MIAMI BEACH, Florida — Miami Beach markets itself as having 9 miles of glittering, hot, white sandy beaches in a southern Florida tourist haven that delights locals and visitors alike. But sometimes the reality can be a little different. On some weekends, it can be hard to escape stepping on mounds of discarded plastic bags, bottles, cigarette butts and food wrappers. “I can’t go to the beach anymore because I end up cleaning up,” said Dave Doebler, a member of Miami Beach’s Sustainability Committee, which is tasked with providing long- and short-term goals for the city’s strategic plan regarding environmental and economic concerns. “Last week, we pulled 800 pounds of trash off the shoreline during one of our beach cleanups. It’s not just Miami Beach either. It’s all over, in Biscayne Bay, and all up and down the coast,” Doebler added. The worst trash strewn along the shoreline: plastic bags. Not only are they unsightly, but their impact is hard to miss, especially along waterways, where they harm land and marine wildlife, clog flood control systems, interfere with landfill operations and breed mosquitoes. The United Nations recently released two reports with conservative financial estimates for worldwide marine damage from plastics: $13 billion each year. The harsh environmental impact of plastic bags has spurred a movement to eliminate them. From Hawaii to cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and most recently Chicago, over 160 state and local governments have passed plastic bag bans. There is often a small fee, up to 10 cents in some areas, to encourage reusable bags. The elected officials of Miami Beach say they would like to have a plastic bag ban of their own. But they can’t, because it’s illegal in Florida to ban plastic bags.

Last week, we pulled 800 pounds of trash off the shoreline during one of our beach cleanups. It’s not just Miami Beach either. It’s all over, in Biscayne Bay, and all up and down the coast. Dave Doebler Miami Beach’s Sustainability Committee

In 2008, the Florida Legislature passed a law that denied local governments the opportunity to enact plastic bag laws. The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) subsequently created a list of recommendations based on a 2010 Retail Bags Report, ensuring that the Legislature could enact no new bag rules unless it followed the DEP guidelines. The DEP regulatory strategy discouraged single-use plastic and paper bags, and noted that outright bans produced the fastest results — closely followed by plans that impose user fees or taxes. But getting Florida’s politicians to agree on a law allowing the banning of plastic bags has not been easy, not least because of opposition from some members of the business community. So Florida’s ban on the bans remains in place. Some local leaders are trying to change that. This past legislative session, there was a bill that would have removed the prohibition on municipalities regulating plastic bags and requiring that new ordinances be uniform throughout the state. It was the second attempt by state Sen. Dwight Bullard — a Democrat representing a district mostly surrounded by water — to introduce a bill with a 10-cent fee for paper bags to offset costs for stores mandated to make the switch from plastic. But at the Senate committee hearing, Samantha Padgett of the Florida Retail Federation called the bill an unnecessary paper bag tax. “We have a public information campaign that tells people where they can take plastic bags to recycle. Plastic bags also have a place in the green building market,” she said. Padgett cited their use in making decking materials, park benches and landscape dividers. Among other things, a ban would mean 100 fewer jobs at Hilex Poly, a plastic bag manufacturer with plants in Jacksonville and Orlando. The bill was temporarily postponed in committee, primarily because lawmakers “started throwing around the ugly T word in government," said Bullard, referring to "tax." The state senator is undecided on whether he will eventually remove the fee from the bill. “I don’t think the naysayers would be satisfied either way. There is no brouhaha or riot in the streets going to happen because people are asked to pay an additional 10 cents for a processing fee," said Bullard. "There is a level of ignorance in Tallahassee towards the national trend. This is not an overly cumbersome thing. Certain retailers are actually asking for this.”

There is no brouhaha or riot in the streets going to happen because people are asked to pay an additional 10 cents for a processing fee. Dwight Bullard Florida state senator