City Council tackles plastic bag ban ordinance
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2014, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
The Eagle Pass City Council tackled the controversial but environmentally friendly plastic bag ban ordinance at their regular meeting on Tuesday, June 3, 2014, listening to both pro and con proponents and arguments.
Eagle Pass City Manager Gloria Barrientos presented a status report to City Council on the proposed plastic bag ban ordinance process that was initiated on May 15, 2012 with the first reading of the proposed plastic bag ban ordinance in Eagle Pass.
Barrientos stated that a meeting was held on May 30, 2012 to discuss the ordinance publicly. A total of 250 invitations were delivered and another 450 invitations were mailed out for this meeting to different local businesses and individuals by the Eagle Pass Chamber of Commerce.
The local businesses that attended the May 30th public meeting were KFC, Eagle Grocery , HEB and Lowe’s out of the 700 invitations that were delivered. Only six local businesses or their representatives attended the May 30th public meeting.
Recommendations and comments from this Mary 30th meeting were taken as HEB voiced strong opposition on the ban of use of plastic bags, stated Barrientos
Barrientos did state that HEB gave reasons for their opposition and that they(HEB) recommended a strong recycling program instead of a city-wide ban and offered the City their assistance on such a project.
“ They want to bring more community awareness to the problem these bags are causing. They were willing to be part of a committee to bring better solutions to keep Eagle Pass beautiful,” said Barrientos.
Barrientos also discussed certain issues brought to the attention by the Eagle Pass Chamber of Commerce who through the Clean Sweep Operation by its members and community volunteers have encountered a lot of plastic bags littered throughout the City, posing an environmental concern and littering problem. Plastic bags are one of the top trash items picked up annually during the Chamber’s Clean Sweep Operation.
Barrientos stated that the Eagle Pass Chamber of Commerce is also recommending a community-wide recycling program which would increase awareness not to litter or dispose of these plastic bags in the streets and encourage citizens to recycle at the City of Eagle Pass’s Recycling Center on Eidson Road at the City Public Works Yard.
Barrientos also discussed that some businesses requested that the City provide a referendum election to decide if the community supported the plastic bag ordinance . Some businesses suggested that the County join in the efforts with the City to tackle the plastic bag issue.
Barrientos also informed the City Council that local businesses stated that they had concerns that this ordinance might create hardship for some of their customers. Many local citizens prefer plastic bags for their groceries or retail purchases and later reuse them for their personal or home trash collection. However, many citizens improperly dispose the plastic bags causing a littering and environmental problem.
Barrientos noted that Lowe’s strongly opposed the ordinance but that they did state that they would support any action taken by the City Council on the issue.
Opponents to the plastic bag ban ordinance requested the City to take more aggressive recycling measures and become the model for recycling by implementing more programs on recycling, added Barrientos.
“ They did ask for a strong community awareness program from the City with collaboration from different businesses,” said Barrientos.
There was a second reading for the Plastic Bag Ban Ordinance on June 5, 2012.
HEB representatives were present and they once again advocated their strong opposition to the ordinance, stated Barrientos.
“ They stated that they’d be willing to work with the City to reach a goal of keeping the city clean and promoting recycling. They expressed concerns about the ban effecting the local economy by straining low income customers with a surcharge. “ added Barrientos. In other words, low-income residents who shop at HEB and elsewhere will have to pay more for their reusable shopping bags or groceries as a result of the increased costs of using bio-degradable bags or resuseable bags to local businesses.
Barrientos did mention that at the present time there are at least nine (9) Texas cities which have approved some type of Plastic Bag Ordinance ban.
Barrientos concluded her update by stating that at the present time the City has a third reading of the proposed ordinance pending before the plastic bag ban Ordinance is legally approved by the City Council and takes effect.
Eagle Pass Mayor Ramsey English Cantu intervened and stated that the concerns were taken into consideration and the item had been tabled by the Council to try and implement a strong educational awareness campaign for the citizens to properly dispose of plastic bags and recycling program.
Mayor Cantu stated that there has been concern in reference to the plastic bag issue and that they (Council) wanted to see a report from administration to see where the issue is at present time.
“Although there is opposition it is from one particular company that expressed their opposition publicly. I think we need to look towards working with them and too see exactly what these larger corporations can do because ultimately that is where the problem is coming from. Not so much from the Corporations but from the consumers,” said Mayor Cantu.
Cantu emphasized that all the options needed to be carefully looked at whether it is through a recycling program or through an ordinance such as the one being proposed.
City Council and Barrientos further discussed what the companies and the City have been doing to bring awareness to the citizens on this critical issue.
Barrientos stated that some of the companies were emphasizing certain projects through their stores for recycling and awareness and that the City had been focusing on certain awareness campaigns on the issue as well.
Mayor Cantu said that the City Council will be looking into providing administration and public works on how to become more involved in educational awareness and recycling programs. Cantu noted the City Council will look into innovative funding sources for implementing awareness and recycling programs to enhance the City’s existing recycling program.
The City Council also agreed to concentrate on efforts receiving additional feedback from the community on their thoughts and ideas on how the community should address this plastic bag problem and proposed plastic bag ban ordinance. One city which banned plastic bags is the City of Brownsville, Texas and it reports seeing a significant decrease of plastic bag littering and protection of the environment. The City Council proposes having more pubic meetings and the use of a survey to determine what appropriate course of action should be taken on the pending plastic bag ban ordinance.
