City Council’s Plastic Bag Ban Could Become Fee
The Honolulu City Council will today entertain an amendment that would turn its proposed plastic bag ban into a plastic bag ´Ú±ð±ð — at least temporarily.
Chair Ernie Martin and Tulsi Gabbard the two sponsors of the , are set to introduce during of the Public Works and Sustainability Committee. The amendment would add some intermediate steps as the city works toward a full ban. Here’s how it would work:
First, for one year from sometime in 2013 until sometime in 2014 (the exact dates are as-yet unclear), all plastic bags distributed at the point of sale would be subject to a three-cent fee. After that year, the fee would go up to five cents per bag.
The money collected would go to a special city fund to pay for the program, and stores would be required to keep track of and report their experiences. At some point, after data has been collected, the city would implement a full ban on plastic checkout bags. The date for that switch is also not identified in the proposed amendment.
Before a bill was introduced, Martin told Civil Beat he intended to research where past efforts had gone awry and said he hoped to “craft a bill that has a reasonable chance of being adopted.”
A fee has the support of the Hawaii Food Industry Association since it will encourage consumers to bring their own bags and save stores money. A statewide fee on all single-use checkout bags (paper a²Ô»å plastic) is clinging to life at the Hawaii Legislature.
