Pittsburgh City Council is expected to vote next week on a bill to ban plastic shopping bags.
Councilwoman Erika Strassburger introduced the bill in November, but admitted it still needed some work. She introduced amendments Wednesday to lower the paper bag fee and for the legislation to go into effect a year later, should it pass.
“That gives everyone enough time to be able to continue to recover from the pandemic, and for the city, do things like hire the staff to be able to educate, inform and assist, but also enforce the bill as written.”
Over a dozen speakers shared their thoughts on the potential ban at Wednesday's city council meeting. The vast majority in support of it, like Ashleigh Deemer with PennEnvironment.
“These bags are a major contributor the plastic waste that we see littering our communities. They break down and pollute our rivers and the climate impacts of making all of these bags are massive,” Deemer said.
Zachary Taylor with the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance is against the bill, believing it's not addressing a significant problem.
“Plastic bag bans do not meaningfully address litter, or waste concerns, because plastic bags, while they don’t belong in the environment, are not meaningful portions of litter and waste,” added Taylor.
The bill goes to a final vote next week.
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