Baltimore considers plastic bag ban

A Baltimore City Council committee has approved a proposal to ban plastic bags at grocery stores in the city.

“We have to take these things out of the waste stream,” said City Councilman James B. Kraft, the lead sponsor. “That’s our goal.” Kraft’s proposal was approved, 3-1, by the Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee and is scheduled for a vote by the 15-member council on July 22.

If approved, the measure will make Baltimore one of the first cities in America to ban plastic bags at grocery stores and retail chains. San Francisco became the first city in the country to enact a partial ban on certain types of plastic bags last year. Annapolis considered a similar prohibition but decided late last year to study the issue further.

Representatives from several Baltimore grocery stores, however, told local media they oppose the legislation because paper bags are more expensive and because they require more energy to manufacture. “It’s basically saying that plastic bags are bad and paper bags are good,” said Gregory A. TenEyck, director of public affairs for Safeway. “From an environmental perspective, that’s just not the case.”

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