When I first caught wind of a potential initiative to ban or tax plastic bags by Decatur’s Environmental Sustainability Board back in October, the post produced 87 comments of a heated back-and-forth about everything from the dangers of plastic bags to the dangers of banning plastic bags.

Well, now the Board is openly appealing to the Decatur population at-large to take a 5-question survey to get a better gauge of support for legislation that would either ban, tax or limit the use of plastic bags and Styrofoam by retailers.

Why plastic bags and Styrofoam?  Here’s the Board’s argument…

Estimates are that in the U.S. 60,000 plastic bags are used every 5 seconds. Less than 10% of these are recycled.

Polystyrene foam adds to the waste stream and presents a hazard for birds and other wildlife as it breaks up into indigestible pellets. The market now provides products that serve the same commercial purpose, are readily available and are less harmful for the environment.

How will/did you respond?

Decatur Environmental Sustainability Board member KC Boyce wrote on Twitter this morning…

Should #DecaturGA ban or tax plastic bags and/or disposable take-out containers?

Looking back at the latest uploaded minutes from the Sustainability Board meeting in August, it seems like at least the tax is a serious consideration.

Presentation on options for a plastic bag tax: Jill presented an overview on some statistics and pros and cons of plastic bag ban or “tax.” The board is interested in pursuing this but wants to better understand the impacts and options and pros and cons specific to the City and businesses, especially in light of conflicting information found in various news sources.

ACTION: Committee will continue research and will come back to the board to share.