Better keep your pile of reusable shopping bags close at hand, Minneapolis residents: the city’s council just voted to ban all plastic bags from store checkouts and impose a fee on customers who opt to get a paper bag instead of bringing their own carriers.
Starting June 1, 2017, businesses in the city won’t be allowed to use plastic bags to pack up customers’ purchases, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports, after the City Council voted 10-3 in favor of the ban.
The city is also imposing $0.05-fee on each paper bag given out as well. Or, businesses can donate $0.05 for every paper, compostable, or reusable bag they hand out, which will go to groups that organize litter cleanup.
Supporters of the ban said it will help change how people act, cut down on litter, and get the city closer to its green goal of zero waste.
“I am excited that we’ve landed on something,” the ordinance’s sponsor and one of the city’s council members, Cam Gordon, told the paper. “I know that the city isn’t united on it, but I also know that by and large, people are enthusiastic and ready to make this move.”
Exempt from the rule will be bags without handles that are used for things like produce, bulk products, frozen foods, flowers, baked goods, newspapers, dry cleaning, and prescription drugs.
Minneapolis joins cities like Seattle; Portland, OR; Los Angeles; Chicago; Cambridge, MA, and others who have legalized such bans. Hawaii is so far the only state that has a ban on plastic bags.
Minneapolis council votes to ban plastic bags, impose paper-bag fee [Minneapolis Star Tribune]
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