Greening Austin Daily

City Council Considering Banning Paper Bags as Well as Plastic, or Placing a Surcharge on Bags

3rd August, 2011 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

Recent discussions among city council members about possibly banning plastic bags at retail stores in Austin reveal that they may be considering banning paper bags as well as plastic bags, and are also considering a surcharge per bag rather than an outright ban of all disposable bags.  No decision has been made yet, but council is expected to vote tomorrow to direct city staff to come up with a proposal on how to implement a ban.  KUT had a nice story yesterday on the new developments here.  Here’s a short excerpt:

“If we ban plastic, we force paper,” Council Member Mike Martinez said.

“But if there is an option for you, and that options is a potential surcharge if you don’t have your bags, that could more comprehensively achieve our policy goals,” he said.

The paper and plastic industries have long debated the merits of their competing bags. The essential argument is that paper bags require more natural resources to produce, while plastic bags are harder to recycle….

The Mayor says there are 263 million plastic bags used in Austin every year. The estimated cost to the city is $850,000 in litter cleanup, and landfill and recycling management..

Because of the cost, Council Member Bill Spelman floated an idea during the meeting of a one-cent City of Austin surcharge per bag. The money would mitigate recycling and litter cleanup costs.

“We would only charge whatever amount we would need to clean up the after effects of having the bags in circulation and on our streets and so on,” Spelman said.

But City Attorney Leela Fireside told Spelman that might not be legal. She said fees are supposed to reimburse the city for running a program or providing a service.

Click on the tag to this post “plastic bags” to learn more about the debate on banning plastic bags in Austin.