New Hanover beach towns take steps to urge plastic bags ban - StarNewsOnline.com
Officials in local beach towns have begun taking steps to urge New Hanover County to consider a ban on environmentally-hazardous plastic shopping bags.
Both the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen and the Carolina Beach Town Council recently passed resolutions promising to support any efforts by the county to do away with plastic bags.
The resolutions don't place restrictions on the bags at the municipal level, but instead pledge to "support initiatives by New Hanover County to lessen the negative impact of plastic bags on our fragile environment."
Officials said they hope that the pledged hard-and-fast support from the beach towns may be the silver bullet that urges the county to act, either by banning the bags outright or implementing a pay-for-plastic structure, where shoppers fork over a small fee in exchange for the disposable sacks.
"I think that's what the county commissioners are looking for, is support from the beach communities," said Wrightsville Beach Alderwoman Lisa Weeks. "If there's consensus ... I think it's something they'll take a look at."
The use of plastic bags is particularly important to beach-town officials, as the shopping totes frequently end up on the shore and in the water, where they remain indefinitely.
"Plastic is like the new diamond – it's forever," said Sean Ahlum, chair of the Cape Fear Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, who gave presentations about plastic bags to officials in Wrightsville, Carolina and Kure beaches. "They don't biodegrade, they ... break down into smaller and smaller pieces, so it's always present either in our water streams or washing up on beaches.
"And if the plastic breaks down in open ocean, it resembles plankton and phytoplankton, so birds and fish are eating and ingesting plastic."
The presence of plastic on local beaches can also affect tourism, according to Weeks.
"Our tourism and quality of life are very much correlated to the natural beauty of the island and keeping it clean and pristine," Weeks said. "On a weekly basis, I'm picking up bags and trash, and you see them rolling around town."
Despite the environmental risk, some state legislators oppose the idea of a bag ban, saying that complying with the plastic prohibition places an unnecessary financial burden on businesses.
State Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, is the primary sponsor of a bill that, if passed, would repeal the law banning plastic bags along the Outer Banks.
The 2009 law prohibits retailers from using plastic bags unless they're reusable or used for certain products exempted from the law. Additionally, any paper bags provided by businesses must be made from recycled materials.
The bill, which was referred to committee on March 14, asserts that complying with the law is financially difficult for Outer Banks retailers.
But most local officials said they weren't necessarily in favor of an all-out bag ban.
"Other towns and municipalities that enacted these laws and ordinances didn't restrict the use of plastic bags, but required people to pay for them. The idea was to create an incentive for people to bring reusable bags," said Carolina Beach Councilman Dan Wilcox. "That way, it wouldn't inconvenience me to the point where if I go to get groceries and I don't have a reusable bag, I can't shop."
The bag fee could go to the store or to help with environmental clean-up.
"So either way you participate, whether you're paying for a plastic bag or using reusable bags," Wilcox said.
But the swell of seaside support may be dead in the water, as county officials said there are no plans to establish a ban in the near future.
"I don't think it's on the county's radar at all. There's been no discussion at the county level on that," said Commissioner Rick Catlin. "I doubt it's going to be anything that comes up right now."
Kate Elizabeth Queram: (910) 343-2217
Twitter: @kate_goes_bleu
29 Sep, 2011--
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