Tempe wants to sack plastic bags

Paper or plastic could soon become a moot question in Tempe grocery stores as the city looks to become the first in the Valley to ban plastic bags.

Saying that plastic bags clog landfills and defile the environment, Tempe officials are in the early stages of studying whether to follow a nationwide trend and ban them altogether from retail stores. Dozens of cities in 18 states and the District of Columbia have adopted plastic-bag ordinances, which range from outright bans to charging a tax on each bag used.

Tempe would be the second city in the state behind Bisbee to enact a plastic-bag ordinance.

Flagstaff is considering a plastic-bag ban. Tucson modified its plastic-bag ordinance in 2012, but the new rules didn't ban or tax bags. Instead it compelled grocers to track and report how many bags it handed out and recycled.

The ordinance also required stores to train employees on how to cut down on plastic bag use, such as not bagging gallons of milk or other items with handles.

"It's time that Tempe led on this issue in the state and followed best practices nationally," said newly seated Councilwoman Lauren Kuby, who proposed looking into a ban last month. Kuby said she would like to see some type of action taken on the ordinance within three months.

Even though all options are on the table, the working scenario right now would ban plastic bags at stores while charging customers 10 cents for each paper bag.

"The best model to encourage a cultural, behavioral shift is to not have the bag available, and if they do buy a bag, it will be a paper bag," Kuby said. "When there are no bags there, they think about it more. It becomes ingrained in their brain that they need to bring a bag with them."

Arizona League of Cities and Towns executive director Ken Strobeck said he isn't wasn't aware of any other cities in the state working on a plastic-bag ordinance.

But the Legislature could have thrown a wrench into plans by Tempe, or any other city, to implement such an ordinance.

The Arizona House proposed an amendment Tuesday which would prohibit cities from imposing a tax on, or regulating the use of, plastic and paper bags and other containers.

Kuby said she got the idea after hearing from city staff how plastic bags wreak havoc on city recycling machinery and then taking a trip to a grocery store.

"I was standing in front of Fry's just watching maybe 15 bags being loaded into a shopping cart and thinking this is such an absurd situation," she said.

Banning plastic bags would not only help the environment, Kuby said, but save taxpayer dollars as well.

"Picking up plastic bags from the highways and our parks costs money," she said. "To me it's a no-brainer because we'll save taxpayers money and it's good for the environment. Taking this one small step can make a big difference."

A 2013 survey commissioned by Washington, D.C.'s District Department of the Environment showed residents decreased their weekly average bag usage from 10 per week to four per week, four years after the District of Columbia's city council passed a 5-cent tax on all carryout bags.

D.C. businesses also purchased 50 percent fewer bags compared to before the ordinance, the study showed.

Just how much the city and Tempe businesses would save is unknown since the working group the city formed to study the matter is collecting data on plastic-bag usage within the city.

It's also uncertain if the ordinance would apply only to major retailers or to all businesses.

Some business groups are guarded about the proposed ordinance.

Tempe Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Mary Ann Miller wonders how customers would respond to a business that doesn't offer plastic bags and charges a fee for a paper bag.

"Does that further irritate (customers) that they're literally being nickeled and dimed," Miller said. "No business wants to irritate their customers."

Miller, who will discuss the proposed ordinance this week with city officials, said she needs more information on how it will be implemented. She said she wants to know whether it would reduce waste and who would profit from the per bag charge before offering any opinion on the plan.

"There's just a lot of details to look at to see how this works, does it work and is it worthwhile," she said.

Other groups say government shouldn't mandate how people carry home their groceries.

"We want to give our customers what they want. One of the things our customers tell us is they want choices," said Tim McCabe, president of the Arizona Food Marketing Alliance. "They don't want to be told what they can or can't have when they go to buy their groceries."

McCabe said programs exist, such as Bag Central Station, where people can return their plastic bags to the store for recycling. But most people don't know about those programs.

He said cities should first attempt education campaigns to increase recycling before turning to bans or taxes. He also said using reusable cloth bags could expose people to E. coli from meats and poultry.

But Dianna Cohen, CEO and co-founder of the Plastic Pollution Coalition, a global alliance working to eradicate plastic pollution, scoffed at the notion reusable bags carry an increased health risk.

"That's completely absurd. Anything can have E. coli on it. Do you wash your socks? Then wash your reusable bag. Problem solved," Cohen said.

Cohen said the plastics industry has convinced most people that plastic bags are a cost effective and convenient product.

"We're being provided with this false sense that something is convenient for us to grab and go. But we are not factoring in the true cost," she said. "If you factor in the true cost to your health, to our environment, to animals, to the ocean ... It's a much more expensive material than we realize."

Oceans bear an inordinate brunt of plastic pollution. According to environmentmassachusetts.org, 85 percent of all sea turtles will either be injured or killed by plastics during their lives.

In the Atlantic Ocean, a floating garbage dump contains up to 26 million plastic particles per square kilometer, according to the website. The area is referred to as the Great Atlantic Garbage Patch.

Cohen said by making different choices at the checkout lines, people could start becoming part of the solution.

Kuby said the measure will not get jammed through and said businesses, environmental groups and the public will all get a chance to weigh in on the matter.

"It's not going to be some fiat," she said. "Reaching out is really important because you want buy-in from the business community and the public."

Plastic bags by the numbers

•100 billion: number plastic bags used in the United States each year

•$4 billion: Estimated amount retailers spend on plastic bags annually

•1,000 years: Amount of time it can take for one plastic bag to breakdown

•12 minutes: Average amount of time a plastic bag is used before being trashed

Source: Wall Street Journal and environmentmassachusetts.org