As I think this is a good thing, how will this ordinance be enforced? You will have to stop all business's from using plastic and to change to paper bags or the cloth bags.
The cost to business's using paper my cause problems! I think that all business' should have a recycle bin for plastic bags or ad them to our trash pick, like the bottles and cans! But good luck it will be difficult.

A similar program is in place in Washington DC....I made a purchase at Ford Theatre and was charged .10 for the paper bag. I was very surprised, and then noticed that everyone seemed to have a tote bag of their own when shopping. It seems to work well enough in a large metropolis, so I imagine if our Warrenites are agreeable then there's no reason it can't work here.

I like my plastic bags. I reuse them again and again at home to transport things between my mother's house and mine. I also use them to toss my dirty cat litter each week.
I would, like some others said, probably shop in Massachusetts or other local towns and be less likely to shop in Warren for large shopping trips in which I'd need many bags -- I don't own, nor want to own, 20 reuseable bags.

Brilliant! Bristol should follow suit

I understand the concept of no longer using the plastic bags, I do agree. However, paper bags will kill millions of trees. Either way, we are abusing something. In my opinion, Cloth bags should be the future. Besides the damage to the bay take a look in front of Stop-n-Shop in Bristol. Across the street next to Usher Farm, the hundreds of plastic bags that are tangled in the trees are an eyesore.

Another smart move by a politician to give the local economy another hit. I agree with a previous poster. Put recycle bins in every store & do a curb side pick up on trash day. I always put bags in the bin at Seabra. Stop & Shop used to have one but no more & I think Rite Aid got rid of theirs.

There is most certainly more important things to be worried about at this present time than plastic bags......How about everyone just be a bit more responsible with their trash and call it problem solved.

Correct John.

On the other hand;

Best thing in the world for poop patrol ;-}

Best thing for small trash cans at your desk.

Best thing for trash bag in your car.

Best thing for small weeding jobs.

Best thing cleans up by the front fence where people throw the Mc D’s and Wendy’s trash and of course beer cans and bottles and such.

The problem is not the bags, it is the irresponsible people, though I do think the stores should better remind people they can return them to the store for disposal. I also can never figure out why they cannot be recycled? Got to be a million dollar idea somewhere.

On the other hand, there is so much stuff they recycle in NJ, that we do not do here, it makes us look like we recycle nothing, why is that?

Should remind people to wash those cloth ones and then disinfect the large freezer/heat bags once in a while. Some of the ones I see in the store are just looking for a new disease to grow and start a plague ;-}

IF people had responsability then we would having nothing to talk about, just like that poll if dogs should ride in the front seat of a moving vehicle, why not tie the dog to the bumper, Its common sense people, You wanna kill your dog put him in the front seat, but do we need another law making it illegal, enough is enough already

What about banning styrofoam instead!!!

http://www.golocalprov.com/news/the-most-toxic-towns/?utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=golocal&utm_content=Thursday-+April+12%2C+2012

Not sure replacing the bags is going to help us on the above list that came out this morning....:)

Responsible people who care about the environment have already made the $.99 purchase for the re-useable canvas bags. It is about time others catch up and use them. We know they can not be recycled so let's make this work for us. Using the bags for other things is great for the re-use part but they still can't be recycled. I don't like to see them on the beaches or in the trees but they are there. Somehow, if they are used, they end up there. We can all do our part in helping. I agree there are other things that are more worrisome, but we can't focus on more than one thing at a time?

So much for "land of the free." Government over regulation has taken hold. No one is free to live life anymore. There are now government rules for how we shop, what we can and cannot buy, what we must eat. When is enough enough?

Stop & Shop has recycle bins at entrances. The plastic is used to make lawn and beach furnishings.

This is a wonderful idea. For the sake of cleaner shorelines, let's pass a new law that restricts the way a private business can operate, thereby adding cost to their operations and pushing some customers to shop elsewhere (goodbye Tom's Market, hello Stop & Shop), so we can look forward to empty storefronts and unemployed people. Then we'll all feel better about things. Plastic bags are not the culprits here; irresponsible people are. Instead of outlawing a system that most of us find quite convenient, install a recycling bin and encourage responsible use. To support our family of five, we buy a lot of stuff and accumulate a lot of plastic bags. We save them all and recycle them (I usually dump them in a receptacle at the entrance to Lowe's in Seekonk). Really, this proposal is absurd.

I too reuse all my plastic bags. They are necessary here for disposing of cat litter and garbage. If I could no longer get them at stores I'd have to actually go out and buy them. Paper bags cannot be reused for garbage.

Encouraging large local businesses to place recycled bag bins near the entrances would encourage people to reuse existing bags. It seems what few places have bag recycle bins place them at the exits, not the entrances. But this should not be a law.

Also, a small fee charged at checkout for each plastic (or paper) bag purchased would encourage people to use the cloth bags they have back in their cars. Many people simply forget to bring them into the store or just don't bother about it.

Many stores in Europe charge this small surcharge and it's really not a big deal. People there are in the habit of using personal shopping bags and expect to pay a few cents when they enter a store empty-handed. This would never happen here w/o govt intervention. Though I'm not sure I'd actually vote for such a measure.

I'd pay that small surcharge for my plastic bags.

The fact of the matter is most people do not recycle plastic bags. Here in Los Angeles the plastic bag band was delayed in some cities but is in effect county-wide because of legal issues raised by, you guessed it, the bag companies citing job losses. Now back on track, the ban will go into full effect. Yes, you may lose your job if you work at the bag company. No, it will not effect jobs or businesses. You still have to shop, now you simply will need to keep your environmentally conscious bags in the car. Convenience to pick up dog poop is not a reason keep them. You can buy bags specifically for doing that that are bio-degradable.
BILLIONS are dispersed here in L.A. every year yet only 5% are actually recycled!
BILLIONS go to landfills, end up in the ocean or just float around till they find there way to the trash. I hope Warren will take the lead with passing this, it'd be nice to hear more positive stories coming out of the town for a change. Besides it simply is the right thing to do for OUR planet!

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=8609041

As with most issues that are not thought out, we have the law of unintended consequences that will end up rearing it's ugly head.

Ocean State Job Lot, appears to buy it's plastic bags from stores going out of business. Thus saving money AND saving those bags from going to the landfil. Now, the Warren store will be unable to use these bags, so that's less being bought by the parent company, and MORE going into lanfills.

I think we've reached the "damned if we do, damned if we don't" stage here. Paper bags are great, except the come from trees.

Cloth bags are great, except you have to wash them, using water, detergent, etc.

As much as plastic bags suck, most people reuse them for other things. The only thing I ever re-used the paper bags for was covering my math books in school.

Are paper bags made from 100% recycled paper? I just assumed...

Do people really wash their cloth shopping bags? Really?
The recyclable shopping bags sold in most stores don't look like they're washable. So are people throwing away dirty "recyclable" shopping bags?

I am glad so many people dislike seeing litter. It seems to be a question of what we are willing to do to change the habits of others. Incentives? Reminders? Peer pressure? Or laws?

FYI: CVS gives me a $1 coupon for every four times I use my own bag. You buy the "bag tag" once for $1, then present it each time you check out.
Whole Foods knocks 5c off your bill for each bag you provide yourself.
I prefer these incentives to laws.

Glad to know that about Job Lot.

In the past, stores have complained that providing even the option of paper bags costs them more. I wonder if this is still true.

I forgot all about the lawn and beach stuff Mrs. B, thank for the reminder, also a reason they should be included in the recycle town bins.

You will never stop littering morons, still pickup stuff evey day in front of my house, from bottle to news papers, but it could not hurt to include the bags with the blue bin. Though I can forsee the posting of more state jobs to handle them t the recycle facilities sadly.

Let me get this right.
The town has problems with livestock and fowl in residential neighborhoods
The town still has not cleaned a lot of the sand from streets
The town does not have enough money foor the schools
The town does not keep up with the ballfields
The town wants it's citizens to shovel town sidewalks
The town has a parking problem
The town has problems with illegal docks
AND ALL THE TOWN COUCILM CAN CONCERN THEMSELFS WITH IS PLASTIC BAGS.

John, you seem to be right on top of every issue in town, and your remarks always seem to hit the bullseye. Please if you could, answer the following question. Doe's the Town Council ever answer anything the first time, or do they always wait for Tony Desisto to find out something first. It just seems to me that at every town meeting this man loves to put his two cents into everything, or as they say, he likes to hear himself talk. I respect all members of the Council, but I believe that they should not listen to him at times and vote.

Does the ban also include "garbage bags"? The article specified only "grocery bags", but the ordinance in the PDF was non-specific.

Back in the day; when plastic did not exist, we put the trash in an old open-top oil drum, and 'lit it off'. when it was filled with burnt ash, we'd take it to the dump..... usually once every six months or so. Kinda dates me, huh??