Greening Austin Daily

Non-Reusable Bag Ban Draft Proposal May be Altered Once More

12th January, 2012 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

The Statesman today reports that City Staffers may alter the bag ban draft proposal a 3rd time,  after getting more input.  There are two main changes. Unlike the 2nd draft, which would have called for a non-reusable bag ban to go into effect January 2013, the 3rd draft pushes that back slightly to March 2013 (the first draft called for January 2016).  The 3rd draft would also have a $1 per transaction fee in the interim before the ban goes into place, rather than a 10 cent per bag fee (2nd draft) or 25 cent per bag fee (1st draft).  I think both changes are reasonable.  There’s no need to drag the switch out till 2016, but having it go into effect March 2013 rather than January 2013 isn’t a big switch.  Further, I can understand store owner’s concerns that a per bag charge for the interim will be cumbersome to implement, and that a per transaction charge for those who forget their reusable bags will be more efficient – it still gets the point across without making things complicated.   Staffers are also considering adding back in some few exemptions to the ban that were in the first draft, including bags for prescription drugs and restaurant carryout bags, due to concerns about privacy and food safety.

A final draft should be ready by the end of this month, and council will vote on it in March.

Read the Statesman article here.