Should San Antonio become the next American city to ban single-use, plastic and paper bags? It seems like an inevitable, if somewhat contentious step in any city’s evolution toward a more sustainable, green culture. The answer, however, isn’t so simple the closer one examines the scope of such a proposed ordinance.
A decision on the matter was deferred at a Wednesday meeting of the City Council’s Governance Committee, although sentiment seems strongly in favor of a ban. City staff will conduct further research on the bans implemented in other cities and make a presentation and recommendation to the full City Council in late May or early June.
“I believe standing in place on this issue is not the best policy,” Mayor Julián Castro told council colleagues and senior staff present.
Deputy Peter Zanoni seemed to favor an outright ban. He noted that cities that have stopped short of a ban and instead have opted to charge small fees for plastic bag use, requiring retailers to add 5-10 cents per bag to purchases at the checkout counter, assume expensive administrative costs managing and auditing such programs. He also warned Castro and committee members that sustained public service and education programs designed to wean consumers from plastic bag use would cost millions of dollars and might not achieve desired results.
One noteworthy development announced today: Starting Aug. 1, the 344,000 single family home residents who receive the City’s recycling service will be able to add plastic bags to the list of acceptable material for blue recycle bins.
At a later council briefing, staff said residential home recycling now is at 31 percent of total home refuse, up from 5 percent decade ago, and trending toward the city’s ultimate 60 percent goal. The city’s goal of providing citywide residential composting pickup will be achieved within three years, according to David McCary, director of the Solid Waste Management Department.
Wednesday’s committee meeting focused on the proposed plastic bag ban, while the later B Session of the full City Council was devoted to the city’s recycling initiatives, and later, a discussion about renewal of the city’s dormant annexation program.
Dozens of cities have followed San Francisco, which passed the first ban against single use plastic bags in chain stores and pharmacies in 2007. Los Angeles joined 16 other California cities when it approved its plastic bag ban last year. Other cities have sought to reduce plastic and paper bag use by implementing a consumer fee of five or ten cents for each bag used at the checkout counter. Brownsville became the first Texas city to implement an outright ban, followed by Austin. Dallas launched a bag ban, which was amended to include bag use for a fee of 10 cents, which was reduced to five cents in the wake of citizen protest.
District 7 City Councilman Chris Medina brought the issue to the table in San Antonio late last year. Medina made his case for the ban in an article he wrote for the Rivard Report in March this year: Plastic Bag Ban: Transitioning to a Litter-Free San Antonio. He was absent from Wednesday’s discussion, fulfilling his military duty as a reservist.
I’ve certainly done my fair share of campaigning against San Antonio’s litter problem, notably the embarrassing mess left behind at Fiesta parades and festivals every year. I credit the San Antonio River Authority, the city, and the Fiesta Commission for newfound efforts to address the problem. Randy Bear, a Fiesta Verde volunteer leader, wrote about the anti-litter efforts earlier this month: Fiesta Verde: Teaching Parade-goers To Leave It Like They Found It. Crowd behavior this parade season will be of particular interest.
Plastic bags, of course, epitomize the larger problem of litter and the need to reduce land fill waste and to increase recycling. The bags are weightless, indestructible and used by almost every retail business. They are distributed by the millions and often thoughtlessly discarded – clinging to tree branches, bushes and just about everywhere else the wind and storm runoff take them. They account for much of the litter pulled from creeks and rivers. Beyond our city, they are a global scourge.
Does any of that mean the bags alone should be banned?
Are cities enacting bans because they feel good, or are the bans making a real difference? Half of this city’s landfill is generated by commercial waste, McCary told council members, and most commercial enterprises – be they upscale restaurants, fast food joints or stores at the mall – do not recycle. Half or more of all that commercial waste could be recycled, he said.
Wouldn’t the city be taking a much bigger step in the direction of sustainability by enacting a mandatory recycling ordinance for all commercial, office and industrial businesses?
Enacting a recycling program that reaches all corners of the city is one issue yet to be fully addressed. Attacking the litter problem will require more than a ban. As any kayaker on the Mission Reach knows, there are places south of downtown where the San Antonio River bottom is carpeted with empty beer cans.
Plastic bottles and fast food packaging, including paper sacks and styrofoam burger boxes, also are found in abundance. What is really needed is a concerted public education campaign, something that makes littering socially unacceptable, something kids will chide their parents for doing. “Don’t Mess With Texas” was and is a winning campaign.
The bag bans tend to punish grocery stories, which in our city would mean H-E-B, while the biggest box stores and the thousands of fast food franchises seek waivers and exceptions. Everything from ice to dry cleaning comes packaged in plastic. Should the grocery stores be singled out while cashiers at a big box chain like Bed, Bath and Beyond package your bed pillows and throw rugs in a super-sized plastic bag? What about all that fast food packaging? Most pharmacies now sell groceries and a lot of junk food. It all comes in plastic bags. Do they make the list?
At today’s committee meeting, Councilman Diego Bernal half-jokingly remarked about the need to address “flushable wipes,” now used commonly by parents with babies and family members caring for advanced seniors. Ask anyone at SAWS about these products. They aren’t flushable at all, according to Consumer Reports, and the damage they do to the city’s sewer lines contributes to what has ballooned into a billion-dollar problem for San Antonio.
My family long ago abandoned plastic bags in favor of reusable grocery bags. We keep them handy and take them everywhere from farmer’s markets to the hardware store. But our own sons chide me for continuing to buy and use other products such as paper towels. The topic of debate around our dinner table is, perhaps, the same conversation that should take place around the City Council table before any bans are enacted: What really constitutes an environmentally conscious lifestyle?
The answer surely means shaking our dependence on plastic bags, but it also means looking beyond plastic bags. And for city officials, the challenge is to write an ordinance that is fair and equitable to all businesses and their customers. Whatever we do in San Antonio, we will be more successful if we educate people about why we are doing it and why it’s for the common good.
*Featured /top image: Photo by Flickr user Kate Ter Haar.
Related Stories:
Plastic Bag Ban: Transitioning to a Litter-Free San Antonio
Councilman Nirenberg on San Antonio’s Environmental Resiliency
Fiesta Verde: Teaching Parade-goers To leave It Like They Found It
Reusable bags are great…if and it’s a big IF, people actually wash and clean them. Otherwise reusable bags pose a potential health risk. Their use on a mass scale would only cause that problem to grow exponentially..
I’m against outright bans on anything, but I’m fully in favor of placing the full cost of the life cycle of a product on the consumer/end user This doesn’t have to happen at the register. Place the “Bag-Tax” at the distributor/ store level. If a supermarket buys 10,000 bags/ week have them pay the tax on those bags at that point of sale, they will pass it along to the consumer on their own leaving less work for the administration of the program, (less points of sale to audit). I have about 20 reusable shopping bags that I received for free at different events around town over the past 5 years, and I use them religiously. However,I would happily pay 25 cents/ bag at the grocery store or more for plastic, I use them for all sorts of things around the house, as I usually get the milk or meat or some other item in plastic just so I can have them to pick up pet waste, or to hang on the doorknob in the kitchen to collect recyclables, use them to gather and transport all the absorbent materials when cleaning up messes (I have pets and young children) or to contain and transport trimmings from meat, fruit, or vegetables during meal prep to their proper place. Bags aren’t the enemy, behavior is, the best way to change behavior is to change the economics of it.
Matthew, you say are you against outright bans of anything. Really? You think City of SA shouldn’t ban burning leaves & lumber in residential neighborhoods? I hope your neighbor doesn’t feel the same as you or you might be making a 911 call one day.
Do you think it’d be ok for me to carry hand grenades in my backpack in the mall whenever I felt like it?
I think bright yard lights should be regulated. Sure, my neighbors cherish their freedom to buy huge industrial lights aimed at my bedroom windows just so they can feel safe that their yards are well lit (even though studies have shown that brightly lit yards INVITE burglars). Why don’t I have the “freedom” to buy a gigantic lightbulb and aim it at my neighbor’s window just because I need to feel that kind of freedom?
I know many people hate “big government” and regulation as imposing on their “freedoms.” If we didn’t have regulation and bans, then it would be absolute anarchy around here. I don’t know about your opinion of your fellow humans, but most I see in action have low sense of community, environmental protection, foresight, and anything else that extends beyond their fingertips or the hood of their car.
yes
Mr. Buck, do you drive or take public transportation? I take it you don’t have mobility impairments requiring adaptive devices or services. Am I correct?
Well said, Matthew. I have fabric shopping bags that are at least 10 years old and still in regular use. It is said that if you do something for 30 days, it will become a habit. How about a city campaign to encourage citizens to avoid single-use bags for an entire month — keep reusable bags at your front door, in your car, in your coat pocket (check out Chico bags — very compact and sturdy!) , ready for service.
And, as Matthew said, I agree that single-use plastic bags can be appropriately re-used. The city requests that all garbage being bagged in plastic before placing in bins. Single-use plastic bags given by stores are great for garbage and eliminate the need to purchase plastic garbage bags.
If buying one or two things, consider telling the cashier before s/he reaches for a bag, “I don’t need a bag” and carry the goods out in your hands.
As Rivard says, a clever motto or catch-phrase taught to kids in school (like “Don’t Mess With Texas”) for minimizing environmental harm in all arenas — plastic bags, water, energy, air particulates (“Daddy, your BBQ pit is fouling the air!”), noise (“Mommy, why does the car honk everytime you lock it? It’s so loud!”) — has the potential to change behavior, but it will take time.
I really don’t see how charging a nickel or a dime for a plastic bag will solve the problem. Austin’s ban imposed a $1 charge per bag, but I don’t know how that is working out.
John, I will tell you how Austin’s ban is working out. It’s under fire right now because of a lawsuit I have filed in Travis County District Court. I do my shopping outside of the Austin City Limits and HEB stores in Austin has lost thousands of dollars just from me alone, and others as a result of their stupid ban which violates Chapter 121 of the Texas Human Resources Code, these bans and fees create a ruse or subterfuge calculated to prevent or discourage persons with disabilities such as myself from using a public facility in which as a retail store it is classified under the act as a public facility. I am seeking a declaratory judgement with the court to invalidate the city ordinance.
I can no longer by bulky items in Austin like comforters, pillows, other bedding, and pots and pans sets because those extra large plastic bags are no longer allowed under the ordinance.
Also these ordinances prevent a person from bringing a plastic bag inside a city facility which violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution just like those so called ‘free speech zones’ in similar cases. However, you can sell the reusable bags at any city facility. This portion of those ordinances passed in those cities are unconstitutional.
What the city needs to do is team up with Trex, which makes decking, flooring, and benches all from plastic bags, and have the retailers give customers 25 cent credit for each reusable bag that is brought in, as coupons do not discriminate. Bans, and fees, however, do.
A lot of people cannot drive due to a disability, do not have adequate access to public transportation, and have to walk down steep inclines to get to and from anywhere.
As well as allowing plastic bags to be included in the cities recycling program not just for single family homes but multi family housing as well. I mean how hard is it for the city to provide bins for apartments and to have the recycling trucks service them?
I would do that if the city allowed it.
JBI plastics to fuel (lower prices at the pump!) http://www.plastics2oil.com
Trex http://www.trex.com makes furniture and benches out of plastics.
City of San Antonio needs to partner both with JBI and Trex.
Yes
Matt, fees and bans discriminate, coupons do not. Give the customer REBATES for bringing their own bags. REBATES would get me to use a reusable bag for small items at the home depot. Not for food though, because I got sick not once but twice from using reusable bags. Yes I washed them with Free and Clear Arm and Hammer in Hot water.
This site needs underline and bold face tools (wanted to do underline on rebates, had to do all caps for the stuff I wanting underlined and bold faced.)
Speaking off washing;
I wonder how many San Antonio residents have washer and dryers inside their apartments?
I’ve lived the past year in a city with a plastic bag ban. Back home now, I say SA should go for it.
Tack on the .5 – .10 for brown paper bag use when you forget or don’t have enough reusable bags with you. Eventually people will start remembering. Clear and simple.
City utility bills can add a few lines informing residents, stores can have notices posted. It’s not like you’ll be left high and dry at the register.
Although I’ve seen some pretty cute purses made from weaving strips of plastic bags, it’s time to put an end to this trash problem. Recycling is great, but it’s not the answer. If we get rid of the bags, we won’t have to recycle them.
Same goes for the brown paper bags: Eventually people will start remembering their reusables and will nolonger rely on the purchased brown paper bags.
Got a big purchase, bring a bigger bag or modify a pillowcase, for goodness sake!
And, yes, there are lots of other things we need to worry about, but let’s take this doable step forward. Make haste, not waste!
You won’t miss them, believe me.
yes
No. We are not everybody else. We are San Antonio.
I’m curious –
Will an outright ban hurt small Businesses ?
Who else will be affected by the ban and/or fees?
What other options do we have?
David Lopez: Your options include obtaining a collection of sturdy reusable shopping bags and using them instead of one-use plastic ones whenever possible. Is that too much to ask? Europeans automatically take shopping bags (usually lightweight but strong string bags) with them whenever they intend to go shopping. For the germophobes out there…string bags do not trap particles so are quite hygienic. Hang ’em in the sun every so often (solar energy!) to disinfect them. They needn’t be sterile, just “clean enough.” Studies have shown that the American obsession with germ-free living has resulted in American kids having sub-performing immune systems! Sometimes a little “dirt” is a good thing.
Yes- banned them already… If nothing else, it would be nice to look up in a tree, and NOT see a plastic bag stuck in it.
No, they should not be banned. It is recent that the plastic bags could be recycled and the public needs to catch up. San Francisco is a special case because the entire city drains into the bay. They street clean the streets there once a week to stop debris in the hilly drains and to stop things from making it to the bay. Paper bags are a long time recycled product and were substituted in plastic simply to save the number of trees cut. It is also possible to make UV degrading bags so that any that escape will degrade in the sun.
What about the hundreds of thousands of Express-News plastic bags delivered every day?
There is a story out there that COSA will implement recycling of plastic bags so they can be tossed in the blue recycle curb-bins along with paper, cans, bottles, etc. BUT…recycling anything still takes energy and does produce by-products in the process. Why not REDUCE what you use rather than blithely relying on the convenience of a bag or seven whenever it makes your life easy. I contend that if folks tried to rely on their reusable bags rather than relying on HEB to provide one-use plastic ones for them, then their minds would start cranking differently and ideally think of other ways to reduce what each of us leaves in our respective wake. Consider reducing the number of times you wash your car by half. That is DRINKING water you are hosing all over your Buick, you know. You as an individual will still be as irresistibly sexy and unmistakably interesting whether your car is dirty or innappropriately (for a drought city) sparkling. Again…it’s DRINKING water. And it’s going fast.