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Mayor pushing to ban plastic bags at Austin stores
statesman.com ^ | 25 July 2011 | Sarah Coppola

Posted on 07/24/2011 11:50:58 PM PDT by smokingfrog

Austin retailers and grocery stores could no longer offer plastic bags at checkout counters under a ban Mayor Lee Leffingwell and two other City Council members will propose today .

The ban would be phased in gradually, though it's not clear when it would start.

Leffingwell said Sunday that plastic bags pollute waterways, harm wildlife, clog drainage systems and take up landfill space, where they don't biodegrade. A January report from the city's Solid Waste Services Department said Austinites use 263 million plastic bags a year, and the bags cost the city $850,000 a year to put in landfills and to clean up as litter.

"I think there will be a cost benefit and a benefit to the environment of going down this road and coming up with a reasonable ordinance" that bans the bags, Leffingwell said.

To stave off a possible ban in 2008 , six large retailers agreed to try to voluntarily reduce the use of plastic bags, but that program hasn't been effective enough, Leffingwell said.

The City Council will vote Aug. 4 on a resolution from Leffingwell and Council Members Mike Martinez and Chris Riley that would direct staff members to propose a scope for the ban and a timetable for phasing it in. Staff members would have to present a plan to the council in November .

City staffers will work with retailers and other stakeholders to write that plan, the mayor said.

(Excerpt) Read more at statesman.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: chrisriley; leeleffingwell; mikemartinez; paperorplastic; plasticbags
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Plastic bags don't pollute -- people do.
1 posted on 07/24/2011 11:51:04 PM PDT by smokingfrog
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And paper bags kill trees.

Best not to eat.


2 posted on 07/25/2011 12:02:45 AM PDT by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: smokingfrog

Austin, lol.
Texas’ own little piece of San Fransicko.


3 posted on 07/25/2011 12:04:30 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: smokingfrog

“To stave off a possible ban in 2008 , six large retailers agreed to try to voluntarily reduce the use of plastic bags, but that program hasn’t been effective enough, Leffingwell said.”

The reason for limited government is to allow people the CHOICE in how they want to live their lives.

And if the program wasn’t ‘effective enough’, then this means the people CHOSE plastic bags to be used for their groceries.

Just goes to show that big government politicians can be so prickly stupid.


4 posted on 07/25/2011 12:10:13 AM PDT by JohnBrownUSA (Don't Tread On Me!)
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To: Lancey Howard

Not totally. I blame the critical mass of young (and therefore naive) people for the influx of weirdos.

On the other hand having naive young people around has certain advantages.


5 posted on 07/25/2011 12:13:52 AM PDT by Eyes Unclouded ("The word bipartisan means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out." -George Carlin)
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To: JohnBrownUSA

Meant “DID NOT CHOOSE” in my comment above.

My apologies for this typo.


6 posted on 07/25/2011 12:17:15 AM PDT by JohnBrownUSA (Don't Tread On Me!)
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To: smokingfrog

So plastic bags take up more room than paper bags? If so, than why does it takes 7 pallets of paper bags to replace one pallet of plastic bags? And what about the poor ‘ol spotted owl and old growth trees that was the cause of switching from paper bags to plastic bags while ruining the logging industry in the Pacific Northwest? Are we looking for another industry to ruin with bogus claims?


7 posted on 07/25/2011 12:17:26 AM PDT by Dapper 26
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To: smokingfrog

The same debate is happening in Portland, OR as we speak.

The funniest thing is that when I moved here almost 20 years ago, they banned the paper bag because they killed trees, and substituted the plastic bag.

Now, they are endorsing the reusable bag.....that comes at a price.

For those who don’t want or can’t afford the reusable bag, I wonder if they will replace the plastic bag with the paper bag? After all, the paper bag is biodegradable.

Environmentalists.......they are so funny!

/s


8 posted on 07/25/2011 12:21:49 AM PDT by dixiechick2000 (Age, skill, wisdom, and a little treachery will always overcome youth and arrogance!)
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To: smokingfrog
Isn't Austin where Whole Paycheck Markets got started? They've had a paper-only bagging policy for some time now.

Annoys me, because that's where I buy most of my sustenance.

9 posted on 07/25/2011 12:22:41 AM PDT by cynwoody
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To: Eyes Unclouded

Some life insurance salespeople have made a small fortune in college towns.


10 posted on 07/25/2011 12:26:09 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: smokingfrog
Yeah. Those paper bags really biodegrade faster than the plastic ones. Especially when everyone throws them out in a big plastic garbage bag anyway.


11 posted on 07/25/2011 12:34:25 AM PDT by Lazlo in PA (Now living in a newly minted Red State.)
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To: Lazlo in PA

Just wow. Thank you. I had never looked at this debate from that angle. Should be fun next time I’m making fun of my Austin coworkers for this.


12 posted on 07/25/2011 12:48:21 AM PDT by TheZMan (Just secede and get it over with. No love lost on either side. Cya.)
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To: smokingfrog
First they came for the toilets, but since I lived in a house with a toilet that worked, I didn't care. Then they came for the shower heads. I knew how to disable the water restrictor, so I didn't care. Then they came for the cigarettes, but I was a nonsmoker. It was no matter for me. Then they came for the margarine, but I prefer butter. Again, no reason to care. Then they came for the plastic bags, but I use paper. And so it goes in the land of the free...
13 posted on 07/25/2011 12:59:20 AM PDT by CitizenUSA (Bad is easy. Anyone can do bad. Good, OTOH, is work. It takes discipline.)
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To: Dapper 26

While they lament the amount of landfill space is taken up with plastic grocery bags, not one word is spent on the amount of plastic goes to packaging and wrapping those pallets of paper bags with shrink wrap. In fact, compared to the amount of plastic for industrial purposes, plastic bags amount to a minuscule amount of the total in landfills. As time goes on, even less as more plastic bags are recycled. The only reason for this ban on plastic bags is they want to control Joe Citizen.


14 posted on 07/25/2011 1:05:46 AM PDT by jonrick46 (2012 can't come soon enough.)
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To: smokingfrog

They’ve been doing this in Europe for a few years. What’s happening there is coming here...global standardization.


15 posted on 07/25/2011 1:35:37 AM PDT by bronxville (Sarah will be the first American female president.)
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To: Lancey Howard

I am i the only one who thinks things like this tend to end up giving liberal democrats a bad name? yust sayin’


16 posted on 07/25/2011 1:51:23 AM PDT by flat
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To: dixiechick2000
For those who don’t want or can’t afford the reusable bag, I wonder if they will replace the plastic bag with the paper bag? After all, the paper bag is biodegradable.

1. The plastic bags are great for use as a trash can liner.

2. Reusable bags are not expensive. They can be had for $1.00. That's not a deal breaker.

3. I had a point three but I forgot it...

Sorry, too late to be up typing.

17 posted on 07/25/2011 1:54:19 AM PDT by gunsequalfreedom (Conservative is not a label of convenience. It is a guide to your actions.)
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To: JohnBrownUSA

This is fine...just make every grocery within the city limits as “bag-less”, and then everyone will shop outside of the city-limits. There you go...problem fixed.


18 posted on 07/25/2011 3:02:08 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: gunsequalfreedom; Lazlo in PA

Plastic bags for smaller trash cans, and paper bags for kitchen trash.
Also use them all the time for hauling stuff to relatives, etc.

Plastic bags carried by all (most...)dog-walkers - - -

Advise taking a moment to cut plastic bag handles when finally tossing (empty), and even when recycling.
About 5 years ago I saw a seagull flying and dragging a plastic bag near me as I was driving, 10 miles inland. The bag kept billowing with air.
Don’t have a clue how that all ended.

Any over abundance of paper bags, and they go with the newspapers for recycling here.

Far as I’m concerned, both types of bags are highly (re)useful.

Then we can talk about how to re-use/re-cycle the narrow plastic bags that enclose the daily newspaper - - - !


19 posted on 07/25/2011 3:15:11 AM PDT by USARightSide
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To: USARightSide

Starting in January, in Montgomery country Maryland (the Freak state) you will be charged $.05 for each bag you use. Under the guise of “pollution control” the county finds yet another way to steal money from the consumer. Blatant theft.


20 posted on 07/25/2011 4:25:33 AM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reducation Camp?)
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