People are fed up of discarded plastic bags being blown around the streets or clogging waterways and storm drains around the city. The residents of San Antonio believe that it is high time something concrete is done about the plastic bag waste menace that is bugging this city like it does most other cities across the country.

No More Plastic Waste After Banning Plastic Bags

Cris Medina, district seven Councilman, invited people for a round-table discussion to come up with the best way to handle the alarming situation caused by discarded single-use plastic bags. Medina made sure that local businesses and HEB were well represented for the meeting with the city and community leaders to discuss the merits of switching to re-usable bags.

Dya Campos of HEB said that the obvious choice at hand was to phase out plastic bags. How the city authorities are going to go about it was more important, as it should not prove to be too taxing on the customers. The Councilman was of the opinion that the authorities would be able to save clean-up costs once the ban was in force. This would take a load off the neighborhood associations who are currently cleaning up their localities voluntarily.

Though enforcing the ban is the ultimate goal, to start with, reducing the usage would be a positive step forward. This, according to Medina, would pave the way for a smooth transition to reusable bags from single-use plastic bags. The very purpose of the round-table initiative was to increase awareness about waste reduction not just amidst the citizens, but also among the children. The schools need to take it upon themselves to adopt reuse and recycling programs and explain the benefits to the children. This will help make the city greener and pave the way to playing a positive role in protecting the fragile eco-system.

Shopping with Wholesale Reusable Bags After Banning Plastic Bags

The city council on its part needs to educate the public with posters and hoardings. It must seek the active cooperation of retailers and grocery store owners in spreading the benefits of using wholesale reusable bags that could be made available at all stores. Once people get used to the idea of carrying their own bags, banning plastic bags would have served its purpose and the use of plastic bags can be eliminated totally. Time may be allowed for the existing inventory to be exhausted to phase out the plastic bags gradually.

Source:http://www.kens5.com/news/consumer/Councilman-Medina-proposes-city-wide-ban-on-single-use-plastic-bags-244951951.html