The Columbia City Council voted Monday night to withdraw the single-use plastic bag ban from the agenda until more research is done and community involvement is higher. There’s no estimate for exactly how long it would be before the issue might be brought up again, but City Manager Mike Matthes said it would be a “substantial” amount of time.
Ward 6 council member Barbara Hoppe supports banning single-use plastic bags, but agrees this controversial issue needs more time and thought.
She said, “citizens want government to do things for them not to them. And so we need to work with the community to get them to the point where they think that this is a good thing and not a bad thing.”
Hoppe says the only supporting documentation readily available was from the plastic bag industry and people in opposition. She said she wants reports from environment and energy advocate groups included, too.
Ward 5 council member Laura Nauser is opposed to the proposal, she said she does not “believe in banning a legal and useful product.” However, she did say she is in support of educating the community on the importance of recycling.
Nauser said she is “even more opposed to state representatives getting involved in our local issues.” This is in response to a Missouri lawmaker who proposed legislation to prohibit cities from banning single-use plastic bags.
Ward 3 Karl Skala takes a middle ground. He said that it’s a “no brainer” to limit plastic bags due to their effect on the environment, but that bans are not a good idea. Instead, he suggested putting a fee on both plastic and paper.
He said perhaps we, “devise incentives and disincentives to get you to the right place, to get you to the goal.”
The proposed ban would have eliminated single-use plastic bags from retailers and imposed a 10-cent charge on paper bags.
