Go green or pay
Fine time? Houston's new bio lawn bags mandate begins tomorrow
- Look for the recycling symbol on your lawn bagsPhoto by Caroline Gallay
- Kroger had the best deal we found, selling Houston-brand bags for $6.39 for apack of 10.Photo by Caroline Gallay
If you bag your leaves, they'd better be in the city's new biodegradable lawn bags. Beginning Monday, pick-up will cease for plastic lawn bags and you may even be fined for using them.
The initiative should be a money-saver for the city to the tune of $1.5 million annually, which Houston officials say will put toward other recycling programs. And it's decidedly better for the environment. Plastic bags can take more than 100 years to decompose, while compostable bags (which retail for around a buck a bag) start breaking down in about three months.
As CultureMap reported earlier, the bags can be hard to find, but Bering's and other independent retailers are stocked up. Whole Foods has got em, too, as do HEB and Kroger. The best deal we found (by far) was at Kroger stores, where a pack of 10 33-gallon bags is $6.39 (still more expensive than those old plastic lawn bags).
Another option is to start a compost pile in your back yard or ask your lawn service to just leave grass clippings on your lawn.
Just please, don't invest in a leaf blower.