The Summit County Council Wednesday will discuss a possible ban on plastic bags—after hearing numerous requests from citizens to take up the topic.
The Council, meeting at the Coalville Courthouse, will discuss the ban at 3 p.m.
Park City passed a plastic bag ban in 2017 for local groceries. County Manager Tom Fisher said they didn’t follow suit, for a number of reasons. The county has more large retailers. The Council has to discuss whether a ban applies to the whole county. And in the last two legislative sessions, lawmakers attempted to pass a prohibition against the plastic bans.
Still, in the recent past, Council has heard several times from local students asking them to look at the ban. We asked Fisher if they’ve heard opposition.
“We haven’t heard anything against it at this point, but of course we haven’t had it in front of the Council as a consideration item either,” Fisher explained. “We actually prepared a lot of the materials around this about a year and a half ago, in anticipation that the Council would want to bring it forward at some point. So they’ve asked for that. So, this will be the first discussion, and some information in front of the Council to start, get their reaction about, if we did consider that as a local government, how would they like to see something crafted.”
He said there will be a wide-ranging discussion about other states or communities that have adopted a ban. The Council will look at pros and cons, and different options, such as whether to institute a ban or enact a fee.
“Again, telling the pros and cons of some of that,” Fisher continued. “I think we’ll develop more as it’s discussed, because I think Council’s going to have their ideas. Council Member Armstrong asked a good question the last time this came up about communities that have instituted, and then taken it back. What’s the reason that they’ve done that.”
Besides the detrimental environmental impacts of plastic, Fisher said there’s also an impact on the county landfill.
“Plastic bags, when they’re not weighted down, are light,” Fisher said. “They blow away. They cause problems that we then have to clean up. And so, just from a very practical purpose, it’s an interesting thing to consider in that way. But yes, we are very aware of the environmental impacts of plastic bags, of film plastic and other types of containers, whether they’re filling up our landfills, or whether they’re just causing problems within our environment.”
