Aspen bans plastic bags, charges for paper
By Carolyn Sackariason, Aspen Daily News
Aspen City Council on Tuesday voted 4 to 1 to ban plastic bags from the two grocery stores in town and place a 20-cent fee on paper bags.
The new law will take effect May 1.
Councilman Derek Johnson was the lone dissenter, saying that while he supports reducing waste, the ban doesn’t give people a choice and it could cost the city money to implement.
“I think we can do better,” he said.
In a Sept. 13 hearing on the issue, Johnson argued a ban would be too onerous on out-of-town tourists unfamiliar with the law.
The council has been talking about either a ban or a fee on plastic bags for the past two years. It was only a couple of weeks ago that a proposed 20-cent fee on plastic and paper bags morphed into a possible ban.
I hope Tahoe does this too!
Julie,
It’s in the works. A recent California Supreme Court ruling makes it possible for jurisdictions to implement a ban without the need for a costly EIR. Encourage everyone you know to start bringing their own shopping bags. The more people that do this, the easier the transition will be.
And remember to WASH your reusable bags regularly. They can be bacterial petri dishes if you don’t.
And exactly what are we going to use as trash bags in our cars now? Another reason to go to Wal Mart and stock up. Unfortunatly there is no money in saving the environment.
Skibum: don’t you remember when we were kids? We used to have to line our garbage cans with newspapers. First around the inside, then one down at the bottom. And rinse the cans out every week.
Oh, I forgot. Nobody reads newspapers anymore.
Does the ban on plastic bags mean we can’t bring them back from Walmart, or even from Safeway at Roundhill? And what about all the bags tourists bring with them? A great idea, full of holes! Maybe if South Tahoe starts the ban, the rest of the lake will follow.
I think it wouldn’t take much to get use to this.
The proposed ban would not limit your ability to bring your own plastic bags, it would only end the distribution of plastic bags from most retailers in SLT. With the new ruling, more CA. cities are in the process of banning the plastic bags and as is often the case, as CA. goes, so goes the rest of the nation.
consume less, recycle the rest….
yaay for no plastic bags!! I agree with careaboutthecommunity, it is a habit that can be developed.