Some states are considering (or have enacted) bans on plastic bags, but in Maine, environmentalists and retailers are working together to encourage the use of reusable bags—voluntarily.
The Natural Resources Council of Maine is participating in a voluntary effort by retailers to encourage Mainers to use reusable bags instead of carrying home their groceries in throw away plastic bags. Also on board for the voluntary effort instead of an outright ban or tax is the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. A plastic bag ban was under consideration in committee, as were taxes or fees on the throw away bags, but lawmakers chose a voluntary effort, and a hard goal of reducing plastic bag use by at least a third by 2013.
Republican Sen. Chris Rector of Thomaston serves on the Business, Research and Economic Development Committee, which shares jurisdiction over the issue. He says lawmakers should wait and see if the voluntary effort can meets its target. And he says there is another reason to hold off on a ban: a Maine university might develop a cellulose-based plastic bag, which could potentially eliminate the petroleum-based plastic bag.
Since the Natural Resources Council of Maine is supporting the voluntary effort to encourage reusable bag use, it would oppose any ban proposed in the new legislative session. But if the reduction targets are not met by 2013, and if other states do ban plastic bags, don’t be surprised to see a push for a ban in Maine.
As a footnote, the proposed ban on plastic bags in California failed on August 31 in the Legislature. The measure passed the Assembly in June and had the support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger but faced a withering and well-financed advertising and lobbying campaign from the plastic bag manufacturing industry. California would have been the first state in the nation to have a full ban on plastic bags, a goal some environmentalists have been pushing for years.
