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Danville could be on its way to banning single-use carryout plastic bags after the Town Council approved a resolution of intent to restrict distribution of such bags Tuesday.
Council members voted unanimously to adopt the non-binding resolution and direct town staff to draft a local ordinance tailored specifically to Danville for future council consideration later this year.
“Here we have an opportunity to do something good for the environment,” Danville Mayor Robert Storer said during the council meeting Tuesday night at the Town Meeting Hall.
The resolution of intent lays the groundwork for a future town bag-ban ordinance should state Senate Bill 270, which proposes statewide plastic bag restrictions, be passed.
SB 270, if approved this year as presented, would preempt local prohibitions established after Sept. 1 unless the jurisdiction has approved a resolution of intent to adopt such a local ban before Jan. 1, 2015.
Danville officials want to approve a more comprehensive plastic bag ordinance, which as currently conceptualized would prohibit town retailers, stores and restaurants from offering single-use carryout bags to customers by July 1, 2016.
The most significant problems caused by the single-use bags, according to some council members, include environmental concerns and higher garbage management costs because of disruptions the bags cause in garbage and recycling trucks.
The council spent nearly an hour talking about the resolution of intent on Tuesday night, hearing feedback from eight citizen speakers during the discussion.
Residents in favor of the ban cited pollution and litter as reasons to enact the restrictions. Ban opponents offered suggestions such as biodegradable bags and education on proper recycling methods.
Council members also learned the mindset of some town merchants.
The Danville Area Chamber of Commerce conducted a survey of 116 of its members in July, with 64.6% saying they “strongly support” or “support” a local plastic bag ordinance while 30.9% “strongly oppose” or “oppose” — the remaining respondents were “neutral” on the issue.
As part of its motion Tuesday, the council told staff that the draft ordinance should not require merchants to charge 10 cents per recycled paper bag for customers who do not have reusable bags.
There is no firm date for when the draft ordinance would be brought back to the council. If SB 270 is approved by the state legislature and governor during the current legislative session, the council would need to introduce its ordinance by Nov. 18 and adopt it by Dec. 16, according to town staff.
The council members are idiots and way too progressive. We use plastic bags at home every day. I bring my lunch to work in a plastic bag.
Overregulation is killing this country and now it lives in Danville.
Yes, Tom. God forbid that global environmental degradation or increased costs to everyone in the community caused by plastic bags not playing nice with garbage collection and recycling trucks should be considered to be more important than your personal convenience.
Anything not to Tom’s liking = “overregulation.” Got it.
P.S. If you really, really want plastic bags, you can go buy them.
Over regulation? greed and laziness are are the reasons this country is being killed. How hard is it to bring your own bag… I know the answer, since I forget often enough where I get frustrated in having to spend a little more time walking back to my car. So easy to blame politicians and over regulation. We need to blame ourselves for being so stupidly set in our ways as to not be able to learn to bring a bag. And the crap with retailers not having to charge 10-cents, oh please. If we can’t afford ten cents then we can learn how to bring our own bag.
For the “over regulators killing this country,” I wish we could selectively pollute the air, water and food in each of your houses, so that the effect of regulation would not accrue to you. It would certainly be an experiment in the benefits of regulation as well as the toxicity of no regulation. Doubt this… go to China and just simply breath the air… You could also stop driving your cars without seatbelts… the list goes on and on. Just don’t expect industry to do this on its own.
Seems to me it was not too long ago that we were encouraged to use plastic bags in order to save the trees. Rather than a prohibition why not be truly “progressive” and encourage biodegradable plastic bags. That way we save the trees, garbage trucks, landfill liter and maybe even get around to saving people! Next it will be a ban on styrofoam
and we will be carrying home our “doggy bags” from the restaurants in our pockets.
Some good comments. Apart from calling the council members idiots, Tom. :>)
BUT, banning those thin supermarket plastic bags WITHOUT charging a fee for use of paper bags is ABSURD. Paper bags have a much larger environmental footprint than the plastic ones. Behavior rarely changes without an economic incentive. Now, more paper bags will be utilized. Admittedly these bags are a small % of the waste and litter streams, but they are the ugly aspect of waste and litter as they are unnecessary. Reusable bags are a signal to our children and grandchildren that we care about the planet we are borrowing from them, and the resources we are stealing from them. Danville and its bucolic environment should be a leader, not a laggard. (Oh, and biodegradable bags do not degrade in an anaerobic landfill, and they may end up in the plastic recycle stream in error).
Thank you! Please convert the intent to a actual ban ASAP.
OK Ban the bags, but don’t let the merchants charge me $ every time I need a paper bag.
That seems to be the sequence in this “Band the plastic bag pitch”.
Plastic pollution is a GLOBAL crises and can be signifcantly reduced by local action, which 100+ communities statewide have taken. The Danville ordinance as it is progressing is actually counter-productive as no bag fee will do only switch us to a new product/problem – thicker plastic bags and paper bags, and for some reason the council wants to wait two years to implement it. If you like clean air, clean water, children or animals, please rethink your plastic consumption.
Enough with this environmental crap! Until you get countries like China to do their share I don’t want to hear about anymore. Just have a free bag for me to put my purchases in as I have just spent money in your store!
Yes, Douglas, it IS all about you. And the fact that somebody, somewhere is doing something bad absolutely is a completely reasonable excuse for you not to lift a finger to avoid doing something bad yourself. It makes you entitled to be selfish and literally throw your waste in everyone else’s face.
Screw the fish! Screw your kids’ generation! What have they ever done for Douglas?
Just be glad, Douglas, that you can still use your disposable diapers.
Douglas is correct. Does pelosi gore Barry feinstein schlep their stuff? Nooooo they fly on private jets!! Biggest environmental wacko was hitler.
Wow, Chris — what a cogent argument, beautifully stated. Shouldn’t you put your full name on it, the better to bask in the adulation of the multitude?
It would seem Douglas is perpetuating the selfish ‘me-me- me’ mentality that permeates the Blackhawk persona! Stay inside the confines of your gated ‘I want it now world!’