CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County Council will consider banning the use of disposable plastic bags and non-recyclable paper bags by all retail businesses in the county.

The proposal is expected to be introduced Tuesday. Council members Sunny Simon and Dale Miller are sponsoring the legislation out of concern for the environmental damage done by nonbiodegradable plastic.

In an interview with cleveland.com on Friday, Simon said the ban would apply to any supermarkets, convenience stores, department stores, restaurants, or other sales outlets.

But the ban would not apply to plastic bags that customers bring with them to retailers, and bags used for carry-out orders of prepared food or restaurant leftovers, she said.

The ban also would not apply to plastic bags used for newspapers, perishable items such as produce and meat, garbage, dry-cleaning, pet waste, prescription medication and bags provided at curbside pick-up or points of delivery and bags used for legally transporting partially-consumed bottles of wine.

Paper bags that are 100 percent recyclable, and made of at least 40 percent recycled material would be allowed, but other paper bags would not be allowed.

She acknowledged environmental problems with paper bags as well, but wants recycled paper bags to remain available so residents can more easily transition away from plastic bags and towards reusable ones.

If enacted, the ban would be enforced by the county’s Department of Consumer Affairs. First-time violators would be subject to a written warning. Second violations would carry a civil fine of up to $100 and subsequent violations would carry fines up to $500.Violations are defined as each day a retailer doesn’t comply with the ordinance.

Simon expects that residents would report complaints, or consumer affairs employees would find violations while conducting weights and measures oversight.

As proposed, the ban would go into effect Oct. 1. Simon said that would give retailers time to use up their supplies of plastic bags, and also allow time for community education to inform residents about the need for such legislation.

“As [Cuyahoga County] leaders, its incumbent upon us to do something to address this pervasive problem,” Simon said. “We’re a city on a lake — if not us, then who?”

Cuyahoga residents use 319 million plastic bags annually, Simon said, and that contributes to the 5.5 million pounds of plastic every year that makes its way into Lake Erie, the second-most polluted of the Great Lakes.

From there, the plastic breaks down, enters the oceans as well as the bodies of fish, and makes its way up the food chain into humans, Simon said. Bags clog sewers and landfills too, as less than 10 percent of plastic worldwide is recycled, Simon said.

“On every front, they’re creating a real problem — not only now with the costs of garbage pick-up, but immeasurable costs to our oceans and land that we need to protect for future generations, for our own human health and for the health of planet,” Simon said.

In October, 2017, Simon and Miller proposed a 10-cent fee on single-use plastic and paper bags, but that measure faced heavy pushback and never made it to the full Council for a vote.

If approved, Cuyahoga County would join the 200-some cities to ban plastic bags, such as Boston, Providence, Portland and Seattle. States such as California and New York, as well as every county in Hawaii, have banned or will ban them, Simon said.

In Cuyahoga County, Orange Village recently banned the retail use of plastic bags, Simon said.

Simon hopes to partner with non-profits to give away re-usable bags to those who need them.