Living in Durango is confusing. With this anti-plastic movement, what will be the impact to trees? Are all paper bags made from recycled paper? Because I will have to buy plastic bags to serve the purpose of the plastic grocery bags I reuse at home, is it OK to buy a box of plastic bags and put it in my reusable bags? Is washing my reusable bags a waste of precious water? And just what are reusable bags made of? Will using these endanger another resource? – Ecoconfused
You raise some great questions about the City Council’s efforts to raise awareness. But it seems the main things being raised around here are eyebrows.
So let’s start at the beginning. For some reason, the city thinks that charging 10 cents for each bag handed out at City Market, Walmart or Albertsons is Durango’s top priority.
It’s all about the money, right? A nickel would go to the stores for administration and a nickel going to the city for a new “educational outreach” program.
However, Action Line must point out something that a few people aren’t going to like.
Charging 10 cents for bags is not a fee. It’s a tax. Let’s be honest.
“Any assessment that raises money in excess of what is needed to defray costs is a tax,” points out the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research organization.
Oh, boy. Will that ever stuff the Mea Culpa Mailbox for the next few weeks.
That said, if the measure is truly about money, the city shouldn’t charge for bags – it should charge for parking. After all, that’s what the city does best.
Here’s the plan. We’ll call it the Dumb Plan. When the city replaces its old “dumb” parking meters with new “smart” meters, it could install the dumb meters at every grocery store parking space.
The fee could be 10 cents for every 24 minutes. So the city gets its dime regardless. People who bring their own bags must pay as well. Which makes it fair to all.
But if the meter expires, you get a $9 fine – just like downtown. Perhaps the parking ticket could come with an orange plastic bag instead of an orange envelope.
The Dumb Plan would achieve the city’s stated objectives. Initially, the revenue from tickets would be vastly greater than a straight 10-cent bag tax.
Then, after several months after the Dumb Plan’s enactment, the City Council would see a dramatic reduction in plastic-bag usage.
That is because everyone will have stopped shopping at Durango grocers because they had to pay for parking.
No customers. No plastic bags going out the door. Problem solved. Planet saved.
But suppose the bag tax is about sustainability. Then the City Council would be wise to require all shopping bags to be made of locally grown, solar-powered, multi-modal, organic hemp fibers, fertilized by backyard chicken guano mixed with kelp and molasses – and sold exclusively at the Farmers Market.
And if the bag tax is about conserving resources, look at the tag inside your reusable bags.
Of the dozen reusable bags in Action Line’s car trunk, most were made in China of polypropylene, a petroleum product just like plastic. Only two were made of cotton.
Perhaps the “educational outreach” funded by Durango’s bag tax could explain how a product made of petrochemicals in overseas sweatshops is good for the planet in general and Durango in particular.
OK, that wasn’t very nice. It is a bag brouhaha. And the only thing brewing is resentment amongst many in the community, so there is very little ha-ha herein and henceforth.
Even Mrs. Action Line shakes her head and asks the question on everyone’s mind:
“Why is the city is working so hard to charge 10 cents for single-use plastic bags at stores and restrict their usage when, at the exact same time, they distribute thousands of single-use plastic bags for FREE along the river trail and beg people to use them?”
Must be another “Durango thing.” Let’s look at it from another angle.
Durango embraced legalizing medical marijuana. So is it any surprise that its leaders want a universal “dime bag?”
Think globally, act loco-ly.
Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if you knew that the city’s official “Garbage Collection Guidelines” encourage the use of plastic bags thusly: “Be sure to bag and secure your trash prior to placing it in the container.”
