The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

Opinion

Discussion

September 23, 2009

City should study alternate means of plastic bag disposal

Enid City Commission has certainly started an interesting community conversation with a possible study to propose an ordinance to ban plastic bags and polystyrene cups in Enid.

Plastic bag ordinances aren’t really anything new. Cities across the country have been considering similar ordinances, and some have even initiated ordinances in the states of California and Washington.

The commission is justified in being concerned about the plastic bags. Thousands of plastic bags are given out each day in grocery stores and large retail stores. These bags have to go somewhere, and usually it’s the landfill.

There are a couple of solutions to consider other than the outright banning of plastic bags.

First, the city can make a proactive commitment to recycling. The recycling center was displaced due to a storm a few years ago and is still not up and operating like a recycling center should be. However, such a process is costly and requires a complete commitment to recycling purposes and education in the community.

Second, retailers and grocery stores that use the plastic bags can do their own proactive approach and encourage recycling of the plastic bags. They also can commit to not bagging single item groceries and letting the customer carry the item out without a bag. Retailers also can lower the price of their reusable bag to 50 cents and promote a public campaign encouraging customers to use the bags.

Third, the city could instead draft an ordinance that requires retailers to provide recycling collection bins in their stores for plastic bags. We could see if this has an effect before going to an all-out ban on plastic bags.

If nothing else, this proposal has caused many Enid residents to start thinking about their own habits when it comes to grocery and retail bags. Most people realize the bags are too numerous and putting one or two items in a plastic bag isn’t really the best way to handle the situation. The reusable bags are stronger and can hold more groceries.

We hope the commission takes some time in considering such a proposal, studies what other communities have done to alleviate the plastic bag problem and listens to community input about alternative solutions.

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