Environment

Best Persons

Honolulu County Council makes it official:

By now, it’s hardly news when a city bans plastic bags at checkout counters -- but an entire state? That’s happened in Hawaii, where Honolulu County has joined the state’s three other counties to give Hawaii a first-in-the-nation title.

Plastic grocery bags are a blight. With recycled paper readily available there's no reason for them, unless of course we're looking for crap that litters back alleys and won't decompose for centuries.

And it goes without saying, there's limited landfill space on these islands and even though Honolulu burns its garbage for energy, the outer islands do not. That, plus the scenic beauty here isn't improved with plastic Walmart bags stuck in Kiawe bushes.