The Garden City Telegram
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City, county officials debate ban on plastic bags
Published 2/6/2010 in Local News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
In western Kansas, where everyone knows how much the wind blows, loose plastic bags can travel at great lengths across the high plains. That is, unless they get caught in a fence or tree branch.
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Brad Nading/Telegram Garden City High School senior Mariela Chairez picks up a plastic bag off the ground at 12th and Fulton streets as she and other GCHS students participate in a Neighborhood Improvement Project cleanup in November 2009.
Along Garden City's entryways, lining fences and accumulating in ditches, local officials agree that litter -- especially disposable plastic bags -- are a nuisance and eyesore, and they continue to debate ways to abate the prevalent problem that extends beyond city limits, as well.
Finney County Commissioner Larry Jones said picking up used beer bottles and untying plastic bags from shelter belts along his property has been an increasing problem, especially over the last 10 or 15 years.
The commissioner, who lives west of Holcomb, said he suspects the litter he finds strewn across his property may originate from the heavy traffic at the nearby Tyson Fresh Meats meat-packing plant, though he can't be sure, and the plastic bags could be from anywhere.
During a joint meeting this week between county officials and officials from both the cities of Holcomb and Garden City, Jones suggested that the cities and county adopt a policy or statement to pick a date in the near future -- maybe 2013, the commissioner suggested -- to ban the use of disposable plastic bags by area retailers.
"I don't know if it would work, but it might at least be a starting place," Jones said in a separate interview Friday.
Just more than a year ago, Garden City commissioners charged the city's environmental advisory board with examining and levying a recommendation on how to minimize the impact of plastic bags on the community.
After discussion with local business owners and public feedback about the litter problem -- the advisory board found that about 70 percent of about 800 residents believe plastic bags are a trash nuisance within city limits, and about 80 percent believe they are bad for the environment -- the board made a recommendation that the city work to educate residents about reducing and properly disposing of litter, primarily through social networking sites and public signs. At the same time, city commissioners agreed that publicly-initiated support and visibility of programs such as Earth Day and small cleanup efforts should be adopted and encouraged.
Micah Kasriel, chairwoman of the city's Environmental Issues Board that has been asked to revisit the issue, said Friday that the board is now working on concrete steps to initiate a public education campaign, though they have yet to put forth any ideas.
In addition, the board also is considering the move that some big-box retailers in the area already are working to phase out their plastic bags, efforts to reduce the production's pollutant side effects on the environment and to encourage people to use reusable bags.
In October 2007, Walmart and Sam's Club stores began selling reusable bags made of recycled materials that also can be recycled when they wear out, and made a public commitment in 2008 to reduce their plastic shopping bag waste globally by an average of 33 percent per store by 2013, using a 2007 baseline. Walmart estimates that customers who use reusable bags can eliminate the use of 75 to 100 plastic shopping bags over their lifetime, according to the corporation's 2009 sustainability report.
In addition, Target has followed suit and now gives customers a 5-cent discount for every reusable bag they use to pack their purchases, a nationwide initiative enacted at the end of last year by the retailer.
National moves such as those could help abate the local plastic-bag problem, Kasriel said.
"If Garden City were to ban plastic bags, it would be the first in Kansas to do so," she said. "We've got these gateways, and there's plastic bags all over them and stuck in trees and on the fences. It's an aesthetic problem, but then they also go down the drains, and we have to pay city employees to go clean those out."
In addition, city officials have pointed out that some local governments that historically have taken action by banning plastic bags have faced legal action by major plastic industries.
A ban on plastic bags already is in place in Californian cities such as San Francisco, the first to do so in 2007, according to several media outlets, and in Los Angeles. But other cities that have passed plastic bag bans have not been as lucky after being sued by plastic bag manufacturers for failing to consider that the move simply shifts the emphasis to paper bags and further contributes to deforestation, requires energy to make and transport, and creates greenhouse gas emissions when the bags break down in the environment.
In Oakland, Calif., for example, because it lost a similar suit, the city had to overturn its plastic bag ban in 2008, according to reports from the Oakland Tribune.
City Manager Matt Allen said putting a ban on plastic bags still may be part of the local discussion on the litter problem, but all the issues will need to be weighed as the city's advisory board or city commissioners address the problem.
"I think part of it, too, is that if the retail industry is moving towards solving something itself or are along that path, is it necessary for government to jump in front of that?" Allen said.
Within Garden City limits, littering or littering from a motor vehicle are ordinance violations and each can carry fines and court costs, according to the Garden City Police Department.
The ordinances state that it is unlawful for individuals to operate vehicles and "intentionally or recklessly" throw litter on a public road or someone else's private property. Anyone caught doing so could face a $40 fine and $50 court cost.
Leaving objects on public roads or others' private property also carries a $100 fine and $70 in court costs.
Officers do stop vehicles when they see people littering from their motor vehicles and occasionally respond to citizens' complaints in regards to littering, Garden City police Sgt. Michael Reagle said in an e-mail.
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In Saturday's edition of The Telegram, the location of County Commissioner Larry Jones' residence was wrong. Jones lives west of Holcomb.
Found 3 comment(s)!
Government Business
What more does the government need to put their nose in? How about someone... namely the police & sheriff dept's who based on my experience of their response to the reporting of smaller offenses have nothing better to do than drive up and down the highway... enforce the 'no littering'law instead of banning something else. Did we turn communist and no one told me???
Posted by: flabberghasted on 2/11/2010
Alternatives
Plastic bags came about as an alternative to paper sacks that were using up a lot of trees and were expensive, but they are biodegradable. Plastic bags are not only a nuisance due to appearance, but also a hazard for wildlife, our domestic animals, roadways, etc. Most plastic bags have some petroleum (or is it oil?) in them so anything to reduce that is a good thing.
Surely there is a group out there somewhere that is in the process of making a low cost alternative that is eco-friendly. Maybe Garden City and Holcomb could help speed up the process by offering a contest reward for someone who develops the product so the developer(s) could then use the money to start mass production and marketing. The city themselves wouldn't necessarily have to come up with the entire reward... pull in the businesses, maybe have a mandatory $50+ yearly fee for every business that uses plastic bags ($50 for small/local owned and more for national chains). Surely that would help generate some of the money needed for an alternative.
In case your wondering... I do have family in Garden City and several of them own their own business so I do know the fee would affect them, but not that much.
To me comments shouldn't be just about complaining (or campaigning... I agree... stop it Herb), but also about presenting solutions or alternatives.
Posted by: Angel on 2/8/2010
Plastic Bags
We are spending tax dollars to research PLASTIC BAGS!? This is amasing! Residential streets and intersections cannot get the snow removed after a storm and the City and County councils waste money researching plastic bags. This is amazing! "The plastic bags get stuck in storm drains and a city worker has to go remove it". City workers don't do anything but take a pay check and sit in Dillon's drinking coffee. It wouldn't hurt them to go clean the storm drains and maybe after a rainstorm places like 8th street and Kansas avenue wouldn't be backed up with water!
Posted by: Joe on 2/6/2010
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