A ban on single-use bags could be in store for Sunset Valley in 2013.

On Nov. 13, Sunset Valley City Council heard its first presentation about how a ban on single-use bags—similar to that of the City of Austin—could benefit the area.

Carolyn Meredith, environmental services manager with the city's Public Works & Environmental Services Department, explained to the council that implementing the ban in Sunset Valley would remove a significant source of litter and speed the city's transition to using renewable and reusable alternatives.

Meredith said an ordinance will begin to be developed soon, and a letter will go out to local businesses inviting them to a public meeting with stakeholders in January to come up with an implementation timeline.

City Council would review the ordinance and consider whether to approve it.

"If we are going to move forward with this, I would like us to do it at a faster pace than how we sometimes move through things," Mayor Rose Cardona said. "I think that that might also make the transition easier for shoppers if we are as close as possible to being in line with the City of Austin."

Austin launched a pilot program in 2010 for residential recycling for plastic bags. The initiative cost was almost $35,000, but the city only saw about a $1,000 return on the bags that were recycled, Meredith said.

In 2012, the city approved an ordinance that would ban the bags, which will go into effect in March 2013.

Sunset Valley's Planning and Environmental Committee began researching the ordinance in March and is now recommending that Sunset Valley pursue something similar.

Such a change would affect all businesses within Sunset Valley. Many businesses in Sunset Valley are already familiar with bag bans because they operate franchises in cities where such ordinances exist. Meredith said about 10 businesses, some of which only operate locally, would need to review the new ordinance.

In her presentation, Meredith said that a downside of single-use plastic bags is that they are made from polyethylene, a material that is not recognized by microorganisms as a food source and therefore slows deterioration. Meredith added the bags are dangerous to birds and other animals that can mistake them for food.