Arlington, VA (August 26, 2010) – A new survey of residents in Brownsville, TX shows that nearly two to one oppose the City Commission’s plan to ban plastic bags at retail stores beginning in January.Slightly more than half (51%) of the respondents in the survey would like to see the ban repealed or postponed, while only 28 percent support the ban. The remaining survey respondents were undecided.
The survey was conducted August 19-21 among 300 Brownsville adults and has a 5.6 percent margin of error.
The survey found that most residents (82%) are aware of the ban and that three quarters (74%) use plastic bags as their primary means of carrying food home from grocery stores. Nearly nine in ten (88%) reuse plastic bags at home for trash can liners, cleaning up after pets and other duties.
More than eight in ten (83%) are aware that they can recycle plastic bags at major retail and grocery stores, such as Walmart and HEB.
“This survey demonstrates that the City Commission is out of step with Brownsville voters,” said Rudy Underwood of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the organization that sponsored the survey. “The citizens of Brownsville clearly oppose banning this valued product that most people rely on and then reuse in their homes.”
[HOUSTON PRESS: The ACC know that people love their plastic bags, so they commissioned a survey of 300 Brownsville residents and found -- amazingly -- that people agree with them!! They hate banning plastic bags!!]
Underwood also pointed out that although the Texas plastic bag manufacturing industry supports 2,600 well-paying local Texas jobs, most reusable bags are imported.
Local retailers, businesses and supporters of plastic bag recycling have asked the City Commission to reconsider the impending ban. Opponents of the ban hope the Commission will choose a more effective solution for reducing overall waste, such as policies to increase plastic bag recycling in Brownsville.
The ban threatens to eliminate recycling opportunities not only for plastic bags but for all of the other plastic wraps that can be recycled with bags at major retailers and grocers. Brownsville residents can return their plastic shopping bags and many types of product wraps – dry cleaning bags, newspaper bags and wraps from bread, diapers and cases of soda – to be recycled along with the bags. Jurisdictions across the country from King County (WA) to Phoenix (AZ) and from Chicago (IL) to New York City (NY) and Philadelphia (PA) have adopted bag recycling as the best approach to reducing waste and litter.
The survey was conducted by American Directions Group, a polling company founded in 1972 with services across the country.
For more information on plastic bags and related public policy, including efforts to recycle them, please visit: http://www.plasticbagfacts.org/.
5 comments:
(City Commission's plan to ban plastic bags)
Ain't gonna happen. Because if it does, I for one will shop at Los Fresnoa, San Benny or even Harlingen.
ralphy
I know I will be accused of being racist, but it does seem to me that Hispanics are more emotional and do things like hurt and kill others when they get angry — even the young. Now a life that could have someday been a great person is dead. What a waste. Sorry, but this young man needs to spend the rest of his life in prison for his stupid emotional moment. I believe if I was the parents of this girl I would never rest until he spends his life benind bars.
Joshua
(I believe if I was the parents of this girl I)
What? I thought we were talking about plastic grocery bags. WTF, let me go get the vodka out and soon I will be on the same wave length as this Joshua, drunk.
Ren.
Hey, Joshua, that's called the "la jaiba" syndrome. The city commission is dysfunctional and each commissioner is trying to pull the others back into the crab bucket. Ahumada wants to be "mayor to the world" and is so full of himself that his negative leadership is pulling the entire town into the crab pot. Trioani wants to be mayor an he and his compadre Sossi are plotting to turn the city over to the attorneys. Melissa Zamora is over her head in every way. Rose Gowen seems to have given up. Longoria knows nothing about anything but what's happening in Southmost....he lacks any leadership. Camarillo is nothing more than our version of the "Popping Fresh Doughboy" who promotes "green" because he knows nothing about the city or leadership. Then there's Charlie Atkinson who's vocabulary is limited to "sports park" or just "park". Atkinson has a grandiose ego....much like Ahumada....but no real intelligence or leadership. The city is really is bad hands.
I am not against the bag ban. I think we should get into the habit of bringing our own green, blue, or what ever colored bag you want to the stores to carry out our wares. I am disgusted by seeing all the plastic bags (and other trash) flying all over the place. It truly is shameful on all our parts to not take more consideration of our environment and our community.
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