Catherine and Garrad Lee unload their reusable shopping bags from their cart into their car outside the Kroger on I-55 north in Jackson. Photo courtesy of The Clarion-Ledger.
While communities in other states have started banning or taxing the use of plastic retail bags, similar measures are unlikely to come to Mississippi anytime soon, officials say.
But while government action may be distant, some Mississippians say they hope reusable bags – rather than plastic ones – grow in popularity.
“The hardest part is getting in the habit of using them,” Jackson resident Garrad Lee said.
Lee and his wife, Catherine, have used reusable bags while shopping for about five years, and he hopes the trend expands.
“We see more people use them,” Lee said, noting Mississippi has not progressed as far as cities like San Francisco and Washington, D.C., which have passed taxes on bags.
A tax in Washington, D.C., was enacted in 2010 that charges a customer 5 cents for each plastic bag used. Money raised by the tax funds pollution clean up of a local river.
San Francisco and several other California cities have similar taxes, but fees discussed in other areas never got the support needed to pass.
“If we did this sort of thing, the state would save money by not having cleanup crews to clean up highways,” said state Rep. John Mayo.
Mayo, D-Clarksdale, said he would support measures to discourage use of plastic bags, which litter the state’s highways and take up space in landfills. But as chair of the House Conservation and Water Resources Committee, he does not see it getting enough support in the near future.
“I just don’t see us flopping down a bill and passing it,” Mayo said of the legislative session that begins Tuesday. “There’s no public traction to move legislators to act. Something like that – it needs to come from the public.
“It’s not going to happen right now.”
Environmental issues don’t usually mobilize many citizens here, Mayo said.
Mayo has proposed other environmental initiatives that never got clearance. One failed measure was a buy-back program on bottles and cans.
A buy-back program would add a surcharge when an item is purchased, but the buyers get their deposit back when the bottle or can is returned.
“It’s absolutely something that Mississippi needs,” Mayo said.
Part of the impetus for the plastic bag tax in Washington, D.C., was the severely littered Anacostia River. A report unveiled that nearly half of the litter was plastic bags.
Debra Veeder, the Adopt-A-Stream coordinator for the Mississippi Wildlife Federation, said bags are among the common items picked up by the cleanup teams.
They’re mostly found in more populated areas, she said.
The federation gives out reusable grocery bags at its conferences, an effort to get more people adjusted to the cloth totes.
Lee said reusable bags are much sturdier than plastic ones.
“You can put a whole lot more in them,” he said. “Plastic bags are just awful.”
Many stores sell the reusable bags, which saves them money in the long run.
“It’s got to be a staggering amount of money stores pay to have plastic bags,” Lee said.
“It’s a matter of time before we see more people switch to reusable bags for ethical and environmental reasons.”
The Clarion-Ledger, 1B, Jan. 1, 2011
