Plastic Bag Ban Proposed For Nashville

NASHVILLE, TN -- Plastic bags could become relics under a proposal before the Metro Council calling for Nashville to be the latest city to ban the nearly ubiquitous, if environmentally damaging, items.

A bill proposed by Davette Blalock and Mike Freeman is up for its pro forma first reading before the council May 1. Under the proposal, Metro departments and retail stores in Davidson County would have to stop providing single-use plastic carryout bags starting January 1, 2019, or risk facing fines.

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The proposal does carve out certain exceptions - dry cleaning bags, newspaper bags, produce bags inside grocery stores and bags containing prescription drugs; restaurants will still be able to use single-use bags for carryout, as well - but broadly, the days of the single-use bag would come to an end in the New Year.

Retailers would be encouraged to provide re-usable bags, which could include plastic bags that are at least 3 millimeters thick. Fines will begin at $10 per day for the first offense, ramping up to $50 per day for third and subsequent offenses.

California has a statewide ban on large retail stores using plastic single-use bags and Hawaii has a de facto ban with all of its largest counties banning the bags. A number of local governments nationwide have banned or begun phasing out the bags, including Austin, Texas, where the ban eliminated 200 million bags in its first year of implementation. That city's bag ban is, however, facing a challenge by Texas' Attorney General, who asked the state Supreme Court to overturn bag banning laws.

A recent study indicates that bag bans are working, as the bags are becoming harder to find in the world's oceans.

Photo by J.R. Lind, Patch staff