After years of advocacy and legislative fits and starts, County Councilwoman Sunny Simon and her co-sponsors are on the verge of passing a law that will ban the use of single-use plastic bags in Cuyahoga County. Simon has called the measure a necessary step to protect and preserve the region’s most important natural asset, Lake Erie.
The ban, which if passed would go into effect in October, received unanimous support in a committee hearing Wednesday. It will now move to a vote by the full council, where it’s expected to receive a majority (6 of 11 votes or better).
County Executive Armond Budish has not indicated his support or opposition to the ban, but if his State of the County address and the climate action proposals described therein are meant to be taken seriously, he’ll sign this sucker with a quickness.
The ban includes many exceptions, including the plastic bags used for newspapers, produce, pet waste, prescription meds and dry-cleaning. Violators will be first subject a written warning followed by fines — second violation: $100; subsequent violations: up to $500.
The plastic bag ban follows an attempt by Simon and Councilman Dale Miller in 2017 to pass legislation that would have charged a 10-cent fee on plastic bags. But that idea received significant pushback locally and at the statehouse. Supported by the plastic bag and retail lobbies, a bunch of backwards Republican bozos authored pre-emptive legislation prohibiting cities from taxing “auxiliary containers” like plastic bags. The legislation was premised, they said, on business-friendliness.
But Simon was furious.
“Instead of joining the rest of the world,” she told Scene at the time, “[the legislature] has made it a priority to pollute our environment while enriching special interests. The pollution is egregious, and it’s a horrible legacy to leave for our next generation. [This bill] is unconscionable.”
The Cuyahoga County plastic bag ban now appears to have gained broad support. Simon said she recognized that it will constitute a change for many residents, but the county will likely roll out a marketing campaign to promote reusable bags. The Solid Waste District, according to cleveland.com, is working to track down grant dollars so the county can provide reusable bags to residents.
This article appears in May 1-7, 2019.
Hahaha. Oh boy. Sam is all excited!
And you know what Taxin Jacksons response will be to all this??? Oh yes, yet another fee to tack on to our trash pickup service to pay for all this!!!
Until crooks like Taxin Jackson, and thief Budish are finally recalled from office and sent right to jail, nothing will likely ever change around here except paying more and more taxes for their constant ineptness!!!
The last problem to tackle in this area is plastic bags. Banish the scum, the thugs and the leeches. Then maybe the bags. Just another excuse to collect money for the crooked dems of Cuyahoga county.
Banish the fascist trolls who pollute this site and whose agenda is politicize everything here.
Drive down any road, look out your window, there is trash EVERYWHERE. How do we empower our children to be better in a world of trash? The problem is everybody thinks that there are two important theyre too good to pick up trash! Every time we walk our dogs I come back with a full two bags of trash that we just picked up on the side of the road. And the time of self importance social media and ultimate consumerism we have lost touch with our ability to care for the thing which provides us with food air water. This is a wonderful small step. Lets truly have Cleveland pride and be somewhere that people dont look at as a polluted joke
We are focusing on the wrong issue. Polyethylene based plastic bags can be 100% recycled and can be used again to produce new bags or other articles using this type of plastic. They are lighter than paper bags, use less energy to transport (ie. less fuel, less emissions), do not require the tremendous energy and forestation utilized to create paper etc. The issue is entirely around education and our communities lack of driving real recycle material collection, separation and ultimately getting the bag back to manufacturers to reuse. This has been done very effectively with PET polymer bottles (ie water bottles) which are recycled into North Face fleece jackets, carpeting and many other articles. Let’s focus the discussion on the complete recycle programs in communities and not attack a plastic materials that are very sustainable and we all very much benefit from on a daily basis.