermarkets on the East Coast); and bottled waters
from such faraway places as New Zealand and Fiji.
------(c) 2003, Chicago Tribune.Visit the Chicago Tribune on
the Internet at http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Credit: Chicago Tribune
(c) 2003, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Knight
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Publisher Tribune Content Agency LLC
Place of publication Washington
Country of publication United States
Publication subject General Interest Periodicals--United States
Source type Wire Feeds
Language of publication English
Document type WIRE FEED

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CURRENTS (amtinued)
Global Cr-afts
making a difference one purchase at a time
FAIR
Our Mission is to offer income generating
opportunities to craftspeople in developing
countries by following fair trade practices
including paying in advance at least the
market price for items, ensuring that
craftspeople receive payment, and

7. ensuring that the craftspeople work in
fair working conditions. We work directly
with artisans, craftspeople, and producer
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help improve the lives of some of the people with
whom we share this planet.
www.GlobalCrafts.org Toll Free 1.866.468.3438
'i^
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in counseling psychology, adventure therapy, ecopsychology,
ecology,
outdoor skills and leadership. -» -r
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Boulder, Colorado
800-772-6951
[.adizinasky says, "The city has gone
into green mode. You won't find too
many places greener than we are." And
it goes beyond talk. The city is acquir-
ing hybrid vehicles. Beach cleanups
bring out hundreds of volunteers.
Ladizinasky adds, "Our city horticul-

8. turalist makes sure all our plantings are
native to the region. It's good for the
environment, but it's also good for Del-
ray Beach because native plants are
hardier and can withstand winds and
hurricanes. And of course we're very
concerned about global warming.
We're flat as a pancake here. If climate
change raises the sea level just one or
two feet, you're talking about consider-
able encroachment on the shore of
Delray Beach. People are very con-
scious of that."
CONTACT; Delray Beach City Man-
ager, (561)243-7010, www.delraybeach
.com; Florida Governor's Office, (850)
488-7146, www.flgov.com.
—]im MotavaWi
Paper or Plastic
The Best Answer May be "Neither"
Each year, Americans use more than100 billion plastic shopping
bags,consuming an estimated 12 million
barrels of oil. After a very short work-
ing life, these bags retire to landfills
where they take 500 or more years to
break down, or become litter that clogs
storm drains and threatens marine
wildlife. City governments that have
passed or are considering plastic bag
bans include Steamboat Springs, Col-
orado, Portland. Oregon, California
cities San Francisco, Oakland and
Santa Monica, Boston, and both

9. Annapolis and Baltimore in Maryland.
Consumers in these cities must use
paper or bring their own bags.
Sam Shropshire, a Democratic city
council member in Annapolis, says
that many city residents moved to the
city to be close to Chesapeake Bay,
which is being damaged by the 95 per-
cent of plastic checkout bags that end
up in landfills or the environment. "We
intend to put a stop to it right here in
Annapolis," he says. Large chains will
have six months to stop using plastic;
smaller companies nine months. Mer-
chants can substitute 100 percent recy-
cled paper bags for the banned plastic.
According to Reusablebags.com,
four of five shopping bags are made
2 2 E MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007
A stiopper in Annapolis, Maryland, site ofa
proposed plastic bag ban.
.. from plastic, and the average American
5 family accumulates 6() of these "free"
I bags in only four trips to the grocery
:, Store. More than 90 percent of plastic
5 bags are simply thrown away. Arthur
t Liu, account executive at EPI Environ-
% mental Products, says the plastic hags in

10. landfills take up space and don't allow
food and other garbage inside them to
hreak down with the help of oxygen.
"Plastic is still pretty new, and a lot
of Iplastic hags| manufactured half a
century ago are still around," he says.
Nei! Seidman ofthe Institute for Local
Selt-Keliance says "Accumulating plas-
tic is destroying our rivers and oceans."
In the dehate between paper and
plastic, however, the real answer may
be neither. Reusablebags.com Presi-
dent Vince Cobb says that paper bags
are also resource- and energy-inten-
sive. According to his site, paper bag
production generates 70 percent more
air pollution than plastic, and while
paper bags are rec7cled at a higher rate
than plastic, 91 percent less energy is
needed to recycle a pound of plastic
than a pound of paper.
"1 wanted to know, paper or pias-
tic?" (x)bb says. "But that question
doesn't hit the heart of the matter. If
you want to make a difference, con-
sume less."
Amar Mohanty. associate professor
at the School of Packaging at Michigan
State University, says that in a compost
pile, paper bags will take just two to five
months to biodegrade. But in terms of
resource consumption, he says plastic

11. bags are superior. "We are depleting the
forests and we also use a large amount
of water and energy to produce these
paper bags," Mohanty says.
While some cities are pushing for
outright plastic bans, in 2003 Ireland
introduced the "Plastax," levying a fee
of approximately 29 cents on each plas-
tic bag a shopper uses. Cobb says he
considers the tax to be widely success-
ful, reducing Ireland's annual 1.2-bil-
lion-bag habit by 90 percent. That's one
billion fewer bags. "The brilliance in the
Plastax is that they t a ^ e d a cost on an
item conceived as free," Cobb says.
Other alternatives to bans are also
available. EPI distributes an environ-
mentally benign chemical additive to
packaging companies that Liu says can
break down plastic bags completely
from a few months to a few years. The
bags break into pieces through a
process called photodegradation.
When the pieces are small enough,
microorganisms can ingest and biode-
grade them in a completely non-toxic
process, Liu say?.
"Banning plastic bags is not a very
good solution because you don't give
people an alternative," L,iu says. "Plastic
gives us convenience, hygiene and

12. other benefits, so 1 think we need a •
E MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007
CURRENTS (continued)
less-drastic solution."
Rayton Packaging President Patrick
Arnell says his company annually
makes 100 million additive-treated
bags, some of which go to Costco, Wal-
Mart and other supermarkets. The
treated bags add a five to 10 percent
price premium.
Mohanty argues, however, that
chemical additives will only help a bag
degrade if it is exposed to constant light
and oxygen. Buried in a landfill, it may
be unable to degrade.
Trellis Earth of Portland, Oregon
makes corn-based plastics from poly-
lactic acid (PLA) into bags that biode-
grade in 120 days. "People are looking
for a green alternative," says Trellis Earth
cofounder Chad Biasi.
Though PLA could be used to make
alternatives to petroleum-based poly-
ethylene bags, Mohanty says the limit-
ed size of U.S. corn crops (already fac-
ing increased pressure from the

13. ethanol industry) won't be able to
meet the demand.
The market for degradable and
renewable resource-based plastics is
continuing to grow. South American
companies are making "green" poly-
ethylene from sugar cane. This process
reduces greenhouse gas emissions but
the final product is not biodegradable.
Other researchers are looking at wood
waste, grasses, wheat straw and rice
straw as possible source material for
"green" plastic production.
The drawback to most of these
processes is high cost. "The keystone
of success in bio-based and biodegrad-
able packaging depends on maintain-
ing a balance among ecology, economy
and technology," Mohanty says.
Cobb isn't convinced. "Neither
recycling nor biodegradable bags are
the answer," he says. "We need to re-
duce usage."
Reusable bags help achieve that goal.
Some stores, including Whole Foods,
now give a 5 to 10 cent credit for each
reusable bag a shopper brings, and oth-
ers (Ikea among Uiem) have started
charging customers the same amount
for each plastic bag.
CONTACTS: Reusable Bags,

14. www.reusablebags.com; EPI Environ-
mental Products, www.epi-global.com;
Michigan State University School of
Packaging, www.packaging.msu.edu;
Trellis Earth, www.trellisearth.com. Q
—Shawn Query
The makers of BioWillie filed far batikruptcy.
8I0DIESEL GOES BANKRUPT
Country music star Willie Neison is singing the
biodiesel blues. Though interest in the alternative
fuel is steadily increasing, the road to making
biofuels profitable doesn't come without some
bumps, even when one of the world's most beloved
singers is involved (see "The Biodiesel Band Bus,"
In Brief, November/December 2005). Five
investment groups filed an involuntary
Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition July 11
against Dallas-based Earth Biofuels,
which produces, distributes and
markets biodiesel fuels, including
Nelson's own BioWillie.
In May. Earth Biofuels listed morefhan
million in losses for 2006 in its annual report to
the Securities and Exchange Commission. Despite
the dismal numbers, the company—and Willie
Nelson—aren't giving up. Says a company
spokesperson. "Earth Biofuels.. .will continue its
ongoing operations and commitment to provide
biodiesel fuel and liquefied natural gas to its
mafi<ets."
CONTACT: Earth Biofuels, (866)7654940,

15. www.earthbiofuels.com. —Jessica A. Knoblauch
BEYOND THE BOTTLES
While consumers continue to buy bottled water
as if their faps held poison, (see "Keeping
America Cluttered," Currents, September/October
2007), long-term neglect of our nation's public
drinking water supply is slowly turning their
attitude into a self-fulfilling prophecy. A 2007
report by Food and Water Watch, "Take Back the
Tap," suggests that the laudable goal of reducing
bottled water consumption to save our waterways
is simply not enough. Due to chronic inadequate
funding of public water agencies meant to
protect public drinking water and sewage
systems, water lines built as eariy as the late
1800s are wearing out under the "weight of
age and a growing population.'"
According to the report, public health
agencies issued more than 20,000 warnings
against swimming on U.S. coastal beaches in
2005. And the Natural Resources Defense
Council recently warned that more waterbome
disease outbreaks will occur unless
"substantial investments" are made to
improve our drinking water and sewage
storage and distribution systems.
Food and Water Watch recommends that a
federal clean water trust fund be established
fo make up for the almost $22 billion annual
shortfall needed to maintain and improve
public drinking water and sewage systems.

16. The report suggests the trust be funded by
polluters, and include fees on flushable
consumer items, increased permitting fees for
dumping and fees on toxics manufacturers.
CONTACT: Food and Water Watch, (202)797-
6550, www.foodandwatematch.org.—J.A.K.
COOL FOOD
Seafood retailers in the U.S. must, by law, affix
country-of-origin labels on their products (see
"Sustainable Seafood," Eating Right.
November/December 2005), The 2002 Farm Bill
included this provision mandating country of
origin labeling (COOL) not only for seafood
but also for meat products, fruits and
vegetables. But despite the bill's
passage, congressional Republicans
(and the Bush Administration)
have held off mandatory labeling
of meat products for five years,
claiming the labeis would hurt the
meat industry. But now supporters of the
labeling, led by Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD)
are gathering their forces and lobbying for
consumers' right to know where their food comes
from.
Importers, meatpackers, food processors and
grocers say labeling of meat products is

17. unnecessary and costly. Ground meat, they claim,
often includes more than one cow, making
labeling increasingly difficult for meat processors.
But a 2000 U.S. Department of Agriculture study
indicated some livestock producers and farmers
support COOL, since consumers often prefer to buy
domestic products. United Fishermen of Alaska
says COOL increased demand for wild salmon
products.
Americans for Country of Origin Labeling says
in the wake of well-publicized Instances of meat
contamination, consumers should be able to
"make an informed choice at the supermarket"
and track the origins of the meat they buy.
CONTACT: Americans for Country of Origin
Labeling, (800)895-2221,
www.americansforlabeling.org. • ro
—Shawn Query
2 4 EMA6AZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007