What will they ban next? (Austin, Weir: public schools, upkeep, tax)

[G Grasshopper]

There is no doubt that paper bags do use resources to make and that many (maybe most) of them are not recycled and that they take up more space in landfills than plastic. My personal background is to a great extent in marine biology, and I can tell you that paper bags do little harm in the ocean. But there is no telling how many millions of turtles, fish, marine mammals and birds have been killed by plastic bags, either by strangulation or ingestion. Anyone who has seen an egret completely enclosed in a plastic bag or a sea lion dead with the handle of a plastic bag cut into its neck will never forget it. The same goes for styrofoam, which "degrades" into those tiny balls that are mistaken for fish eggs in the ocean. These mostly kill fish and birds, as their stomachs fill with styrofoam that never exits, and they essentially starve to death. Paper bags do none of this. I'm not saying they are without environmental cost, but many reusable bags are made of plastics, too. The best alternative is a 100% cotton or other completely biodegradable bag. But cotton is grown with high levels of chemicals, so everything has an environmental cost. We have to use something, so I think we should be trying to get rid of the worst actors first: single use plastic and styrofoam.

[eepstein]

Ah yes, classic COA at work. They will attempt to ban smoking in parks and plastic bags, but care nothing about the excessive levels of pollution belched out into the environment with huge numbers of giant SUV's and pickups sitting in gridlock on the "freeways" (all with one driver). Unreal!!

KEEP AUSTIN WEIRD!!

Originally Posted by austinrebel

What would the penalty be if someone is caught smoking while holding a paper bag in an Austin park?

Austin may ban most plastic, paper bags

[Zembonez]

Yeah Eep.

It because we all live in a free society. I'm Free to drive my huge V8 gas guzzling GMC truck and you are free to do whatever you like. Isn't it great?

[eepstein]

Absolutely sir. There is a reason why Texas is the dirtiest, most polluting state in the nation! But guzzle on my friend!

Originally Posted by Zembonez

Yeah Eep.

It because we all live in a free society. I'm Free to drive my huge V8 gas guzzling GMC truck and you are free to do whatever you like. Isn't it great?

[Adamson865]

Originally Posted by Zembonez

Yeah Eep.

It because we all live in a free society. I'm Free to drive my huge V8 gas guzzling GMC truck and you are free to do whatever you like. Isn't it great?

But don't park it on a residential street where you don't belong, or the busybodies will all report you!

[Shredding_Gnar78]

I think they should just charge 10cents for each bag at the grocery stores. Use the revenue to clean the city. If people want to save money, they'll bring their own bags. But like people said here, we re-use our plastic bags for trash. Its way better for everybody to reuse these than purchase new ones.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by Shredding_Gnar78

I think they should just charge 10cents for each bag at the grocery stores. Use the revenue to clean the city. If people want to save money, they'll bring their own bags. But like people said here, we re-use our plastic bags for trash. Its way better for everybody to reuse these than purchase new ones.

Yeah that would have been a better compromise and still give customers a choice.....It is too bad we have to make laws like this but unfortunately there are too many people in this society that simply don't care or are just plain lazy. One year I came back from vacation that included Switzerland and Austria and was amazed to see all the random debris on our streets. You wouldn't see so much as a candy bar wrapper in Switzerland and then I go out on Sprinkle Cutoff Rd and see old couches and bags of trash strewn by the side of the road. I think there is a good 10-20% of the US population that are complete slobs and ironically they aren't the demographic that go to HEB with their reusable bags.

[Shredding_Gnar78]

Well Cmon.. comparing Americans to the Swiss haha. Berlin was pretty trashed when I visited.

Imagine how great our society would be if we had real leaders instead of puppets that are essentially corporate assets

[austinrebel]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Yeah that would have been a better compromise and still give customers a choice.....It is too bad we have to make laws like this but unfortunately there are too many people in this society that simply don't care or are just plain lazy. One year I came back from vacation that included Switzerland and Austria and was amazed to see all the random debris on our streets. You wouldn't see so much as a candy bar wrapper in Switzerland and then I go out on Sprinkle Cutoff Rd and see old couches and bags of trash strewn by the side of the road. I think there is a good 10-20% of the US population that are complete slobs and ironically they aren't the demographic that go to HEB with their reusable bags.

So is the difference between Switzerland/Austria and Austin is that they have more bans and more severe penalties for littering? I think it has more to do with pride and a sense of belonging, a sense of responsibility and ownership. Those values are not created by force. Louisiana's laws are not so different from Texas, yet drive across the border and the difference in the amount of trash you see is substantial.

In the case of the smoking ban in the parks it has nothing to do with littering. That is just an excuse. It has do with social engineering to force smokers to quit.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by eepstein

Absolutely sir. There is a reason why Texas is the dirtiest, most polluting state in the nation! But guzzle on my friend!

Ahh but Texas doesn't have the dirtiest air. Beautiful California probably wins that prize by a mile.