Item 4: Ordinance on Suspension of Paper Bag Pass-Through Charge

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3 after each use. It is also recommended to keep meat products, produce and non-food items in separate bags respectively. There are several problems here. First off, it’s difficult to remember to bring the bags to the store. Sure maybe some people will eventually conform, but only because they feel it’s a hopeless lost cause. Keeping items in separate bags is a frustrating inconvenience. Using labels may sound like a good idea (and if it works for you, great!), but not everyone is that organized. Lastly, and most importantly, washing the bags after every use (or nearly every use) is almost impossible for most people. With their busy schedule they can barely budget enough time to go shopping, let alone spend extra time washing their grocery bags. Not to mention, the majority of the so-called reusable bags sold in stores are only good for a few uses until they get holes in them. They are also not exactly intended to be washed, so even “re-usable” bags go to the landfill. My attitude on cloth or reusable bags has always been the same, even before this outrageous law was passed: to each their own. I’m never going to be the person to tell people what type of bags they can and cannot use. That’s an invasion of rights. What gives only a few people the entitlement to take away a whole city’s freedoms, especially without a public vote? If pollution of plastic bags really is a legitimate concern, measures should be taken to encourage recycling. Bag recycle bins could be set up at places people frequent, like the mall and all grocery stores, to make it more convenient to dispose of them in a truly eco-friendly way. Do you really think outlawing plastic bags will help the environment and reduce litter? Some people will always litter, even if it isn’t plastic bags. It doesn’t change a thing. Also, although I’m not at all advocating for the banning of paper bags, I have to ask: Is it really better for the environment to continue producing paper bags as the only alternative to cloth/reusable bags? Sure 4 they are biodegradable, but it takes much more energy to make a paper bag than plastic, and paper bags aren’t easily reusable. In a town where there are so many more important issues to worry about, like homelessness, theft and road maintenance, just to name a few, why target plastic bags? Doing so has turned something so miniscule into a huge issue. It’s not right that something that effects and offends so many be imposed on us. We should have been granted a public vote, at the very least. I assume you’ve supposedly heard all the complaints before, but you’re listening with closed ears. If you really, truly cared and heard what people are saying, you might actually quit thinking about what you, yourself believe will solve the problem, and consider some alternatives that just might suit the entire city better. Remember, there are more of us than of you. 3 http://townhall.com/columnists/debrajsaunders/2013/02/10/wash-your-bags--or-else-n1508589 4 http://ducktv.uoregon.edu/plastc-bag-ban-hits-eugene-controversy-over-usefullness/