a few years back the tree huggers were screaming to ban paper bags save tree. we went to plastic. now the greenies screaming to ban plastic save the ecology.the health freaks are saying the reusable bags carry germs. what will be next?

Using cloth bags is the way to go. They are strong and can carry heavy items. Its all
in balance. Use 2 bags to even out the weight. Plastic needs to go. Society needs to do its share. If you are going to carry a bag anyway why not one that doesn't hurt
the environment. I do not understand the negative comments. This is just common sense

"The average plastic bag is used for 15 mins... "
Maybe in your world, Ron. But I re-use plastic bags for many things, or I gather them up and recycle them in the convenient bins at the store - and I say this as someone who also uses my own reusable bags. People need to look at both sides, and not just the feel-good quick fix. As people have said the cheap paper bags they use at Shaw's are terrible, so people double bag - talk about waste. Then there is the hot water used and detergent going into the environment to wash all those reusable bags to get rid of bacteria.

We have nothing better to worry about?
In todays Pheonix it's story states names 2 people that are involved in advancing this. One is a councilman- the other person apparently is a resident.
This resident is concerned about the blight and trash and its' effects on our environment.
This same person did wonders with his property on Hope St(across from Gibson).
Maybe he should spend some of his free time cleaning up his own dump.

Congratulations Town Councilman Sweeney for showing real leadership on this vital issue in preserving our environment for future generations. The decisions we make now will enhance the quality of future lives. A little inconvenience should not be the abiding factor. I support you.

Really Town Council.... This is the top of the agenda for the new council? Selectively telling business what they can or can not do based on personal initiatives of a council member.
How can you allow this for certain stores but not all? Bristolians do not litter our town or waters, it is out of towners who will still bring plastic bags in and leave them.

This is a BAD IDEA.. not trying to reduce waste and litter, but having a selected few tell the rest of us, and our businesses what we can and can not do.

Special needs people at the Maher Center use recycled plastic bags to make shopping bags which they sell to fund some of their activities. Activities that the State of Rhode Island refuses to pay for. Do you really want to take that away from these beautiful people, Mr. Sweeney?

Where are the facts? I understand most of the plastic bags found it our waterways can be traced to MA, so how does banning bags in Bristol solve that. Typical emotion driven drivel and anti-business. Has anyone reached out to Stop & Shop, Seabra, Walgreens, etc to work on an acceptable solution or is the plan just to shove it down their throats? I guess our police officers don't have anything better to do...who will be enforcing this? Another law/ordinance to add to all the others not being enforced. Why not? We need a bigger government. They switched to plastic years ago to stop the cutting of trees, so it is all right to cut trees now?. Why don't they address personal recycling issues. Bristol had some of the lowest percentages in the state.

Conceptually, we should make efforts to keep plastic out of our land and waters. This is the right way to go, but there are many unanswered questions. One can question the urgency and means of accomplishing this well intentioned effort. One can question whether this needs to be done by government intervention with more regulations and some type of enforcement agency and process. One can also question as to whether the plastic bag is the most serious threat to our waters. One can question if this ban is more of a feel good activity with little result at an unnecessary cost. Why not ban styrofoam cups and containers, why not ban plastic bottles, why not ban sandwich bags? Most of these items show up in our waters and our shores in greater numbers than plastic bags. Might a better goal be to get Fall River to improve their storm sewers and waste treatment facilities so that every time it rains Mt. Hope Bay is not filled with polluted water? Can we not achieve the goal of making our environment cleaner and safer by a community wide effort to educate and encourage residents and business to decrease their use and increase their re-use of all plastics? One gets the sense from a recent Phoenix article that big box stores are as much the target as plastic. The reduction of all plastic in our environment is the right thing to do, but we need not make the ban of plastic bags a dogma that may not be based on fact and that accepts no challenges.

Bristol lags way behind in doing recycling of businesses even though if they recycled more they would save money. I'm relieved someone on the council cares enough about the environment to try and ban plastic bags. Who knows, maybe we will get all businesses to recycle as well!

As many of you are taking the time to leave comments on this article, I implore you to conduct a little research of your own on the web and see why this is an important issue that can be easily remedied. Take a look at the many cities around the world that have realized the very significant impact these thin film, single use bags have on the environment. Although other plastics like water bottles are having an adverse (and deserve attention) effect on our environment, thin film plastic bags are in a league of there own. They can end up circulating through the ecosystem in as little as 1-2 years. That means the very wonderful shellfish and seafood we all enjoy will have been effected. Keep that in mind the next time you order little necks, oysters, etc at your favorite local restaurant. Please take the time and conduct a little research of your own. Also, remember only a very few responsible people actually recycle the plastic bags at the local market. 9.2 % to be exact. That means for every 100 tons of plastic bags that ends up in our environment, only 9.2 tons are recycled. Please attend the workshop at the Bristol Town Hall on Feb 20th to learn more.

Ethan M Tucker

Banning bags is nothing more than a feel good thing that accomplishes nothing and again penalizes those who follow the rules and do not litter4 with them.

How many times do we go to a shopping centers, grocery stores etc, and see bags blowing all over the place? Should not the shopping center be cleaning them up from being in the enviroment? Most are from that I suspect. Frankly if it is near me I pick it up and throw them away. If you see a bunch of bags on the street in your nieghborhood and you are walking, look at yourself in the mirror if you are not picking them up, its not like you don't have a bag to put them in ;-}.

A plastic bags does not break down in a landfill people scream. Well neither does a paperbag, or cloth or anything for that matter once it is buried it takes decades to happen, by the way. More on that later.

These platic grocery bags have been a boon to so many people for different uses. Poop patrol bags, One in your pocket or purse for those times when you need a bag for what even. There are crafts and many other uses for them. Just google it. I will post many links for this and you will be surprised at the ingenuity and simplicity of reusing them.

Will they end up in the enviroment eventially? Yes everything does since we have not invented a way to break them down at the molecular level, which is the only solution, except the humans are not all responsible, that you will never change.

Thats my take on it that.

Ethan,

No doubt this is an important issue and that we should reduce plastics that get into our environment. Let's agree on this point. However, the question remains why does this have to be done by government regulation? Additionally, several comments that you make impact on the credibility of the overall argument that should be made to educate a broader segment of the population. First of all the term "single use" plastic bag is misleading and I am sure would be challenged by a vast majority of people who use and reuse these bags. The argument that many cities are banning bags is not persuasive. Has any independent lab ever tested our local shell fish and other forms of seafood? I dig and eat little necks and clams all the time and I worry more about discharge problems in Mount Hope Bay. Do we have proof that I should be worried n more about plastic bags? Is recycling at supermarkets the only way of of recycling plastic bags? And this figure of 9.2% is a percentage of what cohort? Does not putting the bags in the blue bins count toward recycling? You are right to work to reduce the amount of plastic in our environment, but we should do so based on weighing all factors in this equation is a dispassionate manner.

Here is a great youtube video on the effects of plastics on marine life, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eos-uI1u9DM

If towns like Bristol can lead on an issue like this, maybe we can apply pressure on our neighbors to do the same. Do we want to teach our children one person or one town cannot make a difference?? Do we want to teach them that's its ok to be a throw away society?

Thank you

But we are a throw away society. We have thrown away our young through Abortion 55 million since 1973. We throw away our elderly by right to die laws in sevreal states, Euthanasia. Yes, we are a throw away society.

http://www.numberofabortions.com/
Proof of our Throw Away Society.

Mrs B
I disagree, and although very tragic, its a tough comparison abortion vs plastic in the environment. If everyone stands idly by and does nothing maybe we will be. I for one stand up for my beliefs and intend on teaching my daughter exactly that.

Thank you

Ethan,

I don't s disagree on the need to keep our land, air and waters clean. I do not think that anyone is promoting a throw away society. And yes we do we want to teach our children one person or one town can make a difference. A bag ban is hardly teaching.

Weetamoe
Thank you, but I do respectfully disagree with your last statement. I believe there are many lessons to be learned. Take a loo at this article. Its about a 12 year old girl in Chicago.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/03/illinois-plastic-bag_n_1646875.html

Thank you

All, there is a Facebook page for the; Bristol Reusable Bag Initiative, take a look and feel free to leave some comments.

San Francisco passed America's "first-in-the-nation" ban on plastic bags in chain grocery stores and drugstores in 2007. In a research paper for the Wharton School Institute for Law and Economics, law professors Jonathan Klick and Joshua Wright crunched state and federal data on emergency room admissions and food-borne-illness deaths and figured that the San Francisco ban "led to an increase in infections immediately upon implementation."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/saunders/article/S-F-s-plastic-bag-ban-may-be-unhealthy-4264075.php#ixzz2KcO4rbW4