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Senate tosses proposed ban on plastic grocery bags

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 25, 2009 at 12:05 a.m.

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Sen. Jennifer Veiga has a confession to make: She used plastic grocery bags.

But when a group of students recently asked her to carry a bill banning the bags, the Denver Democrat switched to canvas sacks. Veiga now believes it's only a matter of time before plastic bags are outlawed.

Her attempt to do that this year failed, however, when six Democrats joined with Republicans Tuesday to defeat Senate Bill 156, which would have required large retail stores to phase out plastic bags within three years.

Republicans argued that paper bags cause their own set of environmental problems and that certain stores should not be singled out.

"If it's good, we should do it for everybody," argued Sen. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs.

"I think we ought to ban this bill and put it in a landfill," he added. "The people of Colorado must be scratching their heads on this issue. We have critical financial times and we are talking about plastic bags."

Veiga said the large stores her bill targeted distribute 542 million bags a year and account for 70 percent of the bags used in Colorado. Those bags, she said, create problems for the environment and wildlife.

She also noted that countries such as Uganda and China have outlawed the bags.

That was too much for Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield.

"There is an irony in citing a country like China for policy," Mitchell said. "What else has China banned? They've banned organized religious gatherings, they've banned having more than one child, they've banned political debate and speech, so it was probably pretty easy to pass their bans."

Mitchell said the public likes plastic bags because they're convenient and government shouldn't dictate what kind of bags people are using.

Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, said he was concerned that consumers would turn to paper sacks, not canvas. Studies show, he said, that it takes 91 percent less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than a pound of paper.

Veiga said her bill might be dead but the issue is not. "This is one of those issues that's going to be around for a number of years," she predicted.

Comments

  • February 25, 2009

    5:52 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    SockRayBlue writes:

    Now what will I use to bag my pet crap? Well, I guess it will be back to cutting down rain forests.

  • February 25, 2009

    5:54 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Ike writes:

    In other news today the Colorado collectively increased their level of intelligence as a legislative body and killed a pointless and inane feel-good bill. A show of bi-patisanship was celebrated and the possibility was realized that there may well be hope for our State Legislature as a deliberative body.

    Now if they can only be convinced to kill a few more of the turkeys they pass on an annual basis the State of the State may exponentially increase. Perhaps they should consider a bill that for every new law they pass they must deliberate and remove one of their previously passed substandard efforts that resulted in more needless laws that only serve to muddy the Nation's and the State's Constitutions and mindlessly burden their constituencies.

  • February 25, 2009

    7:19 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    MrJim writes:

    Laws for the sake of laws. Thank goodness this one went down in flames. I will give the kids who convinced her to try credit for trying to be involved, but I will also tell these kids they are being brainwashed by the liberal education they are getting if they believe this is such a crisis. Kids, make it your goal to learn how to learn while in school. Don't take things at face value, and most of all, don't reach a conclusion then look for facts to support it. Find all the facts, pro and con, then evaluate them and make a decision. You will be wiser, and more successful in life.

  • February 25, 2009

    7:42 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Francesca writes:

    Granted, Discover Magazine is preachy green, and Denver doesn't really affect this crisis per se, but take a look at what is becoming of carelessly discarded plastic from all over the world:

    http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jul/...

    We (meaning everyone that lives on it) do need to start taking better care of our planet, but it shouldn't have to be legislated for us to recognize the need.

  • February 25, 2009

    7:57 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Barbarosa writes:

    A victory for common sense! Yes!

  • February 25, 2009

    7:59 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    The_KIMN_Chicken writes:

    Yeah this was a huge waste of time. The alternative is paper and the impact there is far greater... nobody will bring their own canvas bags, it sounds great in theory but totally unrealistic.

  • February 25, 2009

    8:50 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    tjpatriot writes:

    Dear God, how does this even come to a vote? Your very existence and whatever you do affects the environment. You could cover the Southwest with solar cells, and do you think that wouldn't affect the environment? You could put gigantic windmills every 100 yards, and do you think that wouldn't affect the environment? If you're that concerned about your affects on the environment, then the only reasonable thing to do is kill yourself, in an environmentally friendly way. And be sure you are not be embalmed or burned afterwards, or your passing will be a final insult to our delicate planet. Yes, the only environmentally friendly way I can think of is excarnation. (That's the way the Indians used to do it, Just put your body up somewhere and let the little animals and birds have at it.)

    DUMP ALL INCUMBENTS! WE ARE RULED BY IDIOTS!

  • February 25, 2009

    9:16 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    Cwillyrun1 writes:

    Jennifer Veiga is out of touch with the concerns of average citizens. Elitist attitudes like hers stink!

    Her citing China on anything shows how out of touch she is....

  • February 25, 2009

    9:21 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    mytwosense writes:

    As I've noted a few times on similar threads, they have this bill backwards. A better program would be to pay consumers for each plastic bag they bring to a recycling center. Just like we used to do with glass bottles.

    Perhaps a private recycling company, in concert with grocery stores, will institute such a program one day. I guarantee it would take care of the litter problem immediately, and we'd get extra use out of these bags.

  • February 25, 2009

    9:49 a.m.

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    LockNLoad writes:

    Finally, some rational decision making.