Manassas supports call to regulate plastic bags

Chances are if you’ve been to the grocery store you’ve been asked the question:

“Paper or plastic?”

For most, it doesn’t make a difference, but it looks like the autonomy of this grocery store decision might be changing for Manassas residents in the future.

The debate of whether or not plastic bags should be banned from grocery stores due to their undegradable nature has become more prominent within local agenda after the City of Manassas has supported the Virginia Municipal League’s call to action on curbing the usage of plastic bags.

The VML “requests the General Assembly grant localities the authority regulate and curtail the use of retail plastic bags.” The call will help aid local governments in reducing litter and improving local water quality.

This was not only endorsed by the City of Manassas, but also by 300+ other VML members to help “give individual localities the authority to regulate plastic bags as one more tool to curtail long-life litter,” according to Jonathan Way, the Vice-Mayor of the City of Manassas.

In fact, more than 175 cities nationwide have begun to curb the usage of plastic bags. One city, right in Northern Virginia’s backyard, is Washington D.C., which just recently implemented a taxation on plastic bags which charges five cents per plastic bag within stores. According to The Washington Post, the nickels acquired from the fee have amalgamated approximately $10 million to go towards protection and clean up for the Anacostia River.

Plastic bags are viewed as unfavorable by the environmentally savvy since these bags can take hundreds, even thousands of years to degrade. Consequently, they collect in landfills, becoming a large source of pollution that’s not biodegradable and thus, hazardous.

“For local governments the ubiquitous use of plastic bags in retail present several issues: they take up valuable landfill space; they often end up as trash, and they can block the inlet of storm drains and stormwater control facilities causing both excess water pollution and flooding,” said Joe Lerch, Director of Environmental Policy for the VML.

But how will this call to action be executed?

One possibility is through taxation.

If Manassas leader were to implement this, one possible tactic would be to enact a fee on plastic bags not just within grocery stores, but any store or retailer that utilizes plastic bags.

“The fees collected could be used to pay for litter patrols to keep the streets clear of litter,” said Way.

The other possibility is a call for an outright ban. Skip the tax, and get rid of them all together.

This initiative will help ignite a broader campaign, one that’s not solely limited to eradicating plastic bags, but to increasing the wellbeing of the environment in general. Reducing the usage of plastic bags has the potential to help bring awareness and raise public concern in protecting local ecosystems.

That doesn’t just limit it to using plastic bags, or bringing your own, but expanding awareness regarding motor oil, excess garbage, and excess water and electricity consumption.