Press Room

Council May Put Voluntary Limits on Plastic Bags
Outright Ban Rejected As Environmental Aid

By Raymond McCaffrey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 29, 2007

Elected officials in Annapolis are pushing a measure to encourage voluntary use of reusable bags by residents and retailers as an alternative to a proposed plastic-bag ban.

The legislation, which will be the subject of a public hearing, was introduced Nov. 19, the same night that a ban on the use of plastic bags by retailers was effectively rejected by the City Council.

"I think it is a much more sensible approach," Alderman David H. Cordle Sr. (R-Ward 5) said.

The latest proposal also establishes an Environmental Review Committee to evaluate whether the city's "policies and procedures foster the use of materials that are compostable, recyclable and reusable."

The proposed ordinance emerged after many elected officials expressed doubt that an outright ban would benefit the environment.

"I think the science has not been properly studied," said Alderman Ross H. Arnett III (D-Ward 8), who sponsored the alternative proposal with Aldermen Richard E. Israel (D-Ward 1) and Sheila M. Finlayson (D-Ward 4).

The original ordinance, proposed by Alderman Samuel Shropshire (D-Ward 7), would have banned the use of plastic grocery bags by supermarkets and other retail establishments. Shropshire, however, was the only one of the council's seven aldermen to support the ban.

Shropshire has accused Mayor Ellen O. Moyer (D) and other council members of sidestepping the need for action. "I didn't kill it," said Shropshire, who vowed to continue to work for the ban.

In a city noted for its maritime heritage, the voluntary alternative could give aldermen a way to do more than merely reject a ban intended to protect the bay.

Under the proposal, the city would issue reusable bags to residents and would then evaluate whether the program was having any effect.

The proposal includes other environmentally friendly steps for the city government to take, such as replacing incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent ones and improving the efficiency of heating systems in government buildings.

When the ban was introduced in July, it drew support from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Sierra Club's Anne Arundel County Group. Proponents said the ban would help reduce the environmental impact of discarded plastic bags, which do not decompose as quickly as paper. Supporters also said the ban was needed because fish, birds and turtles can die from intestinal problems after ingesting plastic bags.

A coalition of local retailers supported the proposal. But supermarket representatives and other opponents said that paper was not necessarily better for the environment and that consumers would have to absorb the higher cost of paper bags.