A proposal to ban Minneapolis stores from handing out plastic bags — and require them to charge customers for paper bags — has cleared an important hurdle at City Hall.
Monday, following a lengthy public hearing, the City Council's Health, Environment and Community Engagement committee voted 4-0 to forward the plan to the full council. It appears the plan may have enough support to pass the 13-member council; in addition to the four committee members who voted in favor of the plan, two other council members attended the meeting to voice their support. A fifth committee member, Council Member Andrew Johnson, expressed support for the plan but abstained from voting because he intends to work on an amendment that would make the policy more "consumer and business friendly."
If approved, the ban would take effect in April 2017 and cover all types of businesses, with a few exceptions. It would exempt several types of plastic bags, including those used to wrap produce, flowers, baked goods, takeout foods, newspapers and dry-cleaning or laundry. It would require businesses to charge customers a 5-cent fee for paper bags, though customers receiving public assistance to buy food would not be required to pay the fee.
The proposal was drafted by Council Members Cam Gordon and Abdi Warsame, who said they're looking to change consumers' habits in order to get the city closer to its zero-waste goals. Gordon has said he offered the idea in response to growing concerns from residents about the amount of plastic bags thrown away or blowing around the city's streets, parks, lakes and rivers. He hopes more people will bring their own reusable bags if faced with fewer, or costlier, alternatives.
A majority of the people who turned out for Monday's public hearing agreed. Of the 25 people who spoke, 20 were supportive of the ban.
They included residents, representatives of neighborhood groups, students, and one man who came to the hearing dressed in a bulky suit made of plastic bags.
Steve Eberly, a board member of the environmental nonprofit group Linden Hills Power & Light, said his "Bag Monster" costume was meant to underscore the volume of bags used in the city. He told the council he was wearing the average number of plastic bags a typical shopper uses in a year: about 500. Another man said he biked to the meeting from Lake Street, about three miles away, and saw 52 plastic bags littered along the way.
High school student Sarah Silver brought along four reusable bags stuffed full with plastic bags — a haul from a few hours of picking up trash along the Mississippi River. She and other students who spoke at the hearing said many young people are concerned about the long-term impact on the health of the environment and on the community.
