A state Senate committee held its first hearing Wednesday on SB 222, which would preempt local governments from banning or taxing single-use plastic bags.
Cuyahoga County passed such a ban that goes into effect Jan. 1, and a few other Ohio communities have similar ordinances on the books.
State Sen. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, sponsored the bill and contends it will provide clarity and consistency for commerce in the state.
“Consumers and businesses deserve rules and regulations that are uniform and easy to understand,” he states.
Sarah Damron is a chapter manager with the Surfrider Foundation, an environmental group that advocates for clean water and healthy beaches. She counters that Ohio should be taking action at the state level to reduce plastic pollution, instead of taking away power from local communities.
“Governments at every level from local to state to even entire countries have taken policy action to address the plastic plague caused by these kinds of items,” she points out. “In Ohio, for some reason, we’re going backwards.”
SB 222 is companion legislation to HB 242, which had a fourth committee hearing in June.
Supporters say the fees or fines imposed for violating plastic container bans are bad for business.
But Elissa Yoder Mann, a conservation manager with the Sierra Club’s Ohio Chapter, argues there’s a lot more at stake, noting the state currently has just 39.9 years of landfill waste capacity.
“Plastic pollution is constantly getting into our rivers,” she points out. “It’s clogging up our storm sewers. Once it gets into the river, it breaks down into little pieces, and those pieces are consumed by fish and eventually get into the food chain.”
Mann adds it’s a matter of protecting both the environment and local democracy.
Since a similar bill died in Ohio last year, Mann questions who is behind this effort.
“Is it the plastic industry?” she raises. “Is it the fracking industry?
“Who is the one that is really determined to push this through, because it has flopped and the people of Ohio have indicated that they want to reduce plastic pollution by passing these local ordinances?”
While eight states have banned single-use plastic bags, Indiana, Michigan and six other states have laws preempting local plastics regulations.
This article appears in Nov 6-12, 2019.
Why is it so bad and how can people be against banning single use plastic? I do not get this? Even if it costs 5cents, how in the heck does that hurt business? You can buy reusable bags all over for like $1. I am about 99.99% once this finally gets approved, I am sure there will be organizations handing out those for free anyways.
Is anyone against this ban, and if so can you please explain your side on this?
I see it as an obvious need for our environment.
Oh Mary. Such a saint. Keep on those bags. Lol. I can see all the folks standing at the bus stop with paper bags, breaking and dropping all the stuff in the ground. Theyll thank you later because you are righteous. And the sad part is, nothing to do with saving the environment. Just another sick, pathetic political movement. Btw, enjoy your gourmet bottles water in those lovely plastic bottles. Wasnt it the health food junkies that started the huge bottled water scam? Dont you feel healthy as you fill the garbage heap with plastic bottles. Much worse than the bad problem. At least the bags have useful purposes. Much more useful that journalist pawns of the left.
With all the plastic bags on this earth, we can’t figure out how to reuse any of them. There’s enough bags to last the next two milleniums.
Nope, somehow you are acting smarmy like you have some level of knowledge that others reading these comments don’t. Aside from the fact that you used incorrect prepositions and struggled to write actual sentences (which both make you look worse than an arrogant 7th grader), you don’t seem to be properly informed about anything.
Generally speaking, those who are arguing against the use of single use plastic bags are also arguing against the use of single use plastic anything, including water bottles. It is well-documented by organizations like 5 gyres that the use of single use plastics are bad for the environment, so a ban would, in fact, have something to do with saving the environment.
I think you and everyone else is sick of the political divisiveness that exists in our country. As this problem will affect both sides of the aisle, I am not sure why you and everyone else on your side of the aisle are so resistant to logic: there would be less single use plastic in our waterways if we stopped producing and using single use plastic.
Did anyone think about this. Banning plastic bags in theory sounds great. There are problems with it. People who don’t drive or own a vehicle makes it harder on these people to shop. Lets say you just went somewhere via the public bus. You then decide to do a little shopping. Without plastic bags how do you bring your stuff home? Purchase a paper bag or buy another reusable bag? You have to plan to shop. Are you suppose to carry reusable plastic bags in your book bag or such?
Lots of grocery stores offer home delivery. Without plastic bags how does said grocery store bag your food up? Are you suppose to pay for paper bags? Will this be exempt. Will the store use reusable bags and you take your food out and hand them back to said delivery person?
Basically this affects a lot of things people don’t think about. At 1st this will be a complete mess.
Grocery stores and such are against it. Will affect business.