Brisk breezes commonly send plastic grocery bags zipping across roads or fluttering in trees and bushes.
That aspect of the litter problem in Pennsylvania isn’t likely to go away, thanks to pending legislation in Harrisburg that one environmental group called a 鈥渇avor鈥� to the plastic industry. 鈥淩ecycling is, and has always been, the last resort to deal with trash,鈥� said Logan Welde, a staff attorney with the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council. 鈥淥ur first priority should be to reduce the use. Adding a small, reasonable fee for a harmful, yet useful, product is reasonable.鈥� That soon might not be allowed in Pennsylvania.
The state Senate will consider a measure passed last month by House lawmakers 102-87 that would thwart efforts by environmental organizations and allies in Harrisburg who want to discourage consumer use of the bags 鈥� efforts that included failed legislation that would have imposed a 2-cent tax for each single-use bag at a grocery store.
Such taxes or other disincentives no longer will be allowed under the bipartisan House bill, HB1071, that is essentially a first strike against efforts by local governments to impose a fee, tax or ban on single-use plastic bags.
According to the Plastic Bag Ban Report, a national advocacy group, more than 150 local governments across the country 鈥� from San Francisco to Austin, Texas, to New York City 鈥� have passed legislation regarding single-use plastic bags.
The two main sponsors of the Pennsylvania bill represent districts with major plastics manufacturers that employ hundreds of workers. Gov. Tom Wolf opposes the measure, a spokesman said.
Pittsburgh City Council urged lawmakers to vote against the bill. Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, who serves as president of the Pennsylvania Municipal League, also opposes the measure because it preempts local autonomy. 鈥淢ayor Peduto respects the desires of elected officials to protect jobs in their districts,鈥� said Tim McNulty, the mayor’s spokesman. 鈥淏ut he also opposes any effort to pre-empt cities from making their own decisions on legislation.鈥�
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, a Greensburg-based organization, hasn’t taken a position on the bill. 鈥淎s local communities and the state work to determine the best way to manage single-use plastic bags, (we) will continue to promote the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle single-use plastic bags,鈥� Shannon Reiter, the group’s president, said via email.
Reiter of North Huntingdon said Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful is educating consumers about the importance of recycling the bags, including working with grocers to promote various recycling programs.
Waste Management, the trash and recycling hauler for Greensburg, also hasn’t taken a position, a spokesman said. Ellen Keefe, executive director of Westmoreland Cleanways and Recycling, said plastic bags are not managed properly. 鈥淭here’s a lot of ways to properly dispose of a plastic bag,鈥� Keefe said, pointing to supermarkets that have recycling bins for customers to bring back bags.
Jobs Over Environment
Two prime sponsors of the legislation 鈥� Democratic Whip Rep. Mike Hanna, D-Clinton, and Bucks County GOP Rep. Frank Farry 鈥� represent districts with plastics manufacturers. One of the main drivers of support for the legislation is jobs at companies such as Novolex, the world’s largest manufacturer of single-use plastic bags with more than 7,000 employees across the country. That includes 500 workers at its Hilex Poly plant in Centre County 鈥� Hanna’s district.
House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont, supported the bill after hearing from Hanna. 鈥淲hile he understands the desirability of cutting the use of plastic bags overall, he didn’t want to put those people’s livelihood at risk,鈥� said Bill Patton, Dermody’s spokesman.
Aside from direct jobs at plastics manufacturers, Keefe also pointed to downstream industries, including companies such as Virginia-based Trex Lumber, which uses recycled plastic bags to make deck products. 鈥淭hey use tons and tons and tons of it a year,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here’s definitely a beneficial use for plastic bags.鈥�
鈥淚t’s valuable stuff,鈥� said Billy Johnson, chief lobbyist for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, a recycling industry trade group. 鈥淲e don’t want to see it buried or blowing around the streets. We want to see it being recycled and turned into a commodity-grade material for really great products.鈥�
鈥淧lease take the stuff back to the store and get it back into the circulation,鈥� he added.
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