Reusable Green Bags Make a Better Option for Dallas

The decision on plastic ban in Dallas will be taken in August. The summer break of the City Council will give extra time to the members and the residents to think about the ban.

Dwaine Caraway, a member of the council who supports the ban, is confident that he will win. On the hand, the members voting against the ban think otherwise.

Application of the ban

The ordinance has proposed to ban the use of disposable paper and plastic bags at the checkouts of stores. It also includes prohibition on one-time use of plastic bags. It will allow the stores to make reusable bags available to the customers. These bags include washable cloth bags, reusable green bags, fabric bags, recyclable thick plastic bags, and paper bags made with recycled content of at least 40%. Apart from this, stores will need to put up reminders advising the customers to get reusable bags with them.

A few exceptions have been allowed under this ban. Exceptions include dry cleaning plastic bags, newspaper and garbage bags, bags for wrapping frozen food, carryout bags at restaurants, and trash bin liners.

Plastic bags or reusable green bags?

A 15 year old boy, Contreras, said that the ban should be implemented as it will reduce the amount of plastic bag waste in the river. As a volunteer for the cleanup program of the city, he took out two hours to clean the litter from Trinity River. He cleared trash in the form of bottles, cans, and even golf balls. This cleanup program was organized by an environmental group called Groundwork Dallas. Peter Payton, Groundwork’s Executive Director, said that around 250 pounds were collected by the 20 volunteers of the group.

The people against the ban have a different thing to say, though. Michael Cole, an official of a plastic recycling plant, said that Dallas does not require any plastic ban as it is already recycling plastic. A manufacturing facility called Hilex Poly answered the backers of the ban by saying that reused and recycled plastic bags are not bad for the environment.

The ban threatens the employment of around 1600 employees of Hilex Poly alone. The officials of the company said that they are not against protecting the environment or recycling. But they think that the ban on plastic bags is not a good solution. They suggest ideas like better and smarter packaging of food products and using plastic bag drop-off boxes as a better solution to tackle the problem of plastic waste.

Source:http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20130702-what-to-do-with-plastic-bags-in-dallas-ban-them–or-recycle-them-opposing-sides-say.ece