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Is it time for stores to stop giving out plastic bags?
A Lancaster resident wants to ask retailers to make the change, which has been adopted in cities around the nation,
City council Tuesday to promote the use of reusable, rather than disposable bags, in city stores.
Lancaster resident Randolph Hernandez encouraged council to pass the resolution, which would be non-binding on retailers and shoppers.
Elsewhere in the nation, plastic bags have been banned or shoppers are being charged a fee.
Hernandez gave council a list of 10 business and five environmental groups supporting the measure.
Philadelphia has been considering banning plastic bags, and to move toward a bag ban.
Last summer, the to preempt municipalities from banning or placing a fee, surcharge or tax on auxiliary containers, but Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed it.
California was the to enact a ban on single-use plastic bags at large retail stores, and it was approved by voters in 2016.
In Hawaii, most counties prohibit giving out plastic bags at checkout, along with paper bags with less than 40 percent recycled materials.
Other cities with plastic bag bans include Chicago, Boston, Seattle, New York and Washington, D.C.
According to each disposable plastic bag is typically used for less than an hour.
Each year, 14 billion plastic bags are used in the U.S., and 4 trillion plastic bags world-wide.
Plastic bags kill 100,000 marine animals each year, and U.S. retailers spend $4 billion giving away the bags. Currently only 1 percent of bags are returned for recycling, and it takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce those in the U.S.
A Lancaster resident wants to ask retailers to make the change, which has been adopted in cities around the nation,
City council Tuesday to promote the use of reusable, rather than disposable bags, in city stores.
Lancaster resident Randolph Hernandez encouraged council to pass the resolution, which would be non-binding on retailers and shoppers.
Elsewhere in the nation, plastic bags have been banned or shoppers are being charged a fee.
Hernandez gave council a list of 10 business and five environmental groups supporting the measure.
Philadelphia has been considering banning plastic bags, and to move toward a bag ban.
Last summer, the to preempt municipalities from banning or placing a fee, surcharge or tax on auxiliary containers, but Gov. Tom Wolf vetoed it.
California was the to enact a ban on single-use plastic bags at large retail stores, and it was approved by voters in 2016.
In Hawaii, most counties prohibit giving out plastic bags at checkout, along with paper bags with less than 40 percent recycled materials.
Other cities with plastic bag bans include Chicago, Boston, Seattle, New York and Washington, D.C.
According to each disposable plastic bag is typically used for less than an hour.
Each year, 14 billion plastic bags are used in the U.S., and 4 trillion plastic bags world-wide.
Plastic bags kill 100,000 marine animals each year, and U.S. retailers spend $4 billion giving away the bags. Currently only 1 percent of bags are returned for recycling, and it takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce those in the U.S.
