Archive for the 'District of Columbia' Category

Low plastic office: Hollinger boxes

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

A truly paperless office, even if desirable, is very hard to organize. Paper is just too useful a product and paper printed quickly becomes paper stored. There are many metal filing tools for those who want to avoid plastic, but these are often packed in plastic or are simply too large or unwieldy for the [...]

D.C. bag law, one month on

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

The District of Columbia law requiring a fee for disposable bags in food and liquor businesses is reducing the demand for thee bags, even if it irritates some locals.
No official reports yet, but shopkeepers report half the use of disposable bags — quite an accomplishment — per this January 23 article in the Washington [...]

Some more facts about the D.C. bag law

Friday, January 1st, 2010

The District of Columbia’s shopping bag law begins today, and I’ve already been out to pick up a few necessities, cloth bags in tow.
Since I’ve heard some misinformation, I thought I would share some details about the new law.

The financial impact statement for the bill compares Washington, D.C. to Seattle, Washington, which went though a [...]

GreaterGreaterWashington on reuseable bags

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Surely someone will call the five-cent fee on disposable bags a Bagocolypse, but I think it’s a great policy for the environment and against waste. And it starts January 1.
Intrepid local affairs and government blogger David Alpert has written today about the policy and where free reusable bags may be had.
More about this topic later. [...]

Produce without plastic

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

The forthcoming District of Columbia plastic and paper bag restriction specifically excludes bags for fruit and vegetable — perhaps out of concern that D.C. residents need no discouragement to eat their greens.
But in France we saw an alternative — paper. Strong attractive paper bags — squared off, with a picture of a cheery market scene [...]

Lunch watch: Indian lunch near K Street

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Blast! I don’t recall the name of the new Indian place near the northwest corner of 19th and K St, N.W. here in Washington. It’s new-ish, and does have the word Spice in it. Being the BB&T bank, if you’re approaching from K Street.
For about $7.50, I got the rice-plus-two-curry special. Not greasy. Was [...]

Transit vouchers go from plastic to paper

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

I imagine a costs-savings over a plastics-savings, but the word from Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is that plastic SmarTrip vouchers were being replaced with paper ones, beginning last month.
We don’t get vouchers — among other things, I administer transit benefits for work; this information is behind a login — and WMATA will [...]

D.C. bag bill makes unanimous step forward

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Good news. The D.C. Council has passed unanimously a bill that charges a five-cent fee for grocery-style shopping bads, plastic or paper, for the sake of the trash-filled Anacostia River. (Part of the collected fee will go to fund durable bags for low-income Washingtonians.)
Reportage from DCist and WashingtonPost.com.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

$$(‘div.d185′).each( function(e) { e.visualEffect(’slide_up’,{duration:0.5}) });

Blogging plastic-free in D.C.

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

Thanks to the last comment from JMcK, I started reading her blog The Unplastic Life, and I hope to meet her when she’s back in D.C.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

$$(‘div.d183′).each( function(e) { e.visualEffect(’slide_up’,{duration:0.5}) });

Not all reusable bags are created equal

Monday, May 25th, 2009

I’ve been using reusable grocery bags for years, but not for any reason the hip or fashionable would recognize. First, I had no car for long periods in Georgia, and that meant long walk and bus waits to get groceries: overloaded plastic bags cut into your fingers. (I also used a backpack to shop.) Second, [...]