The plan to ban plastic bags in Honolulu has been delayed until next year. Members of the Honolulu City Council introduced Bill 38 to more precisely define the word biodegradable. Councilman Stanley Chang said the bill was deferred last week to allow more time to study the impacts of the measure.
Experts say that there is no such thing as a 100% biodegradable bag, so advocates are pushing for an outright ban.
Suzanne Frazer represents the Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii.
She says the bags that don’t completely biodegrade break into tiny pieces which are dangerous for marine life, as well as more difficult to clean up.
Oahu is the last of the Hawaiian Islands to use plastic bags.