5.2. ECCSR 05-18-2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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bags used in Elk River and to clean up the city's current pollution from plastic bags. We believe that, as home to Minnesota's largest landfill, Elk River has the duty to become an innovator implementing this ordinance. Plastic Bag History Plastic bags have become something that consumers rely on. They have become such a staple in consumer life that we may not notice what they are doing to the environment around us. Plastic bags have become omnipresent in the consumer society. Plastic bags not only are causing environmental damage to the world around us, but more specifically they are harming Elk River's environment as well. This is why we are asking the citizens of Elk River to take charge in this movement. Paying a small fee on the bags will help reduce the overall usage and clean up the pollution they have already caused. Because plastic bags have such an impact on the consumer, they are harder to ban. Consumers feel an attachment to their current shopping bags and are not willing to give them up if they do not see the purpose. That is the reason why a fee makes more sense than a ban. Consumers are more willing to change if they are given the option to choose for themselves. "Charges have a greater impact on overall reduction in carryout bag use because charges effectively incentivize changes in consumer behavior, because customers are required to make a conscious decision to purchase a bag."2 Education on the harm that plastic bags cause is the most crucial part of this proposal. We have come up with an advertising plan for Elk River in order to spread awareness. Plastic bags last forever. Approximately 100 billion plastic bags are thrown away in the U.S. every year. This amount is equivalent to dumping almost 12 million barrels of oil into the environment. Globally, we use an estimated 1 trillion plastic bags every year, and the average 2 Frank Convery et al.,The Most Popular Tax in Europe?Lessons from the Irish Plastic Bags Levy,38 ENVTL.&RESOURCE ECON. 1,2,7(2007).