Sen. Marc Basnight had a really good idea.
And then he had an even better idea.
Several weeks ago, Basnight, a Manteo Democrat who is President Pro Tempore of the state Senate, gathered some community leaders at his family?s restaurant, The Lone Cedar Caf? on the Manteo Causeway.
Basnight was rallying support for a bill that would impose a 10- to 25-cent fee on most types of plastic and paper bags.
His stated purpose was to clean up the Outer Banks ? get the unsightly, flimsy, ubiquitous plastic bags off the roadways and dunes and out of the waterways.
The bill, he said, would be a local bill, applying only to Dare, Hyde, and Currituck counties ? at least to start ? which would make it easier to get through the House and the Senate and be signed by the governor.
Apparently, Basnight got support at the meeting from local officials.
It?s a great idea.
We?ve all seen those bags everywhere along Highway 12, a scenic byway. They hang from trees, bushes, and from the lovely sea oats on the dunes. They blow around and deteriorate from the sun. They not only mar the beauty of the seashore but can also be a danger to wildlife.
Some of the bags, no doubt, are tossed out by people who litter. Others blow out of the back of pickup trucks ? or even out of the tops of Dare County?s garbage trucks. I?ve seen the bags blowing out of the trucks, though not in the last couple years since the county started garbage pickup in the dark, early morning hours.
However, I wondered why charge for plastic? Why not just ban it outright?
And that is what Basnight has now proposed ? apparently because some local politicians thought charging for the bags amounted to a tax. But who cares why?
The latest version of the bill, which passed the Senate yesterday by a vote of 47-1, is an outright ban on the use of the flimsy plastic bags.
?According to estimates, retailers provide 10-20 million plastic bags each year in Dare, Currituck, and Hyde counties,? according to a media release from Basnight?s office, ?most of which end up in landfills or littering coastal area. Discarded plastic bags contribute to overburdened landfills, threaten wildlife and marine life, degrade the beaches and other natural landscapes of North Carolina’s coast, and, in many cases, require consumption of oil and natural gas during the manufacturing process. The Outer Banks, which host millions of visitors each year, are one of the state?s most environmentally-sensitive areas.?
The bill would apply only to retail outlets more than 5,000 square feet or those that are part of a retail chain with five or more stores in the state.
Each store would display a sign saying that the county discourages the single-use of bags to protect the environment. Shoppers who don?t have a reusable bag would be offered a bag made of 100 percent recycled paper. The ban would not apply to the plastic used for fresh meat, poultry, seafood, and produce.
In a story in today?s Virginian-Pilot, Basnight said that weaning the public from the plastic bags and promoting the use of reusable bags might restore some of the ?cleanness? to the Outer Banks.
?I felt like it might set us apart ? in a good way,? he said in the article. ?We?re getting a lot of attention.?
Indeed, if the bill passes the House and is signed by the governor, it would put North Carolina in the forefront of the movement to remove single-use plastic bags from the environment.
San Francisco banned plastic bags in 2007, and several cities and states are contemplating a ban.
Many retail stores are offering reusable bags that can be purchased there or allow bags purchased elsewhere and carried into the store.
Conner?s Supermarket in Buxton has reusable bags ? green ones ? for $1. I purchased four last year. The hardest part is remembering to bring them to the store with you. I try to remember to put them right back in my vehicle as soon as I unpack groceries. I also have a cloth bag I purchased from the Hatteras Island Cancer Foundation. Other stores and shops on the island offer their own versions of the reusable bags for a nominal fee.
The bags are very easy to use and make it easier to carry in your purchases than carrying fists full of the flimsy plastic bags, which I have had split apart on my way into the house with the groceries.
We should all celebrate Basnight?s leadership on this issue.
The Outer Banks is a good place to start ? a sort of pilot project.
However, soon the ban should be imposed statewide and all retailers should be required to participate.
If approved by the House and signed by the governor, the bill would become effective on Sept. 1.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
The full text of the legislation: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2009/BillDocuments/Senate/PDF/S1018v1-PCS85223.pdf
We applaud this legislation. We have ordered fabric bags for our small gift store, even though the bill does not apply to us (we have less than 5000 square feet). Because we are small, however, the bags cost us quite a bit more than the bags at Conners and Harris Teeter. So unfortunately, we will have to charge more for them. But I hope the public will understand! We also sell Kim Moser?s ?Keep Hatteras Green? canvas bags. It?s the right thing to do!!
We stayed in a beautiful condo in Hatteras Village last week, which we rented through Outer Beaches Realty. In addition to the normal ?stuff? that we received when we checked in, OBR gave us two very sturdy fabric bags. I used them while we were in Hatteras, and have continued to use them back in Chesapeake. Kudos to Outer Beaches Realty for making their contribution to help to keep the Outer Banks clean!!
Kudos to all of those who are making the effort to eliminate those unsightly plastic bags! I, too, received the nice, sturdy canvas bag from Outer Beaches Realty ?and I use it all the time. When I was there, last month, I noticed a gentleman fishing plastic bags out of the ditch, across Highway 12 from Food Lion. Kudos to him, also! I have been using canvas bags for about 10 years ?just a matter of changing a bad habit! Your island is soooo beautiful ?if everyone would do their part, it would be even more beautiful.
fantastic! we have been working for two years and haven?t gotten as far as that yet?? but our newjersey surfrider foundation has been putting out great canvas bags and getting a lot of positive attention?-good luck , make it happen!
Good onya, Mate! First there were styrofoam cups, then there were and are white plastic bags. What will the next (worldwide) icon of ugliness be?
Now this part of “Green” makes some sense?for a change.
A ” pollutant” is “matter? that gets in the way and causes problems. Who can be against “pollution prevention”?
It costs lots of money and energy to pick up trash and dispose of it?money is in short supply right now in case you haven?t noticed. Plastic bags are made from oil, that?s in short supply too.
The most cost effective way to manage a pollutant is to prevent it from causing problems in the first place. Remember the first rule of messes, “If you don?t make a mess, you don?t have to clean it up.”
Yep, the disposable bags should go.
Wealth creation and environment go together. Now, someone out there needs to start a cottage business making and selling reusable, cotton cloth, bags. Cotton is biodegradable, plastic isn?t. That will be good for the economy and the environment.
Mary Bizantz did not mention that her small business is Home Port Gifts in Waves.
And our hats off to Outer Beaches Realty for providing canvas bags.
If there are other businesses on Hatteras or Ocracoke that are trying to steer away from plastic bags with either paper or reusable bags, let us know who you are.
Irene
We have been doing this for years, We look @ it this way, every time you eliminate a plastic bag you save a fish. Amen to NC on this one??????
A great idea! This one should be nationwide!
When I lived on the OBX, the thing I hated seeing on the side of the road or on the beach was the Southern Ice Bags. If they make it to the ocean, turtles see them as jellyfish. This is a great step!
My Godson, an environmental scientist, started me toting canvas bags to the supermarket in Florida back in the 80?s when he was in college. What I find frustrating is when store clerks don?t know what they are or why I bring them in. This just happened on Saturday here in Raleigh. Clearly, store managers could help a lot by instructing baggers to minimize the numbers of bags used?.IF the customer hasn?t brought their own cloth bags. ?Paper or plastic?? needs to be changed to ?Did you bring your own cloth bags today??
Judy,
You can?t lay off the responsibilty for ?Paper or Plastic? on the people who work in the stores. They are not involved, they just want a paycheck.
It?s your responsibility to inform them that you have your own bag.
I?ve been doing it for 9 years and it is not uncommnen for the cashier to tell the bagger, he?s got his own bag.
It?s not their choice, it?s yours.
I am not as excited about this as many of the comments have stated. Its a great idea, but ice must be in a plastic bag (Sorry Joyce), bait in paper bags(maybe, but not likely.
Oh and what about cans and bottles ? Which makes more sense to me than this project. Returns on bottles when they were returnable was great spending money when I was a kid. Why not now on all ythhe plastic, glass and aluminum ones thrown out today, but this makes sense qand not many government ideas do.
If you come in the shop and we are putting your mullet in newspaper and stuffing it in a paper bag, just remember, it was what you wanted!
A bit harsh, John Alley. I?m just sayin? I often feel like I?m the only one who knows that cloth bags are a good thing. There are a few granola stores around here which give you a dime off for each bag you bring in. It?s a good motivator. The environment is everybody?s business.
Folks, the plastic bag issue doesn?t have to be an all or nothing proposition in the finest tradition of radical environmentalism.
Plastic containers and bags have their place in the world, just not blowing all over the highway and seashore.
Plastic can be be recycled and even be a good fuel stock. Paper in a dry landfill doesn?t biodegrade, it sits there just like plastic. In terms of total life cycle impact on the environment, plastic is has less an environmental impact than paper, believe it or not.
There is an economic benefit in taking your cloth bag to the grocery store, reduced costs to the grocery store and eventually to the consumer.
One thing is for sure, if government regulators get in on this issue, we?re all going lose.
Ready my blogs at http://www.drmikeberry.wordpress.com and http://www.drmikeberry.com
I have been using several cavernous nylon bags purchased from Home Depot for the last year or so. I have noticed that this totally flummoxes the order of business in grocery stores. As I prefer to bag my own groceries, so as to get all the cold stuff together, etc?not to mention getting back home with chips and bread intact, perhaps the store help would be more useful in unloading my cart, allowing me to get to the end of the conveyer belt and re-load a cart with my groceries in the bags I bring in. Sometimes I feel like I have held up the customers behind me, who are ready to stuff their sh*t in a plastic bag and git. The other downside I have found to this system is that I am now lacking paper sacks for recycling junk mail and draining fried foods on?
While I agree with getting rid of the ugly plastic bags, it leaves me in a situation of not knowing what to use when I sell fresh fish or hot steamed shrimp to customers. Plastic is the only thing I know of to use to prevent leakage in a customers car or home. If there is anyone that knows of such a product to put a steaming hot pile of shrimp in and all kinds of raw seafood, I will be will glad to take any suggestion from you. I am all for the band, but I am sure there are other business that sell products that just can?t be put in a cloth bag. I can?t imagin a person washing thier bag out everytime they buy fresh seafood. suggestions welcomed
Risky Business seafood
I bought fresh shrimp from Risky Business this past week. The shrimp were placed in a sturdy plastic bag that prevented the leakage. And that bag was placed in a paper bag. I found nothing extravagant or offensive or environmentally disruptive in how you handled your products. I only hope that those who draft the regulations (I can feel them coming) do not lack the common sense to make those regulations realistic. I?m not very optimistic, in seeing how other organizations have been treating beach access. Beth, I understand your concerns.