News

By Willie Howard

    Lake Worth officials want the right to regulate disposable plastic shopping bags — an avoidable convenience that can blow into waterways, harm marine life and clog recycling systems and storm drains.
    On June 16, Lake Worth city commissioners unanimously approved a resolution supporting state legislation that would allow coastal cities with fewer than 100,000 residents to regulate or ban disposable plastic bags.
    Bills introduced during the spring legislative session — Senate Bill 966 by Sen. Dwight Bullard and a companion bill in the House — would have authorized small coastal cities to regulate or ban plastic bags through a pilot program.
    The legislation didn’t pass but is expected to come up again during the 2016 session.
    Representatives from the Surfrider Foundation’s Palm Beach County chapter supported Lake Worth’s mid-June resolution calling for local regulation of plastic bags.
    The Surfrider chapter has been working to steer consumers away from disposable plastic products of many kinds, including bags, bottles and eating utensils, through its Rise Above Plastics campaign, partly because plastics can harm marine life.
    “It’s all about education,” said Tracy Conklin, Surfrider Foundation’s Palm Beach County chairwoman, adding that consumers can help by developing a habit of carrying reusable food, drink and shopping containers.
    A 2008 state law forbids state agencies and local governments from establishing regulations on plastic bags, containers or wrappers — at least until legislators adopt the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s recommendations on their regulation. So far, legislators have not acted on the DEP’s 2010 recommendations.
    The idea of giving some municipalities the home rule power to regulate or ban plastic bags within their boundaries seems to be gaining traction in Tallahassee after coming up several times in recent years, said Ryan Matthews, associate legislative director for the Florida League of Cities.
    “If a community believes it’s in their best interest to ban or regulate plastic bags, we believe they should have the right to do so,” Matthews said.
    The Florida Retail Federation, which represents retail stores, opposes giving local governments control over plastic bags.
    The retail group’s members prefer to keep disposable plastic bags as an option for their customers while looking for ways to offer them more recycling opportunities, spokesman James Miller said.
    Plastic bags can be recycled, but they shouldn’t be tossed into bins with recyclables such as aluminum cans and plastic bottles. Even with Lake Worth’s single-stream recycling system, which allows paper, plastic and other recyclables to be placed in the same container, plastic bags “clog up the recycling plant and blow away,” Public Services Director Jamie Brown said.
    Lake Worth City Commissioner Andy Amoroso, who operates a newsstand and gift shop on Lake Avenue, said he gives customers previously used plastic bags at his store. He said some customers complain if they’re not given a new plastic bag to carry their newspaper.
    The plastic bag debate has come up before in Lake Worth, where city commissioners voting in 2009 on zoning changes for the Publix on Dixie Highway tried, unsuccessfully, to ban the use of plastic bags at the grocery store.
    Amoroso sided with Publix at the time, adding that he does not favor a complete ban on plastic bags. He said a fee on disposable plastic bags could help raise awareness about the practice of carrying reusable bags for transporting groceries and other goods.
    State Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, whose District 89 covers the coastline of southern and central Palm Beach County, said he would consider giving cities the right to regulate plastic bags if the legislation comes up again as expected during the 2016 legislative session.
    “I know it is important to a lot of our coastal community towns,” Hager said. “A lot of those bags end up on our beaches and in our waterways. “
    Plastic bags and other forms of plastic debris in the ocean contribute to the deaths of sea turtles, according to the Gainesville-based Sea Turtle Conservancy.
    Floating plastic bags (or pieces of plastic bags) resemble jellyfish, a food source for sea turtles. They are especially susceptible to the effects of consuming plastics because downward-facing spines in their throats trap the debris, preventing them from property swallowing food.
    “Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible for a turtle to break down synthetic material once it’s ingested, and very often it will cause an intestinal blockage,” said Gary Appelson, policy coordinator for the Sea Turtle Conservancy.
    Appelson said the Sea Turtle Conservancy is working with the Surfrider Foundation to support the push to allow Florida municipalities to regulate plastic bags at the local level instead of waiting for legislators to adopt a statewide policy in Tallahassee.