CHICAGO (CBS) — The days of taking your purchases home in a plastic bag may be numbered in the city of Chicago.
A push is under way to make it illegal for city stores to pack up your goods in those bags, CBS 2’s Mike Parker reports.
Chicagoans use and throw away an estimated 3 billion plastic bags each year. And they’re not hard to spot being carried by shoppers all over town. Unfortunately, they’re also easy to spot everywhere, after they’ve been used and tossed. There seems to be a bumper crop this fall.
“India has banned them to the point where if you’re caught using them, you go to jail. Now, I’m not proposing that,” 1st Ward Ald. Proco Joe Moreno says.
Moreno wants a new ordinance prohibiting big retailers from providing plastic bags to customers. Stores would be fined from $150 to $250 if they did not obey the law.
The billions of bags used in Chicago are not merely eyesores, Moreno argues. To make them takes 12 million barrels of oil each year, and they’re difficult to recycle. Plus, they can clog up the sewer system.
“I went out and talked to the guys that actually do it,” Moreno says. “They pull out hundreds of plastic bags out of our sewers. So, it’s costing the city money.”
The Illinois Retail Merchants Association is promising to battle the proposed bag ban.
“Certainly consumers are using them. They obviously want to continue to use them, so we continue to provide them,” spokeswoman Tanya Triche says.
Moreno says if the outright ban doesn’t fly in the Council, he’ll go to Plan B: charging a tax of 10 cents on retailers for every plastic bag they buy. He figures that could bring millions of dollars in revenue to the city and put pressure on stores to stop using the bags.
All grocery stores should do what Aldi does. Either bring your own bags/luggage to carry your groceries or pay 10 cents a bag.
ReplyDeleteNo way big box stores and merchants wil pay more for paper bags. They will pass the cost on to customers.
ReplyDeleteProco Joe is the machine folks. It's just a way to pretent to help people. The retailers will just stop providing bags. There, problem solved, but the shoppers inconvenience increases.
ReplyDeletePretty much the only ones that like this idea ride their bicycles, drink Brita filtered water, grow their own food, use only one light bulb at a time, flush the toilet only after 3 uses, and are ultra crazy.
Mary, whats your position? Remember foam food containers are next.
Alderman want to ban plastic shopping bags????? There are other more important things to worry about
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with paper...might cost a few cents more, but they do less damage to the environment
ReplyDelete11:04 is right. Growing your own food is for losers. Now go on and enjoy a nice juicy slice of cantaloupe, 11:04. You've earned it.
ReplyDeleteI bring the same eight paper shopping bags to the store every week. I trained myself. Everyone needs to recycle as much as possible these days... Landfills are filled with plastics that will take thousands of years to breakdown.
ReplyDeleteget rid of plastic bags
ReplyDelete12:29 I'm guessing you drive to the store. What about those that don't? What about those that stop on their way home from work on public transportation or who spontaneously stop? Do you think they'll just happen to be carrying bags suitable for their purchases? A fee per bag makes more sense so people have options.
ReplyDelete