Plastic bagPhoto by Sara Behunek

The City of Austin Environmental Board will recommend to Austin City Council that it adopt the single-use plastic bag ban drafted by city staff but with a more aggressive timeline and the elimination of an exemption for beer, wine and spirit retailers, among other changes.

"Looking at the environmental impact, this is an opportunity to do what's best for the environment, to save the city taxpayers money and to really try to begin getting away from our throw-away society, that's the main thing," board member Mary Ann Neely said.

The Environmental Board, a committee of seven citizens elected by City Council members, debated at its Feb. 15 meeting one proposed modification that would have moved forward the date of implementation to Nov. 1. As drafted, the ordinance requires that a full ban would begin March 1, 2014.

The modification was changed to say that implementation of the ban should begin 12 months after the ordinance is adopted. City Council is expected to vote on the ban in March.

"I think it's a respect for our retailers and our local businesses and the effort that it takes to make a business plan and make a business plan that is successful," vice chair Robin Gary said of the time frame for implementation. "This is a major change in their business plan. If they've said that they need 12 months, I think that this change is being respectful of their public input that they have provided."

The modifications recommended by the Environmental Board are:

  • The Environmental Board strongly recommends that definition of reusable carry-out bags be retained in the ordinance approved by council.
  • Recyclable paper bags have a minimum base weight of 65 pounds and be Forest Stewardship Council–certified.
  • It is advisable, but not necessary, that reusable carryout bags display the phrase "Reusable and Recyclable."
  • Eliminate March 1, 2013–Feb. 28, 2014, in the draft ordinance, in which single-use bags are available for a 10 cent Section C fee, and move directly into prohibiting single-use bags 12 months after adoption of ordinance. Retailers may charge a fee for the reusable bags if they wish.
  • Include information on how to recycle reusable bags on signage required to be displayed in the store.
  • Eliminate the section on surcharges due to the fact that the yearlong period in which single-use bags will be provided for a surcharge because that section will no longer be part of the ordinance.
  • Eliminate exemptions for retailers of beer, wine and spirits.
  • Add requirements that state retailers that have an exemption have to display signage about where to recycle single-use bags or provide recycling facilities on-site.
  • The environmental board recommends that Austin Resource Recovery use metrics to track the success of their educational program and program to reduce single-use bags in the waste stream. This could include but is not limited to requiring retailers to distribute to the city numbers or pounds of bags distributed to consumers or number and types of bags or pounds of bags recycled. Austin Resource Recovery should report findings to the Environmental Board on an annual basis.
  • The Environmental Board recommends that Austin Resource Recovery investigate providing "pillows," or special sacks to the public to facilitate single-use plastic bag recycling as part of single-stream recycling. This should be implemented as soon as possible and concurrent with the program banning single-use bags.
  • Austin Resource Recovery should provide consistent updates to the Environmental Board about education program success.