Bag it up: Today, the fine folks at Bag the Bags are hosting a presser at City Hall to push for a ban on plastic grocery store bags – the scourge of cabinets under sinks and above fridges everywhere. The release, copied below, reminds us: per Lee Leffingwell‘s City Council resolution, the city was supposed to bring back recommendations on what to do about the wasteful suckers; so what did they decide on?
Bag the Bags Coalition Kicks Off Campaign to Ban Plastic Shopping Bags
2:30pm Press Conference Today at Austin City Hall
(Austin, TX) — Today, Monday, September 24th, the Bag the Bags Coalition will kick off a civic campaign to ban the use of petroleum-based plastic shopping bags in Austin, Texas.
“As Austinites, we hold ourselves up as a national model for environmental protection. Now, we have a new opportunity to make our community an even better place – by banning the distribution of plastic shopping bags in our city,” says Coalition Founder, Rick Cofer.
Following other global leaders, San Francisco became the first American city to ban the distribution of plastic bags earlier this year. Now, more than a dozen major cities across North America are contemplating similar initiatives.
In Austin, City Council Member Lee Leffingwell recently sponsored a successful Council resolution directing city management to consider ways to limit the use of plastic bags in Austin. The goal of the Bag the Bags Coalition is to persuade the Council, city management, and Austin community that the best way to limit the use of plastic shopping bags is to ban them.
For facts about the negative consequences of plastic bag production and for the Bag the Bags Coalition Plan please visit www.BagTheBags.com.
This article appears in September 21 • 2007.