If you haven’t read today’s Anchorage Daily News article entitled “Tundra Trash,” you can give it a gander here. Basically, this article details how Bethel, AK has banned plastic bags and take-out containers in their city due to excessive litter.

Plastic trash in Bethel, AK

This strikes me as a strange solution to a social problem. When my husband leaves his socks all over the house, I don’t consider banning him from fuzzy footwear. But then again, simply asking him to stop or educating him on why sock-littering is not OK hasn’t inspired him to kick the habit.

To be fair, part of the litter problem in Bethel stems from birds and animals pulling plastic from their landfill and spreading it about town. (Apparently the same thing happens to our laundry hamper). But rather than deny residents their plastic bag rights, I wonder if Bethel couldn’t consider some sort of enclosed collection site for offending plastics and recycle them? What do you think? Is there a better solution?

Also, I’d really like to see the recycled plastic bag purses that ADN mentions in this article! What a creative way to re-use waste products. Maybe there are other effective ways for rural areas to recycle plastic, clean up the environment, and raise a little money (for things like reusable grocery bags and more plastic collection sites, perhaps).

Or, maybe banning these items and closing the book on this problem is the solution. Do you have a better idea?